About

Joel was born in Puerto Rico and raised in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx in New York City. He attended local public schools and was regularly moved into what used to be the IG (Intellectually Gifted) classes.

In 5th grade, his mother took him to take the placement test at Prep for Prep, where he passed and was accepted into Contingent X. He spent a year and a half attending his regular public school classes and then going to additional advanced courses on Wednesday afternoons and all day Saturdays with two full summer school sessions, one at the beginning and a second at the end of the program. Finally, he graduated and was placed in what was once the New Walden-Lincoln School. It has gone through several changes since then.

His mother had him take the Specialized High School Placement Test, where he scored well enough to be accepted at the Bronx High School of Science. He also spent those early high school years as a Harlem Youth Marine Cadet. However, he was so determined to join the Marine Corps that he left Bronx Science, got his High School diploma in 6 months, and joined the Marine Corps Reserves at 17.

He was trained as a Landing Support Specialist but cross-trained as a Logistics and Embarkation Expert. He also studied mechanical engineering and radio electronics in college on the civilian side.

In 2004 he became obsessed with custom motorcycles and got his welding certifications and a vocational certificate as a Harley-Davidson technician. He spent the next ten years working for nationwide dealerships, from Miami, Florida, to St. Louis, Missouri. In addition, he was the technical advisor and column writer for several local industry magazines like Wheels on the Road and Bikes and Beauties.

Joel bought his first Harley-Davidson in 2006 and had a major accident in 2007 that nearly took his life. So many things he realized were left unchecked on his bucket list if he had died that day. So he got busy quickly. 

He always wanted to learn an instrument, so he learned to play bass and became a founding member of a local rock band. They wrote and recorded an album and then toured the east coast together.

He always wanted a fast car, so he got one. He had never been to Las Vegas, so he went and won more than he lost. He wanted a family, so he got married and added three daughters to the one he already had.

After a long recovery that took several years, in 2011, he finally got to design and build his own ground-up custom motorcycle. With a ton of help from his friends and co-workers, they helped him engineer and assemble a bike published in a 4-page spread in the January 2012 issue of Easyriders Magazine and a complete build article on Bikernet.com.

He also wanted to write a book about the whole experience, so he did. After many titles that didn’t fit, he put his head down on his hands and rested them on his desk during a meeting with his writing group. As he lifted his head in frustration, he glanced at the back of his hand and saw a tattoo he had gotten years earlier. It was on the back of his right hand, above and below the scar from where they had cut it open to rebuild it after the accident. It simply said, “Scars are Forever.” Right at that moment, he knew he had found it.

Scars are forever

Fighting for your life when you don’t even know you’re Dead is the memoir of everything I went through to survive, recover and grow from the accident that kept me in a coma for eight weeks, the hospital for six months, in recovery for two years after 12 surgeries. 

I wanted to share my story because I felt so alone during recovery, even though I was surrounded by love and support. I searched for people with massive abdominal scars but found none. So I looked for people with no belly buttons, zip.

My goal is to get my book published and, hopefully, into the hands of people in similar situations who just need to know they’re not alone, it’s possible to survive their injuries, and that they can have a wonderful life beyond that.

While trying to figure out how to make that happen, I had the idea to create a space where people could show their scars (physical and mental) and share the stories that come with them,  a place where you can see and read about all of the fantastic people that are scarred up from all walks of life and who can inspire people to believe that they’ll make it as well.

So welcome to the community; show me your scars and tell me your stories.