This is just the fragment of a story that needs to be developed

TAMC, ICU

He slowly reached consciousness, accompanied by a soft and regular beeping and the sounds of a busy ICU. A determined voice was nagging him to open his eyes until he succeeded the given task.

Steve tried to move his head in the direction of the friendly voice but something stopped his neck and chin from moving an inch. He looked at the ceiling of what seemed to be an ICU cubicle until a blurred face came into his view. He blinked several times until the face became clear. A middle-aged man with a serious but warm and friendly look smiled down at him.

"There you are. My name is Dr Mason, I'm your primary physician. How do you feel?"

"I… uhmm…good?"

The friendly man smiled. "We'll see about that later. Do you know where you are?"

"Hosptl?"

"Very well, you're at TAMC. Can you tell me your full name and rank?"

"Stv..Mgurrttt…Ltnt…comm…."

"Close enough, commander. What do you remember?"

"Ex..plsionnn…. team?" Steve began to panic.

"Calm down, your team is fine. You're the only one who was injured. Although you sustained enough injuries for a whole cavalry. What brings us back to question number one: how do you feel?"

"Dnt..know… prtty doped up. Can't feel much of anything besides a throbbing pressure in my ribcage…. And … nothing below my nipples?" By realizing that he didn't have any feeling below his breastbone, Steve became very agitated and began to hyperventilate.

Dr. Mason quickly injected a clear liquid in one of the multiple IVs, adjusted the oxygen mask and watched his priority patient close his eyes. The reaction wasn't what he had been hoping for but matched his expectations regarding the severe spinal injury Cdr. McGarrett was treated for. "Time to talk to the team" Mason thought and turned to meet the members of the 5-O Task Force who were impatiently waiting in a conference room.

"How is he, doc?" Danny asked impatiently as soon as Dr. Mason entered the room.

The doctor sat down and looked seriously at the commander's friends.

"He was awake for a couple of minutes in which he was able to answer some basic questions. He is oriented and remembers the explosion. I could perform some tests which unfortunately confirmed my suspicions regarding the severity of his back injury. Right now, commander McGarrett has no feeling below his pectorals. I'm really sorry but it seems that we must classify the break of his T7 and T8 vertebrae as a complete spinal cord injury. It is close to impossible that he will ever gain any function below the point of those breaks. But there is also some good news: as he shows some sensory response in his upper extremities and his upper ribcage, we are pretty sure that the trauma to his cervical spine didn't affect the spinal cord at that level. In time, he will be able to move around in a manual wheelchair. He will spend months in rehab to learn to use his arms and hands again properly and I'm afraid that his back injury will even affect his ability to sit on his own without a harness but with lots of training he will be able to conduct a somehow independent life. The hardest task for him will be to accept that he is no longer the strong and sportive man he used to be. He will be dependent on the help and assistance of a 24/7 care for a very long time if not the rest of his life. Only time will tell."

The silence of shock in the room was screaming. Danny was the first to regain his voice.

"You mean he will be totally paralyzed from the breastbone down, not able to sit without assistance and only maybe regain the full control of his arms? Did I get that right?"

"I'm afraid but yes, that is what I said. During the explosion some heavy debris shattered three of the commander's vertebrae. One cervical vertebra was broken without affecting the spinal cord but the other vertebrae where shattered in multiple pieces and separated the spinal cord at the T7-level, which is around the area of his upper ribcage. We had to take most of the fragments out of the body and insert several plates, rods and screws to stabilize the spinal column. If his spinal cord wouldn't be severed completely there would be the chance to reconstruct the bones but as the injury appears, there is no chance to recover any function. The lack of control of his lower extremities won't be the only permanent problem. He will need to learn some new breathing techniques as his ability to breathe deeply is weakened through the loss of muscle function in his torso. The risk of pneumonia will be a constant concern from now on. Unfortunately, it's almost one hundred percent sure that the patient won't have any control of his bowel and bladder which will probably be the hardest task to take. There will be lifelong muscle cramps, spasms and severe pain attacks. All those symptoms will be part of his new life and I can't express how sorry I am, but Lt Cdr Steve McGarrett will never be the same man again. He won't be the person you all new as soon as he realizes what's going on. But he needs your support now more than anything in the world."

10 days later

Steve tried to ignore the two nurses who happily chattering took care of his personal needs. He couldn't feel what they were tending to but as they stood at the lower part of his bed and were changing bottles and things he didn't want to think about he was pretty sure of what they were doing. After that they would roll in the crane to move him to a special chair to get him to the shower in a sitting position for the first time since the explosion. He felt like a piece of meat, not anything close to human. He just wanted to be left alone. He couldn't move a single part of his shattered body. His neck and torso were captured in a hard brace that held his head in a rigid position leaving him only to watch the ceiling. His arms - in which a tingling sensation paired with peaks of a pain he never felt before had started to torture him a week ago - were pretty useless. His fingers had started to make a fist and he couldn't even lift his elbows. Yesterday they had put both forearms in splints to avoid further spasm-related curling. Against the first prognosis that his cervical spinal cord hadn't been affected, he had sustained severe secondary swelling of the injured area which resulted in full loss of motor function of his arms. For now, the injury ranked as incomplete spinal cord injury but it was pretty obvious that his body had taken the wrong road. "All that's missing is for you to start drooling", he thought bitterly.

"Commander, we start now with the preparation to lift you off the bed. The change of position will make you dizzy, please say immediately if you feel sick… Commander? ….. Are you with us?"

"Yes, sorry, just zoned out." He shyly smiled.

"No offense, we're going very slow. Ok? Ready?"

Obviously Steve had zoned out long enough to not realize that the nurses had already put his torso in a harness which was now connected to the crane. As soon as the crane was started and his body started to move, Steve didn't have the time to signal that he felt off in any way. He just blacked out.

When he came to he looked in the serious eyes of Dr Mason.

"Welcome back, commander. That didn't go as planned, I'm sorry. The point is that we won't be able to transfer you to the rehab facility if you can't tolerate any change of position. As long as you cannot even endure a position close to sitting we need to change the treatment. We put you in a special bed which can be adjusted to any position in the room. Like that we will accustom your body to the change of position over the next weeks."

Steve realized that he wasn't in his former room any longer but was lying on some kind of frame which was turned slightly to the left. He felt dizzy and sick. He closed his eyes and tried to ignore his pathetic life.

Day 54 after the explosion

Today was finally the day he would be moved to the rehab facility. With a 30-day-delay Steve would be transferred to his new temporary home where he would spend the next year to learn to live his new life. By now he had accepted his new challenge and looked to an unknown future. His team stood by his side every waking moment and for the first time in nearly two months, Steve was confident that he would get accustomed to live a life in a wheelchair. He knew he would never ever walk on his legs again but he was determined to get the use of his arms back, no matter how long it took. He couldn't and wouldn't accept the use of a power chair for the rest of his life. The first step of many to come would be to learn to feed himself again. And to brush his teeth. He felt so pathetic while being washed and cared for like a new born. He just couldn't stand it.

6 months later (8 months after the explosion)

Steve was sitting in his new manual wheelchair for the first time. He awkwardly lowered his splinted hands down to the wheels and started to turn them. It felt like heaven. Finally, he was free to move on his own.

2.5 years after the explosion

Steve wheeled out of the governor's residence with a huge smile on his face. He had his job back. Well, not as it used to be but he finally was in charge of the task force again. He would be the mastermind back at the office while his incredible team would do the legwork he could no longer do but this would be the only real change. He took out his phone and dialled Danny's number. A task he hadn't known he would ever be able to do again. He had regained full control of his left arm and hand and nearly 70 percent of control over his right – dominant – hand. The fingers of said hand didn't respond very well and the forearm was still confined in a splint to smoothen the cramped and shortened tendons and muscles. At least he could sign papers, he smiled. Who would have thought that Steve McGarrett would once be happy to do paperwork?

"Hey buddy, meeting with the governor is over. You want to meet at Kamekona's? There is good news. At least for me…" He chuckled.

Danny agreed to meet his former and new boss in 20 minutes. Steve wheeled to his new car and managed to get himself and the chair inside without accident. Every time a huge success although he had traded his beloved Silverado for a family van converted for disabled drivers.

He started the engine and drove to his new life.