Brendan's Dream: “I searched for a program that would mentally and physically challenge my abilities of one day walking again. I have great hope in my mind and heart to attempt the challenge,"

Brendan Regan

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Brendan Regan

On a day off during his spring baseball trip in Miami, Brendan and a few teammates ventured down to the sunny beach outside their hotel. Examining who was around, Brendan half sprinted towards the water, taking knee high steps. Taking a deep breath, he jumped through a wave hitting the top of his head on the sandy bottom. Two of his teammates quickly grabbed him, dragging his body to the sandy shoreline. He compressed and broke his C5 vertebrae of his spinal cord. The surgeon who performed surgery fused his C4-C6 vertebrae with bone, a titanium plate, and four screws. He received news from the doctor that he would never walk again.

Brendan went to the Froedert Memorial Hospital in Milwaukee for three months of intense therapy, helping him with daily living routines and getting out with his new wheelchair. Then he moved to Illinois and went to the Rehab Institute of Chicago Northbrook for eight months of outpatient therapy. There, he received strength training and worked on becoming less dependent on people. All of the therapy made Brendan a stronger and more confident person in a wheelchair. The therapy was for living in a chair, not for walking in his future.

“I searched for a program that would mentally and physically challenge my abilities of one day walking again. I have great hope in my mind and heart to attempt the challenge," says Brendan.