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I Survived A Plane Crash. This Is How it Changed My Life

The first morning at home, I stepped onto our scale and learned that I had lost twenty-five pounds. This was undoubtedly the result of two months without real food and exercise, added to the damage done by the severe burns. I realized from that first day that my number-one priority, for as long as it took, had to be my healing. I had to put me first. It felt like a strange and egocentric view and, I would like to believe, not my usual way of thinking, but the reality was stark and clear. If I did not recover, my life would be miserable and I would be of little use to anyone.
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This photo taken on December 25, 2012 shows a man walking the fuselage of an Air Bagan passenger plane burn after it crashed near Heho airport in Myanmar's eastern Shan state. The Myanmar ageing Fokker-100 plane carrying 65 passengers including foreign tourists crash-landed in eastern Shan state, leaving two people dead and 11 others injured, the airline and officials said. AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images)
STR via Getty Images
This photo taken on December 25, 2012 shows a man walking the fuselage of an Air Bagan passenger plane burn after it crashed near Heho airport in Myanmar's eastern Shan state. The Myanmar ageing Fokker-100 plane carrying 65 passengers including foreign tourists crash-landed in eastern Shan state, leaving two people dead and 11 others injured, the airline and officials said. AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images)

Allan Lokos and his wife Susanna Weiss were aboard a plane that crashed-landed in Myanmar on Christmas Day 2012. Weiss suffered a broken vertebrae while Lokos was severely burned on his hands, legs and head. Two others aboard the Air Bagan flight died.

The dictionary tells us that a miracle is a phenomenon that is not explicable by scientific or natural laws, and is therefore often credited to a divine agency. That may or may not be. I, for one, am comfortable simply standing humbly in awe before what is so astonishing. The instant my body was so badly injured, it began to heal. If that is not miraculous, I do not know what is.

It brings me to my knees.

Oh, what a beautiful and therapeutic tonic is gratitude. Gratefulness is not the only human experience, however, and like everything else, it is not immutable. Within a couple of days I entered into the most devastating, horribly despondent period of my life. I would not have believed that a basically happy, positive person could feel so miserable and hopeless. The depths of despair seemed limitless and the days endless.

The first morning at home, I stepped onto our scale and learned that I had lost twenty-five pounds. This was undoubtedly the result of two months without real food and exercise, added to the damage done by the severe burns. I was previously in good shape and I was now scrawny and physically weak. For those who might be tempted, let me state clearly that I do not recommend this type of "crash" diet (pun intended). Fortunately, I enjoy food, but gaining back this amount of weight in a healthful manner was not going to happen quickly. It took eight months to gain the first ten pounds and I still have a way to go.

I realized from that first day that my number-one priority, for as long as it took, had to be my healing. More bluntly stated, I had to put me first. It felt like a strange and egocentric view and, I would like to believe, not my usual way of thinking, but the reality was stark and clear. If I did not recover, my life would be miserable and I would be of little use to anyone.

Blog continues after slideshow

MYANMAR-AIR-ACCIDENT

Air Bagan Plane Crash

Susanna had considerable pain emanating from her broken vertebrae. She should have taken the same approach to her recovery as I did to mine, but my inability to attend to my basic daily needs meant that for the time being, she would be balancing my needs with her own. She was mobile, and other than no lifting or bending, she was able to lead a fairly normal life, albeit hampered by a heavy, restrictive, neck-to-waist brace, which she was to wear nonstop during waking hours.

Of the two of us, I had been the more seriously injured physically, and recovery was going to be challenging on every level -- physical, mental, and emotional. I knew this, but I had no idea how formidable the actual journey was going to be. That challenge, the most daunting either of us had ever faced, would weigh heavily on both of us. Throughout the day I would want to lie down, not so much due to fatigue, although that certainly was part of it, but because of what is known as the "freeze mechanism." There are times when our options are fight, flight, or freeze.

There was nothing and no one for me to fight, except myself. There was no place for me to flee and escape. The only remaining option was to freeze, which I did in the form of going to bed often and, I hoped, falling asleep. I did this for about two months, and then I stopped. I did not make a conscious decision to stop. I was just ready to move on.

I did not know at that time how close I had come to death. I was only to learn about that later.

So, to be truthful, I was not constantly filled with gratitude. While I would be able in an occasional moment to feel the simple pleasures of life, mostly my days were filled with pain, dread, fear, anxiety, and the constant wish to have my life back. I felt as if I had no life. I thought it, and said it so often, "I want my life back." It seemed as if there was nothing I could do for myself, and anything I attempted to do resulted in more pain and suffering. My hands were useless. I could not hold a fork or a toothbrush; I could not wash myself, dress myself, or wipe myself. I felt hopeless and life seemed pointless.

We can guarantee ourselves suffering when we cling to a desire for things to be different than they are. We can practically define suffering by saying that it is clinging to that desire. Things are not different than they are. They are as they are. Wanting things to change is not the same as putting out the effort and determination to bring about change.

Excerpted from THROUGH THE FLAMES: Overcoming Disaster Through Compassion, Patience, and Determination by Allan Lokos, with the permission of Tarcher/Penguin, a division of Penguin Random House. Copyright © 2015.

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