I was shot with a .22 LR when I was 20. The bullet shattered two vertebrae at shoulder level and did quite a bit of spinal cord damage. I don�t have much (maybe 1 or 2 per cent) use of my right hand and the tricep of my right arm doesn�t work.
The spinal cord damage affected my entire right side and to much less extent, my left side. I wear a brace on my right leg and walk with a cane, hence the CaneSlinger handle. My balance is not good, so I can�t shoot from a standing position with anything other than a rimfire unless I�m leaning on something solid. If I take a tumble, I can�t get up on my own.
I was at a party between Christmas and New Years 2/3 of my lifetime ago when it happened. I was drinking and didn�t feel safe to drive (OK, I was p!ssed to the gills), so I was sleeping it off in a chair in front of the fireplace in the cottage of the host�s parents. Somebody was making a noise so he stuck the barrel of the .22 out the bedroom door and fired a shot. I happened to be in the line of fire.
I�ll never forget the effect of the bullet impact. I was asleep at the time and it seemed like someone fired a very powerful camera flash inside my head! I remember the yellow/orange flash vividly over 40 years later. I�m thankful the rifle wasn�t a .30-30, or I�d be a distant memory!
When they figured out what happened, four guys grabbed me by the arms and legs, loaded me into a car and took me to the hospital about 10 miles away. They probably did nearly as much damage taking me to the car, with my head dragging in the snow, as the initial impact. I spent nine months in hospitals recuperating.
That instant in time put a severe cramp in my style
. I had to learn to shoot left-handed and I can now sympathize with all those south-paws whose choices of firearms (and everything else that�s made for a right-handed majority for that matter) is limited.
Fortunately, I can shoot even better than I could before the incident, but mostly from a sitting position now.
So, there you have the CaneSlinger story, in a nutshell.
