WILMINGTON, N.C. — Michael Bowen has turned a tragic accident into a triumph and is now helping others.

Bowen coaches girls tennis at John T. Hoggard High School in Wilmington. He counts among his accomplishments getting 300 match wins as a coach this season and winning the 4A State Championship in 2020.

While all his achievements mean a lot, Bowen says the journey means more.

The path to his success as a coach started in his senior season of college at UNC Wilmington. After leaving the Arnold Schwarzenegger “Raw Deal” movie set as an extra, Bowen’s life was turned upside-down.

“I drove off the set, look both ways through an intersection, but I never saw the car that hit my driver’s side. And when it did, it broke my neck and paralyzed me from the neck down,” Bowen said.

Bowen was diagnosed as a walking quadriplegic, meaning he still suffers from residual paralysis on his right side.

He attacked his rehab with energy, pushing himself every day on the stationary bike, even with setbacks.

“Not only were my lungs filling up with fluid, I had a blood clot, pneumonia and the pulmonary embolism,” Bowen said.

He says this was the only time in his recovery that he truly gave up. Luckily, he had his family to keep pushing on when he could not.

“And my father left the room, came back with tears in his eyes, and he said, ‘We’re not giving up. And you’re not giving up,’” Bowen said.

After 94 days, Bowen took his first steps out of the rehab center, and a year and a half later, he began working toward a dream to ride a bike across the country.

In five years, he achieved his goal. He stopped at many rehab centers along his way to talk with those going through something similar.

Bowen kept a diary he used as therapy and turned it into a book.

“I wanted it to be a story of of inspiration,” he said.

“The Viewfinder: Michael’s Story” is available on Amazon.