Finding a Path Beyond Chronic Pain

...even at your lowest, there's a life beyond pain.  

My name is Kyle Richardson. I live in San São Martinho do Porto, which is here in Portugal.

Pre-accident, I was pretty high on life and enjoying surfing in the mornings before work, just having an active and positive lifestyle.  

And then one day, everything changed.  

I contracted a waterborne infection.  

At the time, we didn't know what was going on.  

We just knew that I was starting to not be able to catch waves.  

I started to not be able to hear in one ear.  

It got into the spinal column and ate away at a part of my back.  

It led to spinal damage, paraplegia, and years of chronic pain.  

It's hard to convey how much things changed.  

Chronic pain not only impacts your immediate present, but your outlook on life.  

The pain got so bad that they had to put me on really strong pain meds, and from strong pain meds, it just kept getting stronger and stronger.  

I was a total zombie for probably about a year.  

You feel the walls are closing in.  

After years of struggling, I received a spinal cord stimulator. I could feel the pain being washed away by it.  

That first morning that I was able to wake up and not feel in pain, it was life-changing.  

I am back in the water.  

I can feel the ocean and for the first time in years, forgot that I was disabled.  

In 2020, I even managed to break the world record for the biggest wave surfed by a paraplegic.  

But in the end, it's about the little things.  

Being able to enjoy a coffee without feeling debilitating pain, meet friends, explore your surroundings, make plans for the future.

I would tell anyone struggling with pain that the only way you're going to get happiness is if you go out there and grab it for yourself.  

You know, I never thought I'd be able to do what I'm doing right now.

And even in your darkest hours, you need to know the sun will rise again.  

That there is a life beyond pain."

"...I live in São Martinho do Porto, which is here in Portugal.

Pre-accident, I was just having a pretty active and positive lifestyle.

Then life just put me through a few loopholes.

I contracted a waterborne infection.

And so they kind of wrote it off as a simple infection.

It got into the spinal column and ate away at a part of my back.

My limbs just kind of started to go out and not work and function properly.

The pain got so bad that they had to put me on really strong pain meds.

And from strong pain meds, it just kept getting stronger and stronger and stronger.

Even if I was out with friends, I wasn't really out with friends.

You feel the walls are closing in.

Even in your darkest hours, you need to know the sun will rise again.

That there is a life beyond pain."

"...At the time we didn't know what was going on.

We just knew that I was starting to not be able to catch waves.

I started to not be able to hear in one ear.

I contracted a waterborne infection.

It got into the spinal column.

I lost about a hundred pounds. The pain got so bad that they had to put me on really strong pain meds.

And from strong pain meds, it just kept getting stronger and stronger and stronger.

Chronic pain took away a lot, physically and mentally.

And painkiller life definitely is something that I wouldn't recommend to anyone.

I got to a point where I just said, 'It's enough, we have to find a solution.' "

"...I got to a point where I just said, 'It's enough, we have to find a solution.'

I got off the meds, was in an extraordinary amount of pain, and that's when one of the doctors said, "Hey, why don't we try and do an SCS, a spinal cord simulation."

That first morning that I was able to wake up and not feel in pain, it was life-changing.

For the first time in years, I forgot that I was disabled.

I would tell anyone struggling with pain that just the only way you're gonna get happiness is if you go out there and grab it for yourself.

I never thought I'd be able to do what I'm doing right now.

And then from there, look up things like the Boston Scientific Stimulator, the SCS.

I want others to know, even at your lowest, there's a life beyond pain.

Just life-changing. There's no other thing I can say."