Scott "Scooter" Ward Recovery
Donation protected
Scooter’s Recovery-
First of all, you need to know that Scooter wouldn’t want me to do this. It’s going to make him feel so uncomfortable, but with all sincerity, I know he would do it for me.
My best friend and roommate in college Scott Ward, affectionately called “Scooter” (a childhood nickname, not because he uses a wheelchair) by most who know him, is a sports psychologist by trade. More importantly, he is a son, a brother, a husband, a counselor to college students, a coworker, a friend. Scooter is also a SURVIVOR!
In 1986 as a freshman in college, he survived a freak diving accident on an obstacle course that caused a high (C4/5) but incomplete injury to his spinal cord. Doctors at first gave him little chance for survival, then gave him little chance for independent breathing or voluntary movement below his shoulders, then gave him little chance for living a full, active life.
With the expertise of therapists, the support of family and friends, but mostly with his own initiative and resourcefulness, he effectively relearned so much of life—how to move, to eat, to write, to transfer from his wheelchair to his car and back again, to drive, to focus, to work. He graduated from college, then went on to earn a master’s degree and doctoral degree.
I first met Scooter while I was an undergraduate on the track team and he was finishing up his doctorate in Sports Psychology. It did not take long for Scooter to make me feel like we had known each other for years (anybody who has met him knows exactly what I’m talking about). I made it a point to stop by his office anytime I could because he would project so much positive energy it was impossible not to feel better with just a short visit.
During one of my stops by his office, I asked him how his dissertation was coming along. Scooter replied in a nonchalant tone, “I wasn’t very productive last night since I flipped over backwards in my chair and couldn’t get up.” Wait…what? Having a new friend in a wheelchair comes with all sorts of questions, but this was shocking to hear.
Me: So, what did you do?!?
Scoot: Well, my roommate wasn’t at home and it was too late to call anybody, so I just slept on the floor until my roommate got home.
This just blew my mind. It made me immediately realize just how tough and bold this guy is. Life literally flipped him over and he just got back up and kept going!
I (along with many others) could tell stories all day about how much of an amazing person Scooter is. It is only appropriate that he found an equally amazing wife in Robin. They married in 2005 and have been a perfect fit ever since.
Fast forward to October 2016. I will never forget the panic in Robin’s voice when she called me while driving to the hospital in Kansas City. Scooter had passed out in the shower and was unresponsive. He was being life flighted to KUMED after what was ultimately deemed an aortic dissection (a spontaneous tear in the largest blood vessel of the body). This required emergency open heart surgery and doctors had his odds of survival at less than 30%. He survived! However, just five weeks into recovery and in his final stages of rehab he suffered ANOTHER heart attack. This required another risky open heart surgery with even much lower odds of survival. Still, he survived. All of this leaves him with a heart functioning at less than 15%.
Scooter never backed down and put everything he had into rehab and gaining his strength back. He went back to work much earlier than anybody had predicted. As a sports psychologist, he counsels student-athletes in all sports to sharpen their mental toughness and overcome barriers of all types. He doesn’t just “talk the talk” he “walks the walk”. This guy was born with a love and knack for helping people find their way. He counsels people to break through the doubt that gets in the way of success. He does this everyday by getting up at 5am to start the tedious tasks of showering and getting dressed to make it to the office or teach a class by 8am. He does this with a heart that is functioning at less than 15% and a major loss of muscle mass and strength. He does this with a smile on his face and still projects enough positive energy to make athletes believe they can run through brick walls. He was born for this!
Unfortunately, Scooter was also born with genetic polycystic kidney disease. In 2018 the onset of the disease was sped up by the heart medication and numerous rounds of high-powered antibiotics he had been taking. This situation developed a grapefruit-sized tumor on his kidneys that was initially misdiagnosed as a pancreatic cancer. Days of waiting for testing without nutrition led to even more muscle loss and acute skin break down. Ultimately, his kidneys began to fail and doctors have added two to three dialysis treatments a week that take another 4 hours per treatment out of his day.
A few weeks later, he was rushed back to the hospital to correct an extremely high level of carbon dioxide in his blood that had built up over months, likely from low heart function and decreased mobility. He survived that life-threatening episode, too, and now has to use BPAP and oxygen therapy every night.
Scooter’s physicians have said that, to their knowledge, he is “an n of 1”—in other words, they know of no one else living an active, productive life with a high cervical spinal cord injury, heart disease and kidney disease. Doctors who meet Scooter for the first time are amazed by his optimism. “He looks better in real life than he does on paper,” and his life reflects that.
I’m no doctor, but I could have told you over 20 years ago and I’m telling you now that Scooter is “an n of 1”. He is Superman. He literally changes people’s lives for the better every day with a body full of organs that have tried to quit on him. He is a selfless Superman.
Scooter and his wife, Robin, know they are fortunate. They are surrounded by people who care and who have been with them every step of the way. They are grateful for every “bonus day” they have together. They both actively make a living, and they contribute to the community, independently and together. What they are facing now, though, despite paying for and having the best health insurance plan available to them, is a cascade of out-of-pocket health expenses that have drained their accounts and their energy. They pay the portions insurance does not pay for dialysis, BPAP and oxygen support, plus expensive dressings and supplies, and any nursing/physical help he receives at home.
Since 2017 Scooter has also battled skin issues, something new to his life of 30+ years in a wheelchair. Deep ischial wounds have required two surgeries and the use of a specialty wound VAC machine. These skin issues are rough on the rump for a guy who spends all of his time in a chair. Believe it or not, these are as debilitating as anything he has dealt with. These issues require the help of Robin and others to transfer him from his bed to his chair every morning and night. He has done everything medically he can do locally and has decided to see specialists and surgeons at the Mayo Clinic to hopefully heal them for good. This final piece of the recovery puzzle could literally put him back in the driver seat and back to his strong and independent life he lived just four years ago.
Next month, I will be driving him there because it’s a safer way for him to travel and because he likes my jokes. His compromised health puts him at higher risk of becoming ill if exposed to COVID-19, so surgery, follow-up care, and at least a six-week period of recovery in the Minneapolis area is in store. Scooter will be confined to a hospital bed, eight hours away from home, during a time when visitors are strictly limited.
Although insurance is still very helpful, there are expenses that are not covered—tough at any time, but especially during the current economic climate. I am going to trust the expertise from the team at the Mayo Clinic to relieve the stress of his skin condition but I plan to reach out to as many as I can to help relieve the financial stress of this mission.
Anything you are able to give is much appreciated. Please share his story and continue to spread the positive energy he has shared with so many.
The world would be a better place if it had more people like Scooter. Seeing that he is “an n of 1” means we need to take care of the only one we have!
First of all, you need to know that Scooter wouldn’t want me to do this. It’s going to make him feel so uncomfortable, but with all sincerity, I know he would do it for me.
My best friend and roommate in college Scott Ward, affectionately called “Scooter” (a childhood nickname, not because he uses a wheelchair) by most who know him, is a sports psychologist by trade. More importantly, he is a son, a brother, a husband, a counselor to college students, a coworker, a friend. Scooter is also a SURVIVOR!
In 1986 as a freshman in college, he survived a freak diving accident on an obstacle course that caused a high (C4/5) but incomplete injury to his spinal cord. Doctors at first gave him little chance for survival, then gave him little chance for independent breathing or voluntary movement below his shoulders, then gave him little chance for living a full, active life.
With the expertise of therapists, the support of family and friends, but mostly with his own initiative and resourcefulness, he effectively relearned so much of life—how to move, to eat, to write, to transfer from his wheelchair to his car and back again, to drive, to focus, to work. He graduated from college, then went on to earn a master’s degree and doctoral degree.
I first met Scooter while I was an undergraduate on the track team and he was finishing up his doctorate in Sports Psychology. It did not take long for Scooter to make me feel like we had known each other for years (anybody who has met him knows exactly what I’m talking about). I made it a point to stop by his office anytime I could because he would project so much positive energy it was impossible not to feel better with just a short visit.
During one of my stops by his office, I asked him how his dissertation was coming along. Scooter replied in a nonchalant tone, “I wasn’t very productive last night since I flipped over backwards in my chair and couldn’t get up.” Wait…what? Having a new friend in a wheelchair comes with all sorts of questions, but this was shocking to hear.
Me: So, what did you do?!?
Scoot: Well, my roommate wasn’t at home and it was too late to call anybody, so I just slept on the floor until my roommate got home.
This just blew my mind. It made me immediately realize just how tough and bold this guy is. Life literally flipped him over and he just got back up and kept going!
I (along with many others) could tell stories all day about how much of an amazing person Scooter is. It is only appropriate that he found an equally amazing wife in Robin. They married in 2005 and have been a perfect fit ever since.
Fast forward to October 2016. I will never forget the panic in Robin’s voice when she called me while driving to the hospital in Kansas City. Scooter had passed out in the shower and was unresponsive. He was being life flighted to KUMED after what was ultimately deemed an aortic dissection (a spontaneous tear in the largest blood vessel of the body). This required emergency open heart surgery and doctors had his odds of survival at less than 30%. He survived! However, just five weeks into recovery and in his final stages of rehab he suffered ANOTHER heart attack. This required another risky open heart surgery with even much lower odds of survival. Still, he survived. All of this leaves him with a heart functioning at less than 15%.
Scooter never backed down and put everything he had into rehab and gaining his strength back. He went back to work much earlier than anybody had predicted. As a sports psychologist, he counsels student-athletes in all sports to sharpen their mental toughness and overcome barriers of all types. He doesn’t just “talk the talk” he “walks the walk”. This guy was born with a love and knack for helping people find their way. He counsels people to break through the doubt that gets in the way of success. He does this everyday by getting up at 5am to start the tedious tasks of showering and getting dressed to make it to the office or teach a class by 8am. He does this with a heart that is functioning at less than 15% and a major loss of muscle mass and strength. He does this with a smile on his face and still projects enough positive energy to make athletes believe they can run through brick walls. He was born for this!
Unfortunately, Scooter was also born with genetic polycystic kidney disease. In 2018 the onset of the disease was sped up by the heart medication and numerous rounds of high-powered antibiotics he had been taking. This situation developed a grapefruit-sized tumor on his kidneys that was initially misdiagnosed as a pancreatic cancer. Days of waiting for testing without nutrition led to even more muscle loss and acute skin break down. Ultimately, his kidneys began to fail and doctors have added two to three dialysis treatments a week that take another 4 hours per treatment out of his day.
A few weeks later, he was rushed back to the hospital to correct an extremely high level of carbon dioxide in his blood that had built up over months, likely from low heart function and decreased mobility. He survived that life-threatening episode, too, and now has to use BPAP and oxygen therapy every night.
Scooter’s physicians have said that, to their knowledge, he is “an n of 1”—in other words, they know of no one else living an active, productive life with a high cervical spinal cord injury, heart disease and kidney disease. Doctors who meet Scooter for the first time are amazed by his optimism. “He looks better in real life than he does on paper,” and his life reflects that.
I’m no doctor, but I could have told you over 20 years ago and I’m telling you now that Scooter is “an n of 1”. He is Superman. He literally changes people’s lives for the better every day with a body full of organs that have tried to quit on him. He is a selfless Superman.
Scooter and his wife, Robin, know they are fortunate. They are surrounded by people who care and who have been with them every step of the way. They are grateful for every “bonus day” they have together. They both actively make a living, and they contribute to the community, independently and together. What they are facing now, though, despite paying for and having the best health insurance plan available to them, is a cascade of out-of-pocket health expenses that have drained their accounts and their energy. They pay the portions insurance does not pay for dialysis, BPAP and oxygen support, plus expensive dressings and supplies, and any nursing/physical help he receives at home.
Since 2017 Scooter has also battled skin issues, something new to his life of 30+ years in a wheelchair. Deep ischial wounds have required two surgeries and the use of a specialty wound VAC machine. These skin issues are rough on the rump for a guy who spends all of his time in a chair. Believe it or not, these are as debilitating as anything he has dealt with. These issues require the help of Robin and others to transfer him from his bed to his chair every morning and night. He has done everything medically he can do locally and has decided to see specialists and surgeons at the Mayo Clinic to hopefully heal them for good. This final piece of the recovery puzzle could literally put him back in the driver seat and back to his strong and independent life he lived just four years ago.
Next month, I will be driving him there because it’s a safer way for him to travel and because he likes my jokes. His compromised health puts him at higher risk of becoming ill if exposed to COVID-19, so surgery, follow-up care, and at least a six-week period of recovery in the Minneapolis area is in store. Scooter will be confined to a hospital bed, eight hours away from home, during a time when visitors are strictly limited.
Although insurance is still very helpful, there are expenses that are not covered—tough at any time, but especially during the current economic climate. I am going to trust the expertise from the team at the Mayo Clinic to relieve the stress of his skin condition but I plan to reach out to as many as I can to help relieve the financial stress of this mission.
Anything you are able to give is much appreciated. Please share his story and continue to spread the positive energy he has shared with so many.
The world would be a better place if it had more people like Scooter. Seeing that he is “an n of 1” means we need to take care of the only one we have!
Organizer and beneficiary
Mike Evers
Organizer
Meadowbrook, AL
D Scott Ward
Beneficiary
