By Dan Courtney, NIFS Correspondent
The goal that Jeff Brown has set for himself is to beat his father in the 2007 Indianapolis Mini-Marathon in May. It seems like a simple goal, but not when you consider what happened to the NIFS member on Aug. 7, 2005.
Brown and his sister Courtney were driving home to Columbus, Ind., from a wedding in Ft. Wayne. They were traveling south on I-65 when a pickup truck, in the lane heading north, crossed the median and hit their Lexus head-on. Brown estimated he was driving between 70 and 75 mph.
“My sister was covered in blood from a broken nose, and the steering wheel was jammed all the way up to my chest,” related the 22-year-old student at IUPUI. “I remember the smell was awful with a combination of smoke, gas and blood. The paramedics said wearing my seat belt, driving a bigger car and my good physical health saved my life.”
But it didn’t prevent the long list of injuries he sustained, which included two broken femurs, a compound fracture of the right tibia, five broken ribs, a lacerated liver and a collapsed lung.
“I could see the tibia sticking out and I could feel my femurs clicking together. The first thing I asked was ‘would I walk again.’ They didn’t answer me right then,” said Brown.
The former three-sport athlete at Columbus North High School was taken via ambulance to Methodist Hospital where he underwent nine hours of surgery. They put titanium nails in his legs and a boot on the compound fracture. Then the long days of “intense and painful” rehab began.
“They told me it would be 10 – 12 weeks before I would start walking. It was so painful I couldn’t even get in the wheelchair. But after five weeks I said my legs felt good,” Brown said.
Brown dropped his weight from 180 pounds to 135 on his 5-foot-9 frame but was determined to regain the weight as time passed. Within a short span he went from using a walker down at Indiana University to crutches and eventually a cane.
He joined NIFS this past June under the tutelage of instructor Lamia Scherzinger, NIFS lifestyle prescription coordinator.
“When you are coming back from injuries like that, the mental part is as much as 60 percent of the game,” said Scherzinger. “He’s had a great attitude.”
Brown works out at NIFS four to five times a week for about 1 ½ hours. He spends 20 – 30 minutes on his cardiovascular, 45 minutes on weights and 10 – 15 minutes on his abdominal muscles. He uses many of the pieces of equipment, including the bike and stair stepper. And as the Mini-Marathon gets closer, he will be spending more time on the indoor track.
“He’s done a lot of work with his legs to get his muscles stretched,” added Scherzinger. “He pushes himself, but I tell him not to go to the point of pain.”
Brown says he is about 85 percent of where he was before the accident, although he has regained his weight. On days when it rains, he does feel soreness in his legs. The doctors told him arthritis could set in as he gets older. But that hasn’t stopped him from pushing ahead, because a certain bet hinges on the upcoming Mini.
“I have a bet with my dad that if I beat him in the Mini, then he owes me a golfing weekend somewhere. And if he beats me, then I owe him,” added Brown.
Not bad to be concerned about a bet when Brown is just lucky to be alive.