Eddie Kieger's Van - Newspaper Article!
Charlie Smith
Eddie's mom, Ann Kieger, took delivery of the van yesterday, on Saturday
February 15th! SunShine, Putt, and I met Eddie's folks at Heather
Hill where Eddie is staying. There was also a reporter and a photographer
from Cleveland's largest newspaper - The Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Eddie's mom and dad were there, and also his younger brother John and
John's wife. After talking to the reporter, we loaded Eddie in the van
and went to a restaurant for lunch - followed by a ride to Broadfield
Manor, where Ann hopes to get Eddie in the near future.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer had a half page article about Eddie, with
two good pictures. It was in this Sunday's paper, 2/16/97 - on the
front page of the "Northeast Ohio" section. This had two color photos
of Eddie - that I've scanned and sent to Ken and Sunshine. The large one
shows Eddie and SunShine - a real good one. The other photo is Eddie
in his wheelchair outside, with his Dad and Mom behind him, right next to
the van! If you look close, you can see the snowflakes in the air!
Ken has copies of the pictures on his picture page, which is:
http://www.thinkage.on.ca/~hoglist/cgibin/efkpix
I'll try to copy the text of the article on below here. You have to
remember, this is the newspaper reporter's perceptions of Eddie, and
of stuff like the Internet :-) The typo's are mostly mine, and I
did leave out SunShine's age ... (pay me later - smirk)
- Charlie Smith
.........................................................................
HEADLINE: RIDING THE ROAD
TOWARD RECOVERY
under that: Van paid for through Internet donations
gets paralyzed crash victim mobile again
By Barry Kawa,
Plain Dealer Reporter
CHARDON - Motorcyclists on the Internet are taking Eddie Kieger beyond
the confines of his nursing home room, thanks to $12,000 they have raised
to buy him a special van.
Three of those motorcyclists were at Heather Hill yesterday in Chardon as
Kieger, paralyzed in a riding accident three years ago in California, got
his new wheels.
His mother, Ann Kieger of Shaker Heights, bundled up her son, and the
rotary lift hoisted his wheelchair into the red 1988 Ford van. Kieger,
33, unable to speak since his accident, cried.
"I think this will improve the quality of his life," said Shirl Grant,
<age omitted>, [thank gawd they didn't ask *me* my age, I'd hada lied!]
of Pittsburgh, who set up a World Wide Web home page on the Internet
for Kieger. "Eddie will be able to get out and not just look at the
four walls."
Grant, also a motorcycle enthusiast, corresponded with Kieger on the
Internet before his accident. Kieger, a Cleveland Heights native, was
working as a computer design engineer in Northern California's Silicon
Valley after he served four years in the Navy.
He lost control of his Harley-Davidson and crashed March 26, 1994.
Although he was wearing a helmet, he suffered a severe head injury
which left him in a coma for about a month and he has been recovering
since.
His mother brought him first to a rehabilitation hospital in Erie, Pa,
then to Heather Hill.
Grant heard about Kieger's accident, and the need for a van, on the
Internet. When she asked for donations in mid-January, hundreds of
motorcyclists from places as far away as Guam, Spain and Finland
responded, giving more than $12,000. The WWW home page is at:
http://www.psc.edu/~grant/eddie/index.html
"I can't conceive of any other group of people being consistently this
good," said his father, Edward F. Kieger II of Cleveland Heights.
Ann Kieger, A Shaker Heights real estate agent, said her son's recovery
has been hampered by the insurance company's refusal to pay for therapy,
saying his injury is too severe to respond. "With a brain injury ... a
doctor is very loathe to give you any sort of encouragement for fear
you'll hold them to it," she said. "It's just a wait-and-see game."
Today, Eddie Kieger spends his days in a nursing home room with two
older residents. His therapy is limited to about a half-hour a day.
He also gets music therapy once a week, where brain injured patients
listen to music and play instruments.
His mother put a note over his radio for the nurses to let him hear the
"Car Talk" show because he used to love working on cars and his Harley.
She also brought in his computer, which sits unused on a table near his
bed. "I brought it in about a year ago and we put his hand next to it
and his face just lit up," she said. "That was about a year ago, and he
realized he couldn't make it work, and the light just sort of died in his
eyes and he picked up the computer keyboard and turned it over."
Ann Kieger said her son is alert, and understands conversations,
although he has difficulty responding. His family is trying to get
him moved into Broadfield Manor in Madison, which deals more with
patients with spinal-cord and brain injuries, and he is now at the
top of the waiting list.
Yesterday, as the snow fell and his mother wrapped a blanket around him,
Eddie looked content in his new van. His family and Grant climbed aboard,
and his mother jumped behind the wheel. "He is liking it very, very much,"
Ann Kieger said. "He is so delighted and pleased with it."
They embarked down a road they hope someday will lead to a complete
recovery for Kieger.
Beth Zimmerman
Charlie Smith wrote:
>
> Eddie's mom, Ann Kieger, took delivery of the van yesterday, on Saturday
Thanks for the update Charlie. Brought tears to my eyes.
BethZ
Bitch#6
Wench#5
Sniffling and wiping tears as she types this.