CityView Magazine

Call Mosquito Squad at (910) 779-2656. www.mosquitosquad.com/Fayetteville The Surgeon & Associates Family of Businesses www.surgeonandassociates.com Family Values • Superior Service • Career Opportunities Our Mantra: Passion. Service. Education. Giving. We offer an all-natural solution as an ideal alternative for mosquito control that meets your needs. Mention code CV2021 10% off any 1 service or 15% off of 2 or more services with S&A Family. Fayetteville's Certified Accessibility Specialist 910-387-1225 www.nextdayaccess.com Handrails Grab Bars Pool Lifts Stair & Porch Lifts Residential Ramps (Purchase or rental) Ceiling & Patient Lifts Bathroom Safety Products STAY IN YOUR HOME LONGER & SAFER! • Handrails • Grab Bars • Pool Lifts • Stair & Porch Lifts • Residential Ramps (Purchase or rental) • Ceiling & Patient Lifts • Bathroom Safety Products STAY in your home LONGER & SAFER Co-Founders Bert Tharp and Dennis Long CityViewNC .com | 27 her the hope that she so needed regarding her badly injured man. Allen asked an emergency medical technician who was tending to him that night, "'Well, look. Am I going to be able to play piano with just one hand?" "He said, 'I don't know, sir. We'll see about all that.' "I went, 'Cool, 'cause I couldn't play with two.'" A little over six hours later, surgeons wheeled Allen out of the N.C. Jaycee Burn Center in Chapel Hill. ey called Burnham to his side before inducing a coma. She grabbed his good hand and said, "Rick, it's only a flesh wound." "He laughed and his little thumb starts going like this," she said, wiggling her thumb around. "So I knew I could walk away. His brain was still working." He doesn't remember any of it. ree days later, the story with the EMT was relayed to Burnham, and she knew for certain that her soulmate was bracing for the fight of his life. He would spend two months in the drug-induced coma. During his long recovery, Allen underwent about a dozen surgical procedures. "I was more angry than depressed," he said. "Just frustrating when I couldn't do something, or it was challenging because it was hard to do and it was something I had done before. I've always been positive about things. I like challenges, and this is certainly a challenge." Support was forthcoming, from family, friends, media members from the competing newspaper and broadcast journalism worlds, the Fayetteville community. at made it easier. Allen drew energy from them as he persevered, eager to grasp some sense of normalcy. "Almost to a person, they didn't treat me any different. Aer the accident or before," he said. "If anything, they gave me a harder time than before. And I've heard every one- armed joke that there is known to man." Allen has a prosthetic that he wears daily on a limited basis. It's uncomfortable to him.

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