“My life is interesting. I was a go getter, doing a little bit of everything. As they say, a jack of many trades--that's exactly what I was,” says Thomas Strawbridge as he thinks back about his life. Thomas was in the music business for 10 years, photography business for 35 years and the owner of his own drywall company for 45 years. "My mother was always on me about retiring. She wanted me to retire at 62 and I said I'm too young for that!"
It wasn't until three years later that Thomas decided to call it quits and focus solely on music. He took one more drywall job before retiring. “I was up on a latter about 17 feet. I don't know what happened, but before I knew it I was on the floor. When I landed I thought I was alright, but when I tried to get up, it was dead from here down -- I didn't have any feelings at all,” says Thomas.
Paralyzed from the chest down, Thomas spent the next seven months at a rehabilitation center in Philadelphia. While there, his online radio station went off air and his record label was at a standstill. But determined to move forward, Thomas wouldn't let his disability hold him back from his dream. “If something happens to you, you have to pick yourself back up and keep going because if you don't, you will be down."
With several artists signed to his label, Thomas is getting ready to launch his online radio station once again and will soon have a music studio added on to his home, thanks to help from friends. Through it all, Thomas says his positive spirit is what keeps him going. “I've never felt down not one moment from the day of that accident until today. I've never had not one down moment and that has to be God."
For more about our interview with Thomas check out my
blog.
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