Determination keeps man afloat

Alex T. Paschal/Gazette Scott Ward and his aide, Dyanne Hohler, credit his therapy with helping him regain his strength after a motocycle accident 10 years ago.

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Scott Ward gripped the silver hand guard at the Duis Center pool, looking up slowly and preparing himself for a tough climb - those two steps were going to be harder than they looked. Behind him, aide Dyanne Hohler helped him climb the first step, then the second. He gripped the hand guard tighter as he finally made his way to the top of the gutter.

"I haven't done it in a while," the 50-year-old Ward said. "I started to get pains in my legs, so I stopped for a while. I used to do it a lot quicker."

It may seem like a small feat to some, but it's a major accomplishment for the Rock Falls man, who uses a wheelchair after enduring severe brain trauma in a motorcycle crash 10 years ago. "(The doctors) didn't even think I'd make it," Ward said. "They said I'd be a vegetable the rest of my life."

Since the accident, Ward cannot smell, feel hungry or full, feel the temperature, and has trouble tasting things. He cannot use his left hand.

Ward, who now lives in an apartment in Clover Hill Estates, and Hohler have been have been hitting the Duis Center Pool three or four times a week to do simple aquatic exercises that have helped Ward strengthen his legs and arm.

Hohler, who has been a personal assistant for the disabled for 38 years, said she began teaching a water aerobics class at the Duis Center and asked Ward, her client since April, if he'd like to try some water activities.

"His eyes got real big," she said. "There was no hesitation."

Hohler takes Ward through several exercises, including strengthening his arm with foam dumbbells and utilizing the water's resistance by having him pull her with a pool noodle and by walking laps around the pool, bracing himself against the edge.

"Within the first two or three weeks, I saw a lot of improvement," Hohler said. "The first time he tried walking in the water, he had to have two people hold him up. Now, I don't even have to touch him."

His sense of balance has improved, Ward said, but his biggest accomplishment is being able to get out of his wheelchair and stand up for longer periods of time without holding on to anything.

Though he faces challenges every day, Ward insists he is not disabled.

"I'm not handicapped," he said. "I'm very inconvenienced."

Fiercely independent, Ward insists on doing everything for himself, and in the past has done his own physical therapy.

At his previous home at Winning Wheels, a skilled care facility in Prophetstown, he did 1,000 crunches a day, using a table with a strap across it in the physical therapy room. At Clover Hill, he uses a walker to walk up and down the halls of his apartment building.

His work in the water has helped him stay mobile and has helped with his recovery.

"This is more physical therapy than I've ever had," Ward said. "I'm determined not to let anybody do anything for me."

On land, Ward works with exercise equipment to make his right arm stronger - so strong, in fact, that he's won arm wrestling trophies at the Whiteside County Fair. "It's important to have a strong grip, especially because I only have one hand (to use)," Ward said.

His advice to people with disabilities?

"Don't give up. You can do a lot more that you think you can if you don't give up."

Reach Tara Becker at (815) 625-3600 or (800) 798-4085, ext. 570.