'Walking Miracle' Inspires Others

From the creator

Pat Rummerfield spends a week every month with patients in the International Center for Spinal Cord Injury at Maryland's Kennedy Krieger Institute. He works as a spokesman and raises money for the institute. He also provides moral support. PAT RUMMERFIELD: "Being able to touch the lives of others, knowing what they're going through, I myself have been in those same situations, and I've had the same thoughts going through my brain that's going through theirs." In 1974, Rummerfield broke his neck in four places in a traffic accident. Doctors thought he would be dead within 72 hours. They did not know about his fighting spirit. PAT RUMMERFIELD: "A week later, there was another meeting with my father and they said that I had beaten a billion to one odds. That they were pretty positive that I was going to live, but the prognosis was still grim." He spent one year in a physical rehabilitation center. Then, he and his father decided to direct his recovery on their own. PAT RUMMERFIELD: "It was very intense, five hours a day. Whatever moved, I'd lift a weight with it. You know, very slowly, very, very slowly things started coming back. It took about three and one-half years, but I could drag my right side for about 100 feet. Then I'd have to sit down and rest or take a nap." After 17 years of work, Rummerfield is considered a fully functional quadriplegic. Many people call him a "walking miracle." Then, he decided to set some records. PAT RUMMERFIELD: "When I got to that point

Published 2011-08-08 · Watch on YouTube ↗
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