Ronnie Brown
One Saturday morning in June 1993, 41 year old Ronnie Brown was enjoying his usual weekend routine.

"I was up early and out in our garden enjoying the sight of the beautiful plants that were growing and beginning to bloom. As I hoed and weeded the plants, my mind seemed to be freed from the worry of a busy week that had just gone by and of another soon approaching. For me, working in the yard and especially in our garden, helped clear my mind and calm my soul. Later that morning, my life and the life my family knew, dramatically changed."

Ronnie was traveling to his mother's house with his 2 children when he fell asleep at the wheel.

"I ran off the road and my truck rolled over three times. Fortunately, the kids were not injured, but I was instantly paralyzed. I soon learned that I had broken my neck and suffered a spinal cord injury. I went through three months of intense inpatient rehabilitation and another three months of outpatient rehabilitation. Everything I was accustomed to doing had changed. I had to learn how to feed, bathe, groom and dress myself all over again, but in a very different way. Everything I tried to do seemed so difficult to do. Nothing was easy."

The nurses and therapists at Baptist Health Rehabilitation Institute will always have a very special place in Ronnies' heart. Each person played a very important part on the team.

"I am a nurse by profession, but there are always things to learn. The therapist taught me so many things that I can't list them all. Some important things were how to come to a sitting position while in bed. It took me six months just to learn how to roll over in bed, then how to transfer from the bed to chair and back. I learned how to feed myself with an adaptive hand splint which could also be used for a tooth brush or a razor. They taught me techniques to use to dress and bathe myself. There were so many things. The nurses taught me about how to manage my bowel program, how to take care of my bladder, and how to take care of my skin. They did such a wonderful job reinforcing the things I learned in therapy. My family was included in the training which helped immensely. Physically, I don't think I would be where I'm at today, without therapy."

After Ronnie went home he had a lot of time to think and it was hard not to become depressed and just feel like giving up.

"I caught myself many times just sitting and staring out the window, looking at all the tall weeds that were growing in the garden that I had planted. I soon realized that I needed to be doing something different with my time, so I thought about looking for a job back at the hospital. Seven months after the accident, I returned to work. I was not able to physically care for patients anymore. I became a nurse educator and now spend a lot of time doing things such as in-services, orientation or just talking with the nurses about different issues. Even though I enjoy my new role, I still miss that one on one, hands on care of the patient. But, I still have lots of opportunities to work with patients. I enjoy talking to the patients and their families and sharing with them my knowledge and a word or two of encouragement. I enjoy speaking to junior high and high school students about accident prevention. If I can just get through to one student, I feel I have made a difference."

Ronnie often has the opportunity to visit with and speak to nursing students. He usually speaks about rehabilitation and what rehabilitation nursing is.

"I have an opportunity to tell them about myself and what happened to me. Since I was a patient for so many months, hopefully, I can share some insight on how to be a better nurse."

After an accident such as a spinal cord injury, a person can lose a lot of independence. If you are used to doing things for yourself as most people are, it's hard to give in and let someone help you. But truly, you sometimes have to rely on someone else to do things for you or help you do it. It can be very rewarding for some people, to know that they were able to help someone else in need.

"I have always hated being the passenger in a car. I prefer to do the driving. I relied upon public transportation for about one year after I went back to work. I was so excited when I was finally able to buy a van with a wheelchair lift on it. The only downside to being able to drive was that I was now able to drive through fast food anytime I wanted to. Driving though was the biggest thing that personally made me feel that I had my independence back. Although I had a job, a van and a wonderful family, it took five years for me to realize that I was not totally happy with my life and my situation. My usual daily routine was go to work, then go home and watch TV or play on the computer (my family often reminds me of this)."

"Occasionally I would go out to eat or attend my church meetings. I finally realized that being a quadriplegic and living a sedentary lifestyle was taking a toll on my body. Before I knew it, I weighed two hundred and sixty-five (265) pounds or more. It was becoming very difficult to get up out of bed, to push my wheelchair and to get around. I had always been a happy person, but now when I looked at pictures of myself, I wasn't smiling and I looked sad and miserable."

"I finally looked at my life and what I had and realized that I had a lot to live for and to be happy about. I had a beautiful wife, two wonderful children, and the list goes on and on. So, I went back to the basics that I learned in college and started a safe practical diet, not a fad diet, but one I knew I could live with and stick to. I developed an exercise plan that I could do and took control of my life again. I lost sixty-five pounds in about nine months and another seven pounds since. I am happy with a seventy-two pound loss and I have kept it off for nearly two years now. I smile in all my pictures now and best of all, my wife can put her arms around me."