Ortonville-It’s been nearly 30 years but Roger McCarville says, ‘it felt like being in a long tunnel.?
‘It happened so fast, then I was just numb’then there was this bright light,? said McCarville.
Just seconds before, McCarville, then 38, had been riding in the bow of a small boat on Brandon Township’s Lake Louise when he fell overboard. The boat propeller severed both his legs, leaving McCarville near death and sinking to the lake bottom. His two boating companions that day just happened to be paramedics and quickly jumped in the lake and pulled him to shore.
McCarville recalls that the ambulance summoned to transport him to Pontiac General Hospital also doubled as the local hearse.
‘I told the ambulance driver to make sure he had the right sign in the vehicle,? laughed McCarville, now 67. ‘It was a rough 25 minute ride to Pontiac. The pain was unbearable, but I never lost consciousness.?
Surgeons reattached one leg, however the other leg was lost just below the knee. Following nearly 18 months of difficult rehabilitation the father of six, Army veteran and longtime Dixie cup salesman began a new phase of life’a chapter transforming him into a chief spokesman for more than 2 million disabled statewide.
‘I remember lying there and thinking of how was I going to support my family,? he said. ‘My days as a salesman were over.?
Soon after his release from the hospital, McCarville and his six children formed the Handicapped Transportation service which provided mobility for individuals with disabilities. Whether a ride to appointments, work or just a trip to the store, the small business earned enough to support his family and aid the lives of thousands.
An avid hunter and outdoorsman before his accident, McCarville realized that if a person with a disability enjoys outdoor activities, then such activities should not be hampered by a physical shortcoming.
‘If I can shoot a deer even though I have a disability, why can’t I get a job?? said McCarville. ‘These people are leaving the hospital with disabilities and can’t get in their house or a store. Some things needed to be changed.?
During the past 20 years McCarville sparked Michigan lawmakers to pass laws that legalized the use of crossbows for hunters with disabilities, the use of four-wheelers for hunting and improving access to Department of Natural Resources Parks for the disabled.
If the severed leg injures were not enough, he was diagnosed with myelodysplasia syndrome, (a form of pre-leukemia) in 1995. Yet, Roger apparently beat the odds again as his younger brother Tom donated his bone marrow to help cure the illness. Although experimental medications caused temporary blindness and loss of hearing both have since been restored, McCarville says.
For the past four years McCarville has served as executive producer of Disabilities Today, a television show on disabilities. During the more than 200 segments outdoor activities have included bird hunting, ice fishing and deer hunting for those with disabilities. The PBS show is aired at 9:30 a.m. each Saturday, Channel 28 Flint and 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Channel 56 Detroit.
McCarville served as past chairman of the Michigan Easter Seal Society; associate sports director for the Michigan Paralyzed Veterans of America; founder and board member of Outdoors Forever, founder and member of Oakland-Macomb Center for Independent Living; founder and member of the Michigan Wheelchair Basketball Association and was a member of the State Championship Wheelchair Basketball team.
McCarville recalls a nurse that encouraged him to play a game of wheelchair basketball with a few of the other patients while he recovered from his boating accident.
‘Heck, I didn’t play basketball when I could walk,? he told the nurse. ‘But I ended up loving that game.?
In addition, McCarville was Grand Marshal of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Detroit; awarded the Jerry Stackhouse Award, elected 1997 Michiganian of the Year, earned the Special Opportunities for Amputees Rehabilitation award and received the Lifetime Achievement Award for the Athletes with Disabilities Hall of Fame. And in January 2004, he received the Ambassadors for Peace Award in Washington DC.