Christian Dwyer's Biography

    In his younger years, becoming an artist was initially never considered by Christian Dwyer. Being in a wheel chair, at the age of 20 with a TBI and spinal cord injury, was also the farthest thing from Christian Dwyer's mind. Yet through God's divine plan both situations are now a part of Christian's life.

   Christian's story begins like everyone else's, at birth. He was born on October 23, 1974 at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas, to Mike and Linda Dwyer. The location was due to the fact that his father was in the army doing a general surgery residency and his mother had just graduated a few months before, from UTSA with a nursing degree. Christian is the oldest of eight children. Matthew, Jane, Joshua and Stephen were born during the seven years that followed. Daniel, Elizabeth and Luke were adopted in 1986.

    Christian's family has always lived in the country, first in southwest Bexar county and then south of Seguin, Texas. Living in the country afforded the family the opportunity to have a variety of animals, such as, chickens, goats and rabbits but their primary focus was on horses. With these animals came much responsibility and work, so Christian and his siblings developed a strong work ethic and accountability that would assist them throughout their lives.

   Christian's mom and dad endeavored to rear their children with solid values. First and foremost was a belief in a sovereign God, a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and the necessity of prayer. During the early years no one in the family could realize how essential these beliefs would be in the years to come. Among the other important values were obedience, subscribing to a Christian world view, patriotism, and political involvement, learning to stand alone for what is right, loyalty to family, doing your best in every situation, determination, hard work and respect for authority. Without a doubt, Christian set the standard for his siblings by incorporating these values into his life. Christian accepted Christ when he was 12 and was baptized in a friend's swimming pool. Christian attended Lifegate Christian School where he was involved in basketball, track and choir. Although he wasn't a natural athlete, his hard work and determination carried him through. One of the highlights of his high school years was attending the Summit Christian Leadership Seminar in Colorado. It was there that his Christian world view crystallized and that experience became a significant reference point for the rest of his life. Christian graduated in 1993 as Valedictorian of his class. After high school he attended Southwest Texas State University. In order to pay his own way through college Christian worked part time, as well as maintaining an "A" average. Much to his mother's dismay, Christian became interested in bull riding, and on top of everything else in his busy life, he became a bull rider for the university rodeo team. Life was good for Christian and he enjoyed it immensely.

   Christian's world however, was turned inside out and upside down in April 1995. He was driving his truck back home by himself after being with his family in Denver for a business meeting. On Sunday, April 9, he prepared to head back to San Marcos for Monday classes. After hugging and kissing his mom and dad he left early and headed out. Christian headed south on I-25. Unbeknownst to him or anyone else at the Denver convention, a major blizzard was coming in from the southwest. That blizzard caught up with Christian between Pueblo and Trinidad. Exactly what happened during the next few minutes no one knows for sure. A reasonable speculation was that Christian saw the storm coming, got out of his truck to put it in 4 wheel drive, got back in and failed to put his seatbelt back on. Normally, that would have been a mistake but in this particular case it appears that the Lord was directing even that situation. Had he put his seatbelt back on he would have been crushed in the cab of the truck. The blizzard was so bad that the DPS officers later told Christian's parents that it was a virtual "white-out". Christian apparently lost visibility and the left side of the truck got off on the soft median, dirt, while the right side was on the slippery highway. The 4 wheel drive caused the truck to torque, roll once through the median, threw Christian out of the driver's side door 75 feet into a snow bank off the edge of the north bound I-25 lane. The truck must have rolled again and smashed the cab. The series of life saving miracles had already begun. First, Christian survived the impact and was found in a snow bank laid perfectly straight. This position prevented any additional spine injuries. The snow also cooled his body which helped slow down internal bleeding. The lights on the truck remained on after the rollovers peering south bound in the north bound lane. This attracted attention and the first family stopped. The Valdez family found Christian, put a blanket on him and started praying as there was nothing else they could do. Shortly after they arrived, a pediatrician arrived with a car phone (they were rare in those days) and tried to call EMS.

    Following that an air force chaplain and his wife came upon the wreck and started praying for Christian. Finally, six army medics who were returning from training in New Mexico stopped. They had all of their medical equipment with them and were able to render medical assistance for Christian. The EMS ambulance from Trinidad finally arrived and took him back where he had an emergency splenectomy, was stabilized and prepared to go to the trauma center in Pueblo. Their desire was to airlift him to Pueblo, but the weather was so bad they took him by ambulance traveling about 25 miles per hour on the interstate. When they arrived in Pueblo, Christian was received in the ER and immediately evaluated by the neurosurgeon. The doctor determined that Christian had epidural bleeding on the base of his skull on the left side of his head. He also found that Christian had dislocated his 5th cervical vertebrae which pinched his spinal cord causing paralysis in all four extremities. Brain surgery stopped the bleeding but all they could do for his spinal cord injury was to stabilize his neck so no further damage would occur. Hours after the surgery, Christian still wasn't doing well and the neurosurgeon diagnosed a deeper brain injury on the upper right side of his head. This was due to a rebound effect from the original injury. When they operated on the right side, the brain swelling was so extreme that they weren't able to replace the part of the skull they had removed. He was then sent to ICU with a very poor prognosis. The neurosurgeon felt Christian had a very small chance of surviving.

    During the time of Christian's wreck, miracles and surgeries, his family knew nothing of what had happened. They left Denver about four hours after Christian and unknowingly drove into the same storm. They drove slowly all night because they were unable to get off the interstate as it was impossible to see the exit roads. Since Christian left about four hours before, they assumed he was ahead of the storm and well on his way back to Texas. They stopped on Monday morning in Tucumcari, New Mexico to call Dr. Dwyer's office to explain he wouldn't be in. It was at that point he learned that Christian had been injured and was back in Pueblo. They turned around and headed back, crying and praying as they returned. When they met with the neurosurgeon at the trauma center, he explained the severity of Christian's injuries and that his only hope was a drug induced coma to help curb the intense brain swelling and reduce the damage. They closed their session with the doctor in prayer, committing to God the outcome of Christian's condition.

    During the first week, as Dr. and Mrs. Dwyer waited in the ICU waiting room, much to their surprise they had several visitors. The Valdez family, the Chaplin and his wife, the EMS technicians and the ER nurse all came by to check on Christian and tell the Dwyers their part of Christian's story. The fact these individuals would even bother to check up on Christian was unusual but what was truly amazing was that God had provided for Christian and the individuals He had used, in their own ways, were testaments to the miracles God performed. Those who assisted Christian were able to help piece the puzzle together so that the Dwyers not only knew what happened but could see God's hand in it. In an effort to thank the army medics, Dr. Dwyer contacted all the reserve and the National Guard units in the area, only to learn no none had been sent to New Mexico that weekend for training. This indeed was a supernatural miracle!

   During the month of his drug induced coma, Christian experienced just about every complication relating to his injuries. By God's mercy, he survived them all. A lot of prayers were offered up to the Lord on Christian’s behalf during that first month. Of course, his mother and father wanted him to live, but their most earnest prayer was that if he lived, he wouldn't have a bitter spirit toward God. Better that he should go home to be with the Lord than to live a lifetime of bitterness towards God for what had happened to him. That prayer was graciously answered for Christian has only had praise and gratitude to God for the life he is living.

   Five weeks later he returned to San Antonio for continued hospitalization and then rehabilitation. As the weeks and months proceeded he regained almost 100% of his memory and his intellectual capacity and use of his right arm. He has sensation throughout all his extremities but no other mobility. He was also plagued with extremely severe headaches whenever he would sit in his wheel chair. No medication or treatment could reduce these headaches; only laying in a supine position alleviated the head pain. The intensity of the headaches made any type of rehabilitation very difficult so that he couldn't utilize all that was available to him.

    In March of 1997, almost two years since his first wreck, Christian and his brother, Joshua, were involved in a second rollover wreck, due to a rain slick highway and a blow out on their van. Both Joshua and Christian were airlifted to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. The van was totaled but God's hand was on the brothers. Joshua sustained a mere scalp laceration. Christian sustained a blood clot in the frontal lobe of his head. When they did surgery to remove it they also stapled the durra mater back up to his skull and off his brain mass. Unknowingly, they actually fixed the very thing that was causing his severe headaches. The brothers neither had internal injuries nor had broken bones and the wreck ended Christian's headaches. It also provided him additional opportunity for 12 months of rehabilitation. Only God could have provided and directed such a situation! Once Christian got home from the rehab hospital, Mrs. Dwyer endeavored to find activities that would continue and diversify his rehab.

    In the summer of 1998 she contacted Liz Jerkins who taught art classes in Seguin. Christian's mother wasn't concerned that he would become an artist but she thought the movements in painting would be excellent therapy for his right arm. Working with Liz, it became evident that Christian did have some God given talent. With weekly sessions with Liz, her instructions and assistance, he has been able to paint the oil paintings featured on this website.

   Christian and his art teacher, Liz Jerkins chose oils as the medium for his paintings because oil is less quick drying than acrylic and thicker in application than water color. Both qualities allow for easier manipulation of the oil paints which make the medium more user friendly in coverage and correcting mistakes. They decided that the two techniques would be hallmarks of his work: highly textured areas on his paintings and completing the paintings on the sides which give it a "wrap around" appearance and can eliminate the need for framing. Christian puts his brushes in a utensil holder of his right wrist brace. He primarily uses his upper arm and forearm to make his strokes as his wrist and fingers have limited voluntary movement. His subject matters are primarily landscapes and seascapes which doesn't require too much use of fine motor skills for their completion. It usually takes Christian about six weeks to complete a picture. He has art class 2-3 times a week and usually has at least two pictures going at any one time so that he can alternate on paintings based on how dry they are and how well they will accept additional paint. Many of his paintings have specific Scriptures upon which they are based.

    Presently, Christian lives in his boyhood home south of Seguin with his parents and his sister, Elizabeth. His current activities include computer training, physical therapy, Bible correspondence courses for a degree in Biblical studies and of course, art classes. He also enjoys weekly visits with friends, attending church and Bible studies. His greatest joy is giving his testimony to various groups. When not doing class work, Christian enjoys RC Sproul videos, Focus on the Family videos and of course, some old John Wayne videos.

    Christian is a board member of Wheels of Love, founded by Rick and Toby Miller. This non-profit, Christian organization buys and distributes specially made wheel chairs for orphans and other individuals in Africa. www.wheelsoflove.com He is hopeful that he will be able to not only give his testimony, but also too develop more public awareness and support for Wheels of Love. Christian will be donating 20% of his profits from christianscanvascreations to Wheels of Love.

   It is evident that the Lord has given Christian the gifts of encouragement and earnest prayer for others. He sees his wheelchair as his "motorized pulpit". Because of his experiences he is able to relate able to relate the Gospel and God's mercy and love to others in a very significant way.

   Anyone wishing to contact Christian about a speaking engagement may do so by e-mail at:

info@christianscanvascreations.com

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� 2009