The spirit to overcome adversity
Brandon Daveler is well aware how an accident can change a person’s life.
Robbed of his ability to walk while a freshman in high school, Daveler is restricted to a wheelchair, paralyzed from the chest down and considered a quadriplegic. But, despite the heavy blow to his life, the 18-year-old realizes that a person who accepts his condition and remains positive will come out on top, and one memorable day this June was a testament to that adage.
To a thundering round of applause from the crowd gathered at the Laurel Highlands High School commencement ceremonies, Daveler received his high school diploma.
“[The applause] was just one more indication of the respect and discernment his peers have for Brandon,” said high school Principal John K. Diamond.
With a cool, calm, yet upbeat personality, dark good looks and warm brown eyes, Daveler overcame many obstacles to obtain this milestone in his life.
The teen has proven that a person with a severe disability can aspire to do great things by not allowing physical limitations hinder academic achievement and personal fulfillment.
“It feels great to be able to finish high school and hopefully go on to better and greater things. I’m very proud,” he said.
And adding to his list of amazing accomplishments, Daveler plans to enter Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campu,s as a full-time electrical engineering student this fall.
For Joseph Daveler, having his son graduate high school and go on to college takes on a much deeper meaning, who said high school graduation was something he never did.
“I’m so proud that he can even do it; but to get awards like this and excel, it’s unbelievable,” Joseph Daveler said, with tears in his eyes.
“He’s such an inspiration. It’s unbelievable how much so,” he continued. “Some are born with a disability. But when you become disabled during life, I guess it’s not as fun to live with.”
‘A blow to his life’
Daveler was expected to win the championship title in the American Motorcyclist Association’s District 5 division and then, he had decided his racing stint would end.
“I was going to quit before I got hurt, and look what happened,” said Daveler, sitting inside his brick, ranch home on Bitner Road in Franklin Township, his blue ’08 graduation tassel swaying from his wheelchair bar.
On Saturday, Feb. 12, 2005, at the Greene County Fairgrounds before the first official race of the season had begun, the 15-year-old came off a jump too fast during the practice and qualifying rounds and flipped his Yamaha 85 motorcycle. He landed awkwardly and broke his neck, resulting in a spinal cord injury.
Still conscious of his surroundings, Daveler said he remembers an official yell, “Red Flag! Red Flag!”
“I went out too fast and messed up,” he explained.
His father remembers rushing onto the track and his son saying to him, “I can’t feel my legs.”
The accident dealt Daveler an incredible blow to his emotional and social status, according to Jake Barkley, a mobile therapist with Alliance Health Wraparound in Uniontown, who is credited by Daveler’s grandmother with helping the young man accept his condition and live his life.
“It’s something to be as active as he was (and have this happen),” Joseph Daveler said. “It’s unbelievable what he has gone through, and he keeps upbeat about everything.”
Once a great athlete with a “gorgeous” girlfriend and a love of independence, Daveler had to begin a new and different life, depending on others for support, said Barkley.
“Despite this blow to his life, he’s been able to face it and overcome it,” Barkley said. “He’s an outstanding example of what a human being can be.”
He spends four hours once or twice a week working with Daveler.
“Being in a wheelchair,” Daveler explained, “you rely on a lot more things. It’s different some days. A lot of days, I am looking forward to life and happy.”
Barkley said the teen has made amazing progress.
“Everything he does is amazing to me,” said Barkley. “His ability to smile is amazing to me. His will to live and realize his full potential is outstanding.”
Added Joseph Daveler, “He could have given up, but he never did. He said, ‘OK. This is a part of my life.'”
Serving as an inspiration
Joseph Daveler said he meets people every day who say they pray for his son.
“The amount of people he has touched is amazing,” he said. “Some who he hasn’t seen for years, still pray for him and think about him. He has been an inspiration to a lot of people.”
Lisa Daveler said it’s her son’s positive outlook on life that is an inspiration to others.
“Honestly, with all he has been through and the hurdles he has had to overcome, he has kept a positive outlook and wanted to continue with school and didn’t let his disability deter him in any way,” she said.
“He could have crawled in a corner, but instead, he came to school with a positive attitude and wanted to learn,” she continued.
Added Joseph Daveler, “Normally, your parents are an inspiration to kids, but he is mine.”
Grandparents Tom and Mary Ellen Hanan of Lemont Furnace helped raise Daveler.
Mary Ellen Hanan said having a grandson with such a severe disability was challenging at first.
“It was hard for us to accept. (It became easier) after seeing he has accepted it. The hurt is still there, but not as bad,” she said.
She described him as a smart boy determined to succeed not matter what difficulties he has faced or will face in the future.
“I’m really proud of him. He’s on the National Honor Society and has straight A’s on his report card. He wants to accomplish things. He wants to invent something to help someone else with his condition. How could we not feel proud?” she asks.
Tom Hanan said his grandson’s disability “is heartbreaking, but you have to be strong for him. He surprises everybody. If he has a bad day, he must hide it because it doesn’t show. He’s an inspiration to us.”
“Things happen for a reason,” said Joseph Daveler. “Because of the accident, I think he has realized his potential. He always has been smart, gotten straight A’s. He wanted to race motorcycles. Now he had used his brains to get ahead.”
Excelling in school
It’s a weekday around 5 a.m.
Daveler is up and stretching, his at-home nurse, Amy Barrett of Care Unlimited in Pittsburgh, is assisting with his exercises before he boards a van for the drive to school.
“It’s tough,” Daveler said of his daily routine. “It takes about an hour and a half to get ready compared to one minute before I was hurt. It’s a change.”
Joseph Daveler helps with the nighttime routine after coming home from work.
The father said a lot of patience and effort was needed from both he and his son for Brandon to succeed.
“He’s my everything,” said Joseph Daveler. “Nothing goes through my mind about how hard it is for me. …Every day is a challenge for him. He’s everything to me.”
Principal Diamond said Daveler is a fantastic role model and a tremendous inspiration to many of his classmates.
“Often, when some of his peers have had doubts about their personal situations, they have looked to Brandon for motivation,” he shared. “One student told me that, ‘It takes him longer to get ready for school in the morning. If he can get here on time, why can’t I?'”
Daveler earned perfect attendance and maintained a rigorous course load his senior year, completing courses like calculus, automation/robotics and advanced placement physics.
But, according to Daveler making it to school everyday isn’t always easy for a person in his condition.
“With paralysis, it’s difficult to stay healthy,” Daveler explained. “I don’t move around as much.”
His junior year was by far the toughest since the accident. Sick with pneumonia twice, he was out of school for weeks.
Judy Ozanich, his in-school personal care aide, said despite the illness, Daveler scored advanced on the math and reading portions of the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA), a critical test the state uses to grade school districts. Ozanich helped him study for the test, while he was hospitalized.
In school, Ozanich literally acted as Daveler’s writing arm, jotting down answers to test questions.
“I was the response person,” she said. “He said the answer, and I wrote it down.”
In his classes, Daveler has excelled.
Josh Hvizdos, high school calculus teacher, said Daveler was the smartest student in class.
“You can’t take away his mind,” Hvizdos commented.
Richard Terrill, high school physics teacher, said Daveler compensated very well despite his disability.
“We all have moments when we feel a little sorry for ourselves. All you have to do is think of somebody like Brandon and it makes any problems I have pretty insignificant,” said Terrill.
Ruth Frank, high school English teacher, said Daveler’s disability was never an issue.
“He never used it as a crutch. He’d put in the extra effort. He’d ask questions. He wanted to learn and nothing would stop him,” said Frank.
“I’m sure he has moments of discouragement, but he really has risen above (his disability) and is determined to excel and does,” she said, adding: “I think he will walk. If anyone’s a candidate for that, he is.”
Hoping for a cure
His high school English teacher isn’t the only one who believes Daveler will walk again.
Lisa Daveler said advances in technology and stem cell research may one day let her son regain the ability to walk.
“We’re hoping, in our lifetime, this research will benefit him,” she said.
Three or four days a week of rehabilitation helped Daveler regain some arm movement, and he said some people who haven’t seen him in a while, tell him he is moving his arms more and more.
Recently, he was able to play – and score well – in tennis on the Nintendo Wii game system using a cordless remote, a hobby that serves as good strengthening exercises, said Barrett, who also believes Daveler is a good candidate for a stem cell treatment since his spine isn’t completely severed.
Tom Hanan said he’s hoping President George Bush’s departure from public office will open up more public funding to offset stem cell research.
“Even if the odds (for a cure) were 80 percent, we’d still try,” he said.
Daveler said he is willing to undergo the treatment, but wants to wait until medical researchers have perfected it. He has looked into the procedure, noting he will have to go to Mexico to have it done.
He seems to sense the day could come.
“I walk in my dreams,” he shared. “I guess my mind is conditioned to think that way.”
Closer to home, another cure may be in the works, according to Barkley, who delivers an admittedly unorthodox style of therapy he says may have the potential to re-generate Daveler’s spine.
Objective perception, he said, is the concept of denying fear and focusing on the task at hand. He said musicians and artists practice it all the time.
“If you can forget about yourself and become one with the function, you can realize incredible possibilities,” Barkley said.
Motivated to continue
Daveler says his journey is not complete.
He has already begun coursework at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus, hoping his studies open the door to an opportunity to help others with a similar disability.
“I’d like to do something in the handicap or maybe the robotics field… to design a robotic arm to help people without the use of their hands so they can pick things up on their own and become more independent,” Daveler said. He said it is a device he wishes he had.
He received numerous scholarships to attend the local branch of Penn State University.
Ozanich is pushing to go on to college with Daveler, but the family says Penn State Fayette requires Daveler to have a certified licensed practical nurse assisting him.
“I want to make sure he has a good education,” she explained.
Principal Diamond said he is confident that Daveler can achieve his goal.
“Brandon’s accident may have limited his physical abilities, but it has not limited his intellectual ability or his determination to make himself successful,” said Diamond. “If his future efforts reflect his high school work ethic, I have no doubts that he will achieve his goal.”
Barkley said Daveler has a long road of challenges ahead of him, but the teen’s strong will to do things on his own is positively affecting his progress.
“He’s a young man that says he’s going to be an electrical engineer, something extremely challenging,” said Barkley. “Most people would give up or kill themselves. He’s just the anomaly.”
“There are just some extraordinary people out there and he’s one of them,” he added.
Daveler, meanwhile, said he still loves to see the races and doesn’t regret riding his motorbike. He took a senior picture in his old racing suit with his bike in the background. Trophies and plaques hang on the walls of his bedroom from placing first and second in local races.
When he sees others riding motorbikes, he says, “Have fun while you can.”
Daveler offered advice to others facing a similar disability, “Wake up every day and be proud of what you have and push as hard as you can to achieve your dreams. Have the motivation to do what you can all the time, although it’s very difficult with the ups and downs.”
Talking about what he’s going to do next, he simply said, “I got this far, just have to keep plugging away.”
And, that is something many say they can count on him to do.