This Is My Story

First, I want to say that whenever I am celebrating Holidays with my family, I always think back to the outstanding first responders in Lee County that saved my life after a horrific motorcycle accident. Their relentless efforts to save my life against all odds is the reason I’m able to share each Holiday Season with my family, I try to show my appreciation to as many fire, police and medical emergency teams as I can throughout our county. I’ve included some goodies for you to enjoy and I’ve also included a copy of my story which I’ve tied into my business model as a real estate agent in Estero and San Carlos Park. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for all that you do for our community and my family thanks you for your hard work and dedication to helping others. If you have any questions or would like to chat, I always love speaking with heroes such as yourself! Just give me a ring..

How A Devastating Motorcycle Wreck Changed My Life!

My life was pretty good. I moved to Florida and became a real estate agent just as the market started to slow at the beginning of the recession. Still, I sold nearly 100 homes in my first full year, drove a luxury car and acquired a couple of investment properties. I was loving life.

On June 29 th , 2010 I was working from home and I decided to go out for sushi on my motorcycle. I was stopped at a red light at the intersection of Coconut Rd east and Hwy. 41, and the light turned green. I waited several seconds and looked both ways, just as my brother had taught me, before I proceeded to go

Then everything went dark.

The next thing I remember, is hearing voices asking me where I was hurt. I felt pain everywhere and I was afraid that I may be paralyzed. It was at that point that the emergency responders started to comfort me, telling me what happened and continued communicating with me so I could calm down and figure out what was going on.

I felt them cut my clothes off in the intersection, then place me on a gurney. As I was on the gurney I felt it moving and then the temperature changed from hot to cold and we stopped. I had asked why we were not moving and the paramedic told me I was in “bad shape” and they were waiting for the helicopter. That statement scared the living daylights out of me. After several minutes, they took me to the helicopter and I remember feeling us lift off. Then I was gone. Three days later, I woke up in a hospital bed. I was told that I had major trauma throughout my body and that a 17 year old girl had run the red light and crashed into me. 


I suffered critical injuries including a broken pelvis in four places, a fractured left femur, a fractured left shoulder, a torn posterior cruciate ligament in my left knee, and road rash and bruising on my right side.

I was told that I spent several hours on the operating table at Lee Memorial Trauma Center where an amazing Orthopedic Surgeon and a General Surgeon put me back together, putting a titanium plate and eight screws in my pelvis and three screws in the top of my femur. I spent a total of three days in the Intensive Care Unit and six days in Observation.

As I had no movement in my lower extremities, I spent the next 81 days recovering at a skilled care nursing facility, most of them flat on my back in bed.  The rehabilitation and healing process was grueling, extensive and exhausting.  I was warned at the time that I may need additional surgeries in the future.

Through it all, I maintained a positive attitude on my recovery. I refused to get down on myself or feel like life had given me a bad deal. I am a stubborn and determined man, and I knew that I would walk again and regain my life, no matter what it took.  

During my rehab at the nursing facility, I had to set up a small makeshift office to continue working. You see, as a real estate agent, you only make money when you work. As a small business owner, you sometimes have to go above-and-beyond to keep things moving smoothly. This was certainly the case for me. I needed to find a way to continue working and servicing my clients with what is usually one of the biggest transactions of their lives.

It was very humbling to see so many people coming to my aid. The nurses and doctors were amazing and always helped out whenever they could. Their positive attitudes and support helped me each and every single day. Even a restaurant I often visited brought me hot meals a few times per week (never looking for payment) and several other acquaintances showed their support in various ways. Everybody from attorneys to insurance providers to emotional counseling to physical rehab and even my lawn care company were simply outstanding and extremely helpful. 

During my recovery, I vividly remember sitting there thinking about all of these wonderful people who truly showed they cared about me. This really touched me personally. 

Fortunately for me, after nearly losing my life, I recovered very well. After having some serious follow up surgeries along the way, I can say I now have the ability to walk and run and do just about everything, including walking without a limp! Nowadays, I’m grateful to say that I’m doing extremely well as a Realtor. I look at life differently and I’ve learned to appreciate everything I previously took for granted.

Based on my experience and recovery from the motorcycle accident, I’ve made the conscious decision to help successful and hardworking clients because I received so much help from them during my catastrophe. Frankly, an entire group of people from dozens of industries, all saved my life in their own special way. I feel an internal need to “give back” and assist everyone in any way I can. Doctors, Nurses, First Responders, Small Business Owners, Attorneys, Insurance Providers, Executives and other Professionals deserve to be well taken care of because they offer so much to our community and they all help society in their own way, with their talents. In turn, as a Realtor, I specialize in Southwest Florida and I’ve made it my mission to give back in the only way I know how, using my education and ability in real estate to help them when they have a housing need be it buying or selling.

As part of my mission to help people, I’ve invested thousands of dollars in target marketing and exposing properties to the most sophisticated prospects. These skills make me a far better Realtor, getting results for my clients that are superior to anything they’d ever dreamed of in the sale or purchase of their property. In truth, their own acts of kindness caused me to invest a great deal of money to be the BEST at what I do, selling homes for absolute top dollar. Additionally, I’m contributing 20% of my income from each home sale to any charity of their choice.

My personal goal is to assist homeowners and buyers, touching their lives in a way that make their future a little brighter and less stressful. I’ve found that this has created life-long clients and friends for me as they’ve witnessed how much I truly care about getting them their desired results. There are lots of relationship bonuses in being friends with so many good people because the networking and referring of friends rewards everyone.

Remember the famous saying: “What goes around, comes around”. I’d like to ask that you keep my information on hand in case you ever have a real estate need. Additionally, if you’d like to drop me a line via email or call me just to chat, I’d love to hear from you. My personal cell phone is listed below and I answer from 8am to 8pm so feel free to give me a call to introduce yourself or to just say hello.

Jim Neal
Jim Neal Group
jim@jimdneal.com
239-233-4060

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