By Brian Cardwell

The Daily Evergreen

Ask anyone who knows Jaime Jackson and you would be told there is little he is not capable of.

Besides carrying better than a 3.5 grade point average, the North Delta, British Columbia, native also is the leading scorer on the WSU Lacrosse team and involved in campus organizations.

Three and half years ago, though, Jackson would have considered himself lucky to be living a normal life.

On the night of Sunday, Nov. 13, 1994, Jackson and several teammates were returning to WSU in a school van from Chico State University in California, where they had played in a lacrosse tournament. While traveling through Grant's Pass, Ore., at approximately 4:45 a.m., the driver of the van fall asleep at the wheel and lost control of the vehicle. Matt Niclai, who was in the passenger seat, still remembers every detail of the crash.

"We were heading northbound on I-5 when the van veered off into the median between the northbound and southbound lanes, flipping over eight times before it came to rest on the passenger side."

Most of the passengers were lucky enough to escape the accident with minor injuries. Jackson and another player, Ben Arthur were not as fortunate. Arthur fractured several vertebrae in the crash, but Jackson got the worst of it. As a result of the accident, doctors amputated Jackson's right arm below the elbow, and he sustained severe nerve damage to his back as well.

Arthur was in therapy for six months and recovered, but never played lacrosse again. Jackson, meanwhile, had a tougher road to recovery and some lofty personal goals to reach. He wanted to walk again, and wanted to return to the lacrosse field, to play the sport he has enjoyed since he was 3 years old.

Jackson spent nine months in the hospital following the accident, and six more as an outpatient. At first, doctors told him he would never walk again, and Jackson was unable to feel his legs for some time. Through it all, his parents stood by him and helped give him the strength to push on.

"My parents came to the hospital nearly every day during my recovery," Jackson recalled. "In fact, the doctors told them after a while they should not visit as often, or for as long, because they (the doctors) wanted me to get out a little, to go to movies and do things so that I could learn to live life in a wheelchair."

For Jackson, now 22 years old, wheelchairs were not his style. He worked hard to rehabilitate his battered body, and was out of the wheelchair only 15 months after the accident. He missed just one semester of school. "It was important for the recovery period that I return to school as soon as possible, and get on with my life," he said.

Last year, Jackson began taking the steps that would eventually lead to the sweetest part of his recovery, a return to lacrosse field. Player/coach Ben Braden, who joined the team after the accident, saw Jackson's dedication firsthand last year.

"When he first came out, he had these leg braces," he said. "They were not that big, not some massive metal things, but he had them. He stayed with it, though. Coaching, working on his stick skills, and this such as that."

Last year, the braces came off, but there was still some work to do before Jackson would be ready to play. He had to regain strength, stamina, balance and mobility before he would be fit for play.

"The thing that worried me the most was that I would be knocked over and unable to get up quickly," Jackson said.

This year, it was time for Jackson's recovery to come full circle. When the WSU lacrosse team took the field for its first game of the year, Jackson was in the starting lineup as an attackman, (scoring 9 goals). Since then, he has played in 10 of the team's 11 games, often playing the entire duration of the contest.

Jackson is no slouch on the field either; as his team leading 24 goals are evidence of that. In fact, Jackson's scoring totals are the sixth highest in the league.

"Without him, we would not have done anywhere near as well as we have," lacrosse president Shane Gray said.

Other teams also are impressed by his ability. Jackson uses his 6-foot, 245-pound frame to the fullest advantage, cradling the ball deep in the offensive zone as his opponents whack away at him with their sticks and looking for the opening through which he can feed a pass or fire a shot.

For most of the team, though, it is Jackson's strength of will that inspires them

.

"There is only one word to describe Jamie, and that word is 'amazing'," Devin Imamura said. "Not only that he is still physically able to play, but that he can mentally and emotionally come back as he has tells you a lot about him. A lot of people might feel bitter about life if that happened to them, but not Jamie."

Ryan Fancher, echoed Immamura's sentiments: "Some people get down, or give up," he said. "He fought back. He could hardly walk, and now he is playing…It is really incredible. I believe that it shows a lot about his character, going through what he did, then coming back and accomplishing what he has."

For his part, Jackson is able to do nearly everything now that he could before tha crash, but there is one thing he cannot do anymore, and a not of sorrow can be detected in his voice when he talks about it.

"The one thing I miss is playing hockey," Jackson said. "I tried to skate a while back, but it just was not the same. My last hockey game that I played, (as a member of the WSU club hockey team only a week before the accident) I had a hat trick and two assists before I got ejected from the game for fighting. Looking back, I believe that it was about the best game I could have had for my last game."

Jackson remains a passionate Vancouver Canucks fan, and his love for hockey is evidenced by the necklace he wears -- it has a small hockey player on it.

Jackson will graduate in May, and advance toward his dream of becoming a sports agent. Lacrosse season concludes this weekend, and Jackson will likely spend the time in between at his favorite establishment, The Coug.

Nearly everyone knows him there, and his personal mug is inscribed "Nubba," in tribute to his most distinguishing feature. He is just like any other college student, enjoying athletics, school and the company of good friends to the fullest.

"He is an amazing person," Gray said. "He is hardly affected by everything he went through -- he just keeps on going, as happy as he was before."

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