At 26 years old, Cival Mills had a great life. He had always been a high achiever, successful in both sports and academics. He had recently earned a medical degree and looked forward to a great future. It all changed on December 8th, 2000.
Only a couple of days away from finishing his hospital internship, he was driving to go see his girlfriend and got into an accident. When he woke up in the hospital, he found himself unable to move. Even though he was completely conscious, he wasn't able to move any muscle in his body except for his eyes. It was like a nightmare come true.
Nobody was aware he was conscious until he laughed at a cartoon his sister showed him. He was diagnosed with locked-in syndrome and started learning how to communicate with his eye movements using a spelling chart. His first sentence was "Love you mom". It took him 20 minutes to spell out.
Always be astonished by your abilities!
He challenged himself to reach the unreachable. The race to meet his goal would require one of the greatest medical and personal achievements ever.
In an ICU there is no day and no night; only the sound of people and machines trying to make the impossible possible. Cival Mills knew that with his intellect intact, he would one day be ready to live life again.
People from all walks of life were holding their breath as Cival Mills slowly started climbing the ladder back to life – away from the constant darkness of the unconscious mind. He started climbing up… In an effort to do the impossible… he started to breathe on his own, he started to swallow…
Cival Mills spent 22 months in hospital; he was one of only a few patients suffering from this syndrome around the world to make it out of the hospital. He brought back with him many memories of deadly anxiety, of suicidal despair, of indescribable frustration, suffocating sadness and utter loneliness – of a weight he could not describe nor measure.
Cival Mills was piloted back to life by the many people who loved and cared for him, orbiting around him for almost 2 years in an effort to bring him safely back. He arrived back with the knowledge that nothing in life “happens by accident.” Speechless, without any movement in his body except for some movement in his left hand, he never lost direction; he never gave up. After 2 years of physical therapy, he regained the ability to move his left thumb. With a gadget he invented himself; he managed to type out his first inspirational book, titled "This Too Shall Pass". He has since also managed to regain movement in his neck, left arm and partial movement in his legs. In 2009, he completed a 350- mile bike ride across South Africa on a specially adapted quad bike for charity. He also scuba dives as a hobby and has written another book called "The Truth about Wheels". He is currently working as a motivational speaker
Cival Mills has today grown into a man on the move and is living testimony to his motto:
“never… never… never give up.”
