Tim Hickey's journal...

Hi everyone,

First I would like to give some background on myself.

In April of 1999, six weeks after my dad passed away, I was at the beach with some friends riding my jet ski. I was waiting for two girls to come back on the ski so I could load it on the trailer. I was standing in knee deep water and kicking dirt back and forth with another girl friend of mine. She kicked some at me and I turned to shallow dive. I hit my head on a lump of sand or a rock or something and I instantly broke my neck. I was thrashing around because I was face down and could not move my arms or legs. Everyone thought I was messing around(I guess because I was always joking around). The girls cam back on my ski and I stopped moving, one of them grabbed my arm and pulled me up and noticed my face was purple. They dragged me to the shore and I started coughing up water. I was flown to the hospital by helicopter where the doctors did not know if I would survive. I could only blink when I first got hurt. They told my mom that I would be in a power wheelchair for the rest of my life and only be able to shrug my shoulders. Eventually I started to be able to move my arms and refused to use a power chair, and have never used one.

I had another near death experience in August of 2007. I had a urinary tract infection that had MRSA(staff infection that can kill you) that infected my blood. Luckily I knew something was wrong and was at the hospital and coded. The doctors tried to revive me for forty minutes, I was not breathing and had no pulse. I obviously started breathing again and my doctor told my mom I would be brain dead. I was kept in a coma for twelve days and had to use a vent to breathe. My speech was really slurred but I worked hard to try to get it back to normal. After some persistence my speech returned to normal. My doctor had told his nurses that I was not going to make it and said it was a miracle that I came through this.

My goal is to get back in therapy because I can contract my leg muscles and move my foot. My life has had a lot of ups and downs and I could write a lot more trying to explain everything. I plan to write a book one day so I can help other people learn from what I have been through.

My plan for real estate investing is to use it as a way to help others, providing accessible places for people to rent/buy and provide capital for a not-for-profit that I started last year, which helps other people affected by disabilities, both those with a disability and their loved ones.

I have a few electives left and I will have my bachelors degree in accounting. I am sure this will help me with my journey.

I would like to find others in Florida so we can work together learning the Florida market. I am working on setting my goals, cleaning up my credit(due to hospital bills), finding a team, and learning the different techniques involved in investing. I have always known it can be rewarding, just wasn't sure how to make it work. Dean has helped me connect the dots of what I have learned over the past years.

Feel free to contact me and maybe we can be Dean's first group of students to become wealthy. Power is in the numbers! We can accomplish more by working together!

Best wishes and God bless,

Tim Hickey