The Road to Recovery
As told by Brandon Gohres I went to a magnet school for aviation. I was in love with flying, just absolutely enjoyed it. I put in the work and time to attain my pilot’s license, but there were not enough “funds” for me. The funds were given to someone else instead of me and that hurt. I felt betrayed and it smothered the fire that I possessed for flying. That caused me to stumble, and when I went to UNLV shortly after graduating from high school, I was lost. I didn’t go to school for myself and I allowed my grades to drop. I pretty much lived for my girlfriend at the time and just really didn’t care about anything else. It brought me to a dangerous place. Just the weight of everything and previous circumstances all overwhelmed me. |
I grew up without a father. I don’t play the victim’s card or possess a victim’s mentality. However, I have learned that there is a disadvantage of not having a father. There is guidance from a father directly or indirectly that I am missing. And that was starting to get to me around that time. Along with that, my mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer in high school, and that was a battle. These were circumstances that I had swallowed and I attempted to simply keep marching on. Now they had reached a pinnacle combined with the current events.
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I found myself contemplating suicide, just ending everything. I was getting pretty serious, but God pulled me through it. I had friends that supported me. I remember clearly a time when a buddy of mine, Raymond, came to me in the middle of the CBC hallway in UNLV and just asked if I needed prayer.* Someone just reaching out to me like that was a difference maker. It was something I needed to continue on. Then I had others as well like Cody — he continually prayed with and for me, and always offered assistance. A Reverend I went to showed me the Word of God, and I witnessed it manifest in my life. Terry, he mentored me in boxing - a sport I fell in love with. Ultimately though, God showed me that I needed to do it myself. That I was capable and that I had something to offer to this world. I was not the sum of the negative things that happened to me.
So I switched over to CSN and went there for about three years before reapplying and being accepted back to UNLV. I got heavily involved into boxing and even boxed for UNLV. I was about a year away (give or take a semester) from graduating when I experienced one of the toughest moments of my life. I was involved in an almost fatal motorcycle accident. |
I was almost brain dead. It was pretty intense. When you almost lose your life, it puts a lot of things in perspective.
I had been riding a motorcycle for years. I loved my motorcycle and the thrill of riding it. I had gone out with my mentor who showed me both how to ride better and how to mechanically take care of my bike. We were going pretty fast, as I was trying to keep up with him and one of his buddies, when I slid off the road going around a curve. I only recall feeling a lot of pain and not being able to move. Next thing I know, I woke up in a hospital the following day.
The doctor told me I was almost brain dead — it was pretty intense. I feared that I was paralyzed, but count my blessings I was not. However, I did not escape unscathed. I suffered three broken ribs, a punctured lung, two fractured vertebrae, a compressed fracture vertebra, a broken sternum, a broken left shoulder blade, and a broken femur. Thank God I was wearing safety gear — which is why you should wear it, even in the heat of the desert; for you riders out there, take heed and wear the gear. I got a titanium rod in my leg and began physical therapy. I decided shortly after though to remove myself from the hospital and do my own physical therapy. It actually has been going pretty well for me. I'm healing miraculously. Little by little, I am getting everything back, and I even plan to get back on my bike. |
Everybody has things happen to them for a reason. This has been one of the most groundbreaking moments of my life. This is when I found out what I was meant for.
How horrible that accident was, it has shown me quite a lot. I used to pray a lot about what my purpose was — or if I even had one — and where was God. I got my answer when I crashed and lived. That’s when I knew there really was a God. His hands were upon me. He told me by showing me, “You have a purpose. You are not going anywhere yet.” If I was meant to be dead, I would have died that day in that crash. Now, I may not know the entirety of what that purpose is, but I have hope again that I have something to do. My main calling or purpose I find right now is giving back to the youth the skill and knowledge I have learned with boxing. Boxing is a huge part of my life, and since physically I am not able to be where I want, I would like to give it back to others. Perhaps it will help another in troubled times as it has served for me.
The best thing I have learned though is to leave the past in the past. Everything does not happen on your timetable. I was always comparing myself to others feeling like I had to be at a certain place in my life now, and it was just added pressure. It often would drag me down, but God showed me not to get discouraged. That there may be people more successful than me currently, but that was God’s plan for them, and that He has one for me. God will take care of me as He already has, and that one day I will get there. I was not defined by the negativity nor was that my worth. I am worth God sending His Son to die on the cross for me. These were lessons I was supposed to learn. Everybody has things happen to them for a reason. I could have been a totally different person. I could have been like many other young black males without a father. But God taught me accordingly and is equipping me for His purpose.**
The best thing I have learned though is to leave the past in the past. Everything does not happen on your timetable. I was always comparing myself to others feeling like I had to be at a certain place in my life now, and it was just added pressure. It often would drag me down, but God showed me not to get discouraged. That there may be people more successful than me currently, but that was God’s plan for them, and that He has one for me. God will take care of me as He already has, and that one day I will get there. I was not defined by the negativity nor was that my worth. I am worth God sending His Son to die on the cross for me. These were lessons I was supposed to learn. Everybody has things happen to them for a reason. I could have been a totally different person. I could have been like many other young black males without a father. But God taught me accordingly and is equipping me for His purpose.**
**Special thanks from Bobby: "Thank you to my mentor and trainer Patrick Barry and his wife Dawn Barry. Thank you to Boston Greene for all the assistance in making this biography complete. Thank you to Mone Casual, owner/operator of Real 4 Life Motoring. Thank you to Fred Hawthorne, producer of Barbershop Conversations.
* Raymond's (Photographer) Note: The 2 photos of Bobby were taken in the same exact CBC hallway he talked about. During the interview for his story, Bobby talked about how God brought people into his life at the right time to help him through thoughts of suicide. He talked about how God brings people together for a reason. I wholeheartedly agree. Especially because that meeting was a landmark in my life, as well. While he remembers that moment as me asking him for prayer, I remember him asking me (we're the only 2 witnesses, so who knows who actually has it right). Regardless, that moment was the first time I was unashamed of my faith, willing to pray with Bobby in front of my other friends/classmates who didn't believe what I believed in. That was the first time I stepped out in faith, prayed with someone in public, unashamed in front of others. And I wanted to thank Bobby for that moment when I interviewed him for his story, about 7 years after it happened. Little did I know how much that moment meant for him.
As Bobby says, part of faith is having a network to "get other people to step out of their boundaries. You never grow if you don't step out of your boundaries. You have to step out sometimes; not even sometimes, all the time."
* Raymond's (Photographer) Note: The 2 photos of Bobby were taken in the same exact CBC hallway he talked about. During the interview for his story, Bobby talked about how God brought people into his life at the right time to help him through thoughts of suicide. He talked about how God brings people together for a reason. I wholeheartedly agree. Especially because that meeting was a landmark in my life, as well. While he remembers that moment as me asking him for prayer, I remember him asking me (we're the only 2 witnesses, so who knows who actually has it right). Regardless, that moment was the first time I was unashamed of my faith, willing to pray with Bobby in front of my other friends/classmates who didn't believe what I believed in. That was the first time I stepped out in faith, prayed with someone in public, unashamed in front of others. And I wanted to thank Bobby for that moment when I interviewed him for his story, about 7 years after it happened. Little did I know how much that moment meant for him.
As Bobby says, part of faith is having a network to "get other people to step out of their boundaries. You never grow if you don't step out of your boundaries. You have to step out sometimes; not even sometimes, all the time."