Jay Corritan was on a business trip in Memphis, Tenn. He was driving to an appointment and started fiddling with his phone trying to locate a music set, admittedly he was not paying attention. He struck a parked car and spun around, striking a pole.

The next thing he remembers is emergency personnel around him telling him not to move. His next recollection is in the emergency room. He notices slowly that everything has stopped working. A doctor comes up and tells him he has broken his neck and they will be taking him to surgery to attempt a fusion.

“I asked (the doctor) if he was good at his job,” Corritan said. “He said he liked to believe that he was.”

This is only the middle of the journey that brought Corritan to Fountain Hills, where he is working to meet the challenges of putting his life back together and find some sense of normalcy.

The Times talked with Corritan sitting in his motorized wheelchair in a cubicle at Fountain Hills Town Hall. He is volunteering with the Town in an effort to give something back to the help and encouragement he has received from residents in the community.

Corritan is a native of Chicago and his life was on an upward trajectory in his early to mid-30s. He was working as a project manager and began to feel the effects of a high-stress job. Bouts with anxiety and then panic attacks set in.

“I found that when I got home a couple of glasses of wine would settle things down for me,” Corritan said. “I ended up self-medicating. The two glasses of wine turned into a bottle of vodka.”

Corritan sought help and spent time in detox and rehabilitation in Minnesota. He started attending AA meetings in November 2009 and has been sober for 13 years.

He learned a lot about the operations of detox facilities and sober homes and the certification process for those facilities through the National Association of Recovery Residences. He was working as a consultant at the time of his accident.

After the collision Corritan was faced with the challenges related to the care he would need and the medical expenses. He has family in Arizona including his mother in Scottsdale and an aunt here in Fountain Hills. They eventually completed a medical transfer from a nursing home in Tennessee and brought him here, where he is living in a group home in Fountain Hills.

Corritan clearly has strong cognitive abilities, and he was not at ease in the group situation where many residents are suffering dementia. He asked the home operator if he could get out of the house and a doctor cleared him to make trips out on his own. He started spending time at the Starbucks in Fountain Hills, where he would spend hours talking with people.

“These people were fantastic,” Corritan said. “They encouraged me to continue working hard.”

He started to look for other opportunities to reach out and even work. He has been asked to serve as a mentor with the school district in the fall. Those arrangements are still pending, but he is looking forward to that.

He also contacted Kim Wickland, Town of Fountain Hills Volunteer Coordinator, who was immediately willing to find a place for him.

He was finishing up a data filing project for Economic Development Director Amanda Jacobs at the time of this conversation.

“I have asked Amanda to challenge me with the next project,” Corritan said.

He said the first day he began volunteering with the Town he learned about the ongoing discussions regarding regulation of detox and sober home facilities in Fountain Hills. This is an area where Corritan has some expertise, and he has volunteered to talk with the sober home operators and various groups about such facilities. He has also volunteered to speak to students as an example of the extreme perils of distracted driving.

“This whole thing is my fault, and I am now working to get myself out of it,” Corritan said. “I don’t want to be a ward of the state, I want people to challenge me to show what I can do.”

Corritan is working with a physical therapist in what he describes as intense therapy. He can now stand and hopes to be able to walk again.

“It is brutal, but I need to do it,” he said.

His goals are what most people do every day. He wants to walk again and be financially stable.

“I want my independence back.”

Corritan has, like many people, fallen in love with Fountain Hills.

“I feel I can be of assistance to the community,” he said. “This is a great little town. I can see myself staying here long-term.”