Once-Paralyzed Long Island Dentist Defies Odds, Walks Again

MANHASSET, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A Long Island dentist was told he would never walk again after a wave knocked him to the ocean floor, leaving him paralyzed.

But with the help of a friend and a lot of determination, he's now back on his feet making kids' smiles brighter than ever.

Dr. Joe Brofsky lives to see the smiles of his pediatric dental patients that he thought he may never see again.

"It was very quiet. I was floating in water and I realized I was probably going to die because I couldn't move," Brofsky told CBS2's Jessica Moore on Thursday.

On March 1, Brofsky was on vacation with his buddies in the Dominican Republic when a day at the beach took a tragic turn.

"I was in 3 feet of water. I wasn't surfing or doing anything crazy. I was looking the wrong way. A wave hit me from behind. My head hit the ground. My neck snapped back and I was paralyzed," Brofsky said. "I was laying in the water talking to God, or negotiating with God. 'Please don't take me. I'm too young for this.' I knew I had a grandson coming and I had to be there to hold that grand-baby."

Brofsky credits his friend, Jim Lawler, with saving his life that day.

"Seeing him laying in the water that day, I could see the fear in his eyes, him thinking about his uncertain future," Lawler said. "I never thought I'd be the guy in the ocean saying, 'I needed help,' but I screamed out, 'I need help!'"

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Brofsky was airlifted back to Northwell Health, where neurosurgeon Dr. Michael Lefkowitz spent three hours repairing his spine, re-engaging the signals that travel from the brain to the body and tell it how to work.

Brofsky then spent five weeks at Glen Cove Hospital learning how to walk, how to eat, how to do everything all over again.

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Part of Brofsky's rehab included lifting an 8-pound weight, training to hold his soon-to-be-born grandson, who he prayed he'd live long enough to see.

"I got to the baby. They said, 'Do you want to hold the baby?' I said, 'All right, I'm strong enough.' I looked at the baby. I held the baby. I cried like a baby," Brofsky said.

His recovery is remarkable. Five months to the day of the accident, Brofsky is back working with his charity "Give Kids A Smile," and teaching future dentists at Northwell Health. He's still working to regain fine motor skills, but said he believes a full recovery is only a matter of time.

Lefkowitz said he sees at least one severe spinal cord injury every summer from people swimming in shallow water who get hit by a wave. He said people are often safer being a bit further out into the ocean, where your body is cushioned by the water should a big wave come out of nowhere.