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Tag: SCI

MFB’s Jocelyn Dettloff feels the ‘need for speed’ at Berlin Raceway

Jocelyn Dettloff, Annual Fund Director for the Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation, isn’t one to shy away from a high-adrenaline adventure. When Jocelyn — who in 1997 was paralyzed in a sand sledding accident in Namibia, Africa — was recently given the chance to drive a race car on the Berlin Raceway, she embraced the […]

People + technology = a winning combo for patient with spinal cord injury [Video]

Dean McClellan, a patient of the Mary Free Bed Spinal Cord Injury Program, has made great strides in his journey to once again walk. Leading-edge technology — like the LokomatPro and ZeroG — plays an important role in physical rehabilitation. But the human factor is just as crucial for a meaningful recovery. The videos below demonstrate […]

River Bank Run with Mary Free Bed handcycle and wheelchair athletes

Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital is proud to sponsor the Fifth Third River Bank Run Wheelchair & Handcycle divisions. The following videos show you first-hand what it’s like to train and race on a handcycle or wheelchair. Please contact Wheelchair & Adaptive Sports if you’re interested in being involved with the team. #MFBRollin | #53RBR – Join […]

Still hunting – and still walking

Ed Spoelma has three words of advice for anyone who hunts from a tree stand: Wear your harness. Three years ago, Ed was hunting from a tree stand near Remus, Mich. when he fell 20 feet, breaking his sternum and back. He suffered permanent nerve damage and now has two rods in his back. “I […]

What a difference a year can make

Guest Blog by Becca Willis, wife of Mary Free Bed alumnus On September 25, 2013, Adam Willis had a life-changing accident on a mountain bike trail. He went over his handlebars and hit the ground head first. His neck was snapped back and he sustained a spinal cord injury. Without his helmet, he would have […]

Jennifer Crowell – A Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Story Part 2

Jennifer Crowell, Mary Free Bed graduate, decided that her accident wasn’t the end. In fact, it was the beginning of her decision to inspire and encourage others in similar situations. Listen as Shelley Mishler, Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital Guild President, shares Jennifer’s story of hope and determination.

Diamond Lee – A Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Story

Editor’s note: As part of our holiday campaign, Mary Free Bed is asking former patients to tell us about their rehabilitation experience. What follows is one of those stories. I went to Mary Free Bed after I broke my neck in a car accident. I loved being there. The nurses and therapists made me feel […]

Jennifer Crowell – A Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Story

Editor’s note: As part of our holiday campaign, Mary Free Bed is asking former patients to tell us about their rehabilitation experience. What follows is one of those stories. Who would have thought that a life-changing injury would bring such incredible people into my life? It was July 15, 2008 – a gorgeous summer day […]

Adam Willis – A Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Story

Editor’s note: As part of our holiday campaign, Mary Free Bed is asking former patients to tell us about their rehabilitation experience. What follows is one of those stories. My husband, Adam Willis, was a patient at Mary Free Bed from September 30 – November 17, 2013 after a mountain biking accident that resulted in […]

Mary Free Bed Patient Gets Back to the Hunt

“It’s about getting me back to me…and who I’m going to be for the rest of my life,” says Mike Kibben of his time spent in the Spinal Cord Injury Program at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in 1997. Mike fell from a tree while hunting, paralyzing him for life. But with the help of Mary […]

Man Returns to Hunting after Experiencing a Spinal Cord Injury

As an experienced hunter, Breck Lonier was familiar with the safety precautions. However, one mistake led him to fall from a tree stand and become paralyzed. The only thing Breck remembers during that hunting trip in October 1999 was that he wasn’t feeling well. “I actually fell from the tree stand twice,” Breck explains. “I […]

Man Overcomes Spinal Cord Injury and Publishes Book

As a former firefighter and father of three, Steven P. Christians always had an active lifestyle. When he wasn’t fighting fires, Steven ventured outdoors, spending his free time fishing, hunting, or camping. However, Steven’s life took a drastic turn when doctors found a syrinx, a fluid-filled cyst, in his spinal cord. At age 35, Steven […]

Motivation Leads to Remarkable Recovery after Spinal Cord Injury

Last March, Chris Graystone was enjoying a fun evening with friends. However, the night filled with good laughs and memories took a turn for the worse when a few friends decided to take a polar bear plunge. Chris decided to join them. While making his way to the lake, Chris tripped over uneven ground just […]

Horseback riding accident leaves competitor with spinal cord injury

Dr. Alice Gale has always been active. Last year, if she wasn’t at her dermatology practice, she was outside running, riding her bike or maybe at the gym. For as long as she can remember, she’s ridden horses, and for the past 20 years, she’s jumped horses competitively. Last February, Alice was in Florida for […]

Told he’d never walk again, Bob is back on his feet

For the second time that winter, Bob Dykstra and his friends jumped on their snowmobiles and shot into the woods. Always a fan of snow sports, Bob was eager to tear up the powder. They approached a hill that they’d gone over hundreds of times before. Bob flew over the pinnacle and instead of landing […]

Man walks again after sustaining spinal cord damage from aortic aneurysm

Many of us have heard these kinds of motivational statements before. But when you experience a life changing event, these words take on a whole new meaning. Randy Ribble, 64, was enjoying an ordinary evening in May when it took an unfortunate turn. “I was settling in for the night, and of all of sudden […]

Dreams, triumphs and rugby: Colin Sullivan lives life to the fullest

For Colin Sullivan, a life-long resident of West Michigan, December 19, 1999, will always be remembered as the day in which his life changed forever. Early that morning, around 5 am, Colin drove from East Lansing to his home in Grand Rapids, an 80-mile journey he had taken countless times in the past as a […]

Restoring hope, sharing beauty

Often the road to hope and recovery is a maze with twists and turns that move forward then backward. Vern Criner has been navigating his maze for 4 years. Vern has suffered setbacks, surgeries and despair. But, his times at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital have provided steps forward toward hope. Vern was a florist […]

Spinal Cord Injury Patient Gets Back on the Road

After suffering a spinal cord injury from a snowmobile accident, Dan Bolhouse closed the door to negativity. Dan had been snowmobiling since he was a child. While on a trip with his buddies in 1999, he took an unexpected sharp turn too fast and crashed straight into a tree. He devastatingly injured the T7 vertebrae […]

Athlete returns to competition after spinal cord injury

by Beth Redford After a few days, I have recovered from playing in the recent Grand Rapids Wheelchair Sports Association (GRWSA) Tennis Fundraising Tournament at Ramblewood in Grand Rapids. The weekend started with picking up 3 cases of tennis balls for tournament director and wheelchair tennis head coach, Lynn Bender, and delivering them to Ramblewood. After […]

Motorcycle Accident Victim Full of Hope and Optimism throughout Recovery

Matthew Sexton was riding his motorcycle on his way to work early one morning. He was cruising down a two-lane road when he noticed an SUV heading straight toward him. As he veered to the shoulder to avoid an accident, the SUV swerved in the same direction and hit Matthew head on. Matthew flew through […]

Sustained by his faith, avid hunter recovers from tree stand fall

by Chris Lewis As a Michigan native, Geoff Newmyer, along with a majority of his friends and family members, has been actively hunting since he was a child. “My dad and uncles were avid hunters,” Geoff said. “As I grew up, I always looked forward to hunting with my dad.” Geoff has been hunting on […]

Rebuilding from the ground up

by Amanda Larsen A small businessman in Kalamazoo for 34 years, Jeff Block, ended a long day of work on a rainy July evening with the routine job of emptying his truck bed of the day’s debris. Jeff heaved the trash into the dumpster and slipped. He lost his footing and fell off the truck. […]

Passion, Optimism, Recovery: Hunter Shares Story of Tree Stand Fall

by Chris Lewis For as long as he can remember, Gale Lynch has been passionate about the outdoors – and hunting. At the age of 8 he began to accompany his father during fall and winter deer hunts, as the two regularly searched for trophy bucks. He soon found himself shooting at tin cans with a […]