News (AP) - University of Michigan coaches aim to help man walk again

By Angelique S. Chengelis The Detroit News DETROIT (AP) -- In a flash, Brock Mealer maneuvered out of his specially equipped hand-controlled Pontiac G6, unfurled a nicked green folding wheelchair emblazoned with a Michigan sticker, and was on his way. A green chair with a Michigan logo used by an Ohio State graduate student? As incongruous as all that seems, there are plenty of reasons. "It's ugly," Mealer, 25, said of the wheelchair. "I didn't want to get attached." And he means that. Literally. Although he was told he had a one percent likelihood of walking again, Mealer has no interest in being tethered to his "ugly" wheelchair. He's emboldened by the support of Michigan football strength and conditioning coaches Mike Barwis and Parker Whiteman, who have responded to Mealer's determination to walk with their personal determination and eagerness to facilitate that goal. Mealer, brother of Michigan offensive lineman Elliott Mealer, was paralyzed from the waist down after a car accident on Christmas Eve 2007 near his home outside Toledo. Their father, David Mealer, was driving the family's SUV when it was struck by a vehicle driven by a 90-year-old man who ran a stop sign. David Mealer was killed, along with Elliott's girlfriend, Hollis Richer. Shelly Mealer, their mother, and Elliott suffered minor injuries. Nine months after beginning strenuous workouts with Barwis and Whiteman, who have volunteered their time and have a no-holds-barred approach and zero interest in treating Mealer with kid gloves, Mealer continues to progress toward walking again. One percent? Ha! "He'll walk," Barwis said firmly as a statement of fact, not as a hope or dream. Barwis shaped Mealer's training regimen in late October when they started working together a few days a week in the Schembechler Hall weight room, and Whiteman has taken over the reins. The 6-foot-2 Mealer, who recently changed his diet and dropped 10 pounds to 230, has gone from using a harness to assist him, to crutches and ankles braces, to more recently walking with the use of aluminum canes. "We had one conversation, and I told him, 'Do you want to walk or sit in your chair the rest of your life?' "Barwis said bluntly, 'Bring your (butt) in here, you decide. It's pretty simple decision -- walk or roll yourself around. What's the worse thing that can happen? What am I going to do, paralyze you?'" Mealer, who continued to work with therapists at Michigan, decided he had to take advantage of what Barwis and Whiteman were offering. Now, he's closing in on his fully attainable goal, an opportunity first presented to him by Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez: To walk the Wolverines out of the tunnel Sept. 4 before the season opener at Michigan Stadium against Connecticut. In July, Whiteman and Barwis banned Mealer's wheelchair from the weight room -- he must walk in and walk out. Mealer, who often wears an Adidas-motto T-shirt ("Impossible is nothing"), has taken that same approach at home, leaving the wheelchair outside his bedroom so he is forced to walk where he needs to go. With the assistance of the canes -- occasionally just one -- Mealer recently walked more than 500 yards during the course of his workout. He did 10, one-minute trials and walked 25 yards each time. Mealer has been teased by Whiteman and Barwis that the team will not wait forever to be led out of the tunnel, so the pressure is on. It's about 60 yards, Whiteman said, to the M Go Blue banner at midfield, and they're working on his timing. "We're definitely working more on the speed of my steps, the placement of my steps," said Mealer, who believes he'll make the walk without assistance. "After this weekend, I just walked a lot more, and it feels comfortable. In the next couple weeks it will fall into place." Elliott Mealer wasn't recruited by Rodriguez, but a few weeks after the accident, he visited Brock Mealer at U-M Hospital. He reassured him that Elliott, who injured a shoulder in the accident and was redshirted in 2008, would be a Wolverine. Brock Mealer vividly remembers the day. It was Super Bowl Sunday in 2008, and Rodriguez told him not to worry about his younger brother, but that he must focus on his own physical therapy and getting well. "I don't have to tell you, it was amazing because I had just been seeing him all over the news, the new Michigan coach coming in, and then this guy is sitting in my hospital room," Mealer said. "I remember Mike (Barwis) and a few of the coaches came to the hospital in February and March, and it was really cool -- they didn't recruit Elliott, but they knew there was a recruit who had a brother in the hospital." Mealer stopped by a Michigan spring practice in March. At that point, through aggressive physical therapy, he had been able to get on his feet wearing leg braces and was able to take a few steps. "He told the team I was told I would never walk again and I was over there taking steps," Mealer said. "The team was down on their knees with their helmets, and they stood up, clapping." That was the genesis of Rodriguez's idea to have Mealer lead the team onto the field. "It was kind of one of those things that Rich would mention, 'You should run out with us one of these days when you're up and running and lead us out of the tunnel,'" Mealer said. Goal set. Goal on the verge of being realized. "When I first met him, it was a few weeks after the accident, and he had such a great attitude, and I think he infected the entire team with it," said Rodriguez, who said he verbally nudges Mealer when he sees the countdown clock to the first game in the locker room, reminding him how many days he has remaining. "I watch him work out, and he is drenched in sweat, his legs are beat red, he's putting everything into it. For us, just to see him upright ... he's going to do it. Everybody on this team wants him to walk us out before the game. He's inspirational. He's part of this family." Whiteman has become what Barwis calls the "engineer" of Mealer's workouts, and it has been a journey for the strength coaches, as well. Whiteman has been relentless, pushing Mealer to find his muscles and regain the use of his legs. When Mealer fell during a recent session, no one rushed to his aid -- he needed, Whiteman said, to find a way to recover. Tough love, and it works. They treat Mealer like anyone else, giving him a not-for-print, one-of-the-guys nickname and a weight-room theme song when he walks in. Whiteman joked he's determined to push Mealer, who never swears, to the point of swearing. Mealer never does. "I remember when we told him he couldn't bring his wheelchair in," Whiteman said. "That was a Friday, and he walked in Monday with canes. The progress he has made in the last nine months, to see him change and become a leader himself ... it's always about the next step." It's all about the next step for Mealer in the literal sense, as well. "It's pretty amazing," said Mealer, who has spoken to groups at his high school in Wauseon, Ohio, and at Ohio Northern. "I always said I'm going to walk again, but still you have those days like, 'Wow, am I really doing this?' Pretty wild. "I still have a picture my sister-in-law took of me sitting up in my hospital bed and I was smiling, but I remembered I smiled for that split second and said, 'OK, lay me down again.' I had two nurses holding my shoulders to sit me up, and I was sweating just from sitting up for a couple seconds. It was just miserable. I couldn't imagine sitting up on my own. And now, even a few months ago I was at a place a lot of people never thought I'd be, and even I was unsure if I'd ever get there." Mealer is a man of strong faith. His attitude is positive, but he admits to having his share of moments when he's wondered and questioned how his life was so dramatically altered. "Nights definitely, because the day winds down and you're just lying there," he said. "I had a countless number of those at the hospital. I probably got three or four hours of sleep at night at the hospital just sitting there and wondering why and a lot of time wondering if everything was real or if I was I going to wake up. Luckily, I have less and less of those all the time. "I get it a lot that, 'Wow you have a really strong faith,' and I do, but I also have those moments and I wonder why me? Why isn't God doing this for me now? And every time I've had those moments, either something or someone shows up to help me along. It's usually something pretty big. It's always at those moments when I need it most." And on Sept. 4, the moment will be huge. "He's so mentally strong -- his mental strength has been unparalleled," Rodriguez said. "It has never wavered. "I can't wait to see him come down that tunnel. There's going to be a few tears in my eyes." Published: Tue, Aug 3, 2010

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