Feature Student: Ilya Gikhman Shows How to Overcome Adversity

Ilya Gikhman is a student here at UCBA with an amazing story that I have personal admiration for.  

Ilya graduated from Mason High School, Class of 2007.  When he turned 18, he decided to celebrate by visiting Athens, Ohio, for the annual Halloween festivities.  

The celebration sweeps through the college town, home of Ohio University, as some people may know. 

However, Ilya let the night get the best of him by making poor decisions and consuming too much alcohol, which is a very big concern for college students these days.  

To those of age, I would not recommend over-indulging in alcohol in situations like this one, because something like this very story could happen, and it would be out of your control. 

Ilya was intentionally pushed over a second story railing and fell fifteen feet, landing headfirst on the grass below.  He had been lying there unconscious for around three hours until he was finally discovered by campus security. 

Unfortunately Ilya had broken the C-4 and C-5 vertebraes in his spinal cord, which caused paralysis in all of his limbs.

His adaptation to this new lifestyle has taken a while, but when you see this kid, you can understand that he is truly a happy person about life and has a very positive outlook on the whole situation. 

When I asked him about his recovery process, he had this to say: “Throughout my entire recovery process I never got discouraged or gave up hope, because I was happy to be alive.  Although there are not many people that can say or react the same way, I guess I was an exception.  

“I have learned that if you can live through something as traumatic as a spinal cord injury, then there aren’t many things in life you cannot get through or overcome.  No matter how hard things get in life, you can always overcome them by staying positive and remembering that it is not the end of the world.