State Sen. Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, on Friday made his first public appearance since being critically injured in a July 4th jet ski accident on Smith Lake.
He was part of a panel discussion on economic development and workforce at the Manufacture Alabama annual meeting in Point Clear and spoke to Alabama Public Television’s Capitol Journal.
Gudger said he’s grateful and blessed.
“If you’ve had a new death experience, and I’d never had one until three months ago, it changes the way you think about things, what your goals and the way you think about things,” the two-term senator said.
Gudger was treated at UAB Hospital in Birmingham for three fractured vertebrae, six fractured ribs, a punctured lung and internal bleeding sustained from the accident.
“I’m blessed to be here, I’m blessed to be back, I’m blessed not to be paralyzed or dead,” Gudger said. “I’m just counting my blessings more than anything else right now.”
Gudger said he’s spending more time with his wife, Heather, and children.
“When I’m on my deathbed, and I’ve thought about this through this process, I’m not going to worry about my bank account or what I’ve made or bought over the years,” Gudger said. “What’s really going to matter is, did I instill what I needed to instill in my children and does my wife know I love her.
“… This was a way, I think, that God pulled me back in and said, ‘Let’s realign and focus.’”
Watch Gudger’s interview below.