‘I’m still here’: He was paralyzed at 20, he found peace through woodcarving

PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) -- A moment of introspection with Karl Schmidt -- a man who is paralyzed from the collarbones down -- asks, “Haven’t we all been someplace where we wished we could’ve gone left when we should’ve gone right?”

The 65-year-old finds solace in woodworking and the natural world. His home is filled with hundreds of wooden carvings of ducks, squirrels and bear heads, as well as taxidermy and decoys.

Karl Schmidt says he found peace and inspiration through woodcarving. (Photo: Lindsey West, 8News)

Schmidt became paralyzed at 20 years old while swimming at a friend’s house. His friend dove into the pool before him and came back up. When Schmidt dove in, he was stuck at the bottom of the pool.

“I didn’t know a spinal cord injury from a hangnail back then,” Schmidt said. “And I couldn’t understand why I was under four feet of water with my hands alongside my head and I couldn’t move.”

When it settled in that Schmidt would be wheelchair- or bed-bound for the rest of his life, he says he begged his father and friends to come to the ICU to shoot him.

“I went into cardiac and respiratory arrest one evening. My father was doing something he didn’t ordinarily do,” Schmidt said. “He was stroking my brow and telling me that it was OK if I wanted to slip away.”

Karl Schmidt says he found peace and inspiration through woodcarving. (Photo: Lindsey West, 8News)

Doctors told Schmidt’s father that they could revive him once but they were unsure if they could do it again. He was told to say his final goodbyes.

“When I got back home, I didn’t know what to do with myself,” Schmidt said. “I kind of looked down at my driveway and I saw my truck that I couldn’t drive and I looked in my garage and I saw my motorcycle that I couldn’t ride.”

Schmidt said he went from having impressive strength to being unable to swat a fly off of his nose.

To this day, he still has very limited use of his hands. His right hand doesn’t work at all. He can only flex his right wrist. His left hand works poorly. Schmidt relates it to the feeling of being in a snowball fight for too long and your hand gets cold and stiff.

Karl Schmidt says he found peace and inspiration through woodcarving. (Photo: Lindsey West, 8News)

Although he lacked full control, it was enough to hold tools.

“I started off with balsa wood, got into basswood and it just took off from there. All of a sudden, I found myself,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt said 24 hours in a day isn’t enough for him. He loves being outside and feels grateful to live on 194 acres. When it comes to woodcarving, Schmidt has a special adoration for ducks.

“I was very taken by the beauty of these animals and I did more than shoot them and throw them in the back of the duck blind,” Schmidt said. “I set them in my lap and studied them.”

Schmidt’s carving process begins with a blocky piece of wood that gets grinded down on a belt sander into the shape of a duck.

“I always carve my ducks where the wings cross themselves in the back,” Schmidt said. “Ducks don’t always do that, but I thought it was snazzier to have wings that crossed in the back.”

Then, the ducks get taken to Schmidt’s outdoor office, which includes a woodworking table overlooking Schmidt’s property. This is where he carves the details with a smaller drill.

Next, Schmidt uses a wood burner to texturize and give the ducks fine detail.

He always writes the case history on the bottom of each duck, including his name and the date of creation.

About a decade ago, Schmidt got on a kick to do bear heads. In his home, a variety of woodcarved animals are displayed, from antelope to sika deer.

“I just got on a kick for a year or two of just kinda doing these kinds of carvings, and I just got it out of my system and went back to doing ducks and never looked back,” Schmidt said.

Doctors told Schmidt at the time of his accident to expect to live another 20 years. He has lived 45 years past his accident.

“I’m still here. I’m still making ducks, and I still go hunting, and I’m still inspiring people, so the great creator upstairs thinks I still have work to do down here on Earth to inspire people or give hope,” Schmidt said.