814-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 24, 2000
Live For The Moment
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Farming Staff
OLEY (Berks Co.) “Yester
day’s history. What’s today,
what’s tomorrow that’s what’s
important,” Brandan Wagner
said.
It’s this philosophy that helps
the 20-year-old triumph over
being paralyzed from the waist
down. It’s this attitude that en
ables him to face the future with
faith instead of emotionally crip
pling “what ifs.”
Strong, determined, and in
spiring are words that friends
and acquaintances use again and
again to describe Brandan.
A little more than two years
ago, Brandan’s life was dramati
cally changed as he drove off in
his pickup truck to pick up his
girlfriend. Less than one mile
from home, his truck spun
around on a narrow, twisting
road, and plunged down a
26-foot embankment.
The impact threw him from
his truck and Brandon lay on the
frigid ground for almost two
hours before his father and a
neighbor found him.
“I was conscious. 1 knew my
back, arm, and clavicle were bro
ken. My head was bleeding,” he
said.
He also realized that he
couldn't feel his legs. That, he
knew, was a bad sign. But he re
fused to allow himself think that
he might be paralyzed.
He lay in the cold ground, will
ing rescue to come.
His dad found him and a
neighbor called Medivac.
That was Feb. 7, 1998.
A CATSCAN soon confirmed
that Brandon’s diagnosis of his
injuries were correct. The most
serious was the severed spinal
cord at Tll and 12.
Brandon didn't waste any
time. With fierce determination
Although he has a stationary lift, Brandan finds it
quicker to use his arms to pull himself from the
wheelchair into the tractor seat. He does much of
the crop farming of the family’s 700 acres and the
mechanical work on the equipment.
he refused to think about not
walking again. Although his
arms were not paralyzed, he
couldn’t use either of them be
cause of broken bones.
When medical personell at
tempted to insert a pin and screw
in his arm, the drill broke.
“They said my bones are so
hard the first time ever that
broke the drill I guess it’s from
drinking all that milk,” Brandan
said.
After eight days, they sent him
home from the hospital in what
they referred to as a clam shell
brace. Six weeks later his arms
had healed and Brandan began
physical therapy.
“Right away my arms were
strong enough to move myself,”
he said. Brandan was still a sen
ior in high school. Fortunately,
he had all the credits except one
in history that he needed to grad
uate, and he quickly fulfilled that
by studying at home. Brandan
had been studying diesel me
chanics at vo-tech.
His vo-tech, FFA adviser, and
friends visited almost every day.
Neighbors helped his mom with
the exercise therapy required.
Brandan wheeled himself
across the stage to receive his di
ploma while his classmates ap
plauded.
“The community, my church,
and friends, vo-tech and ag
teachers really stood by me. They
helped a lot,” Brandan said.
Brandan was active in 4-H and
Oley Valley FFA, where he held
terms as president and other of
fices.
Brandan soon had a Jeep
Cherokee fitted with hand con
trols to drive. With ease, he can
pull himself into the driver’s seat,
fold his wheelchair, and heave it
inside the vehicle.
Brandan always intended to
farm. He wasn’t about to let an
injury, even if permanent, stop
him from helping with 700 acres
and 180 milking cows. Six
months after the accident, he
and his family attended Ag Pro
gress Days. They were thrilled to
discover the Agrability booth and
a Ventrack, a special vehicle to
get around.
“It was the best thing I saw at
Ag Progress,” Brandan said. The
motorized Ventrack allows him
to wheel his wheelchair onto it
and take off anywhere around
the farm.
A therapist, engineer, and a
member of Agrability, an organi
zation that helps handicapped
farmers continue to farm, came
to the farm and evaluated Bran
dan’s needs and how things
needed to be set up to enable him
to work on the farm. They show
ed him pictures of other, older
farmers with machinery adapta
tions.
According to Brandan, Agra
bility researches the modifica
tions needed and the Office and
Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR)
funds the required modifications.
Brandan was thrilled, but im
patient to wait until adaptations
were made. With a friend, he
made many of the changes him
self and many of them turned
out better than they would have
if done otherwise.
Some of the modifications in
clude a stationery lift to pull to
the tractor to enable him to get
on but mostly 1 just climb up
with my arms, he said.
Brandan does almost all the
field work on the 700 acres, from
disking to mowing alfalfa, hay,
and round baling.
At first his mom worried about
him be alone in the fields. “But
I’m getting over it, she said. “He
has a cell phone with him in case
he needs help.”
He also does the mechanical
work on the tractors and equip
ment. He maneuvers himself into
a specially designed wheelchair
that raises him to a standing
postion to reach heights. He low
ers himself onto a creeper for
going beneath the equipment.
Some days Brandan has a lot
of pain. “But I don’t take pain
medication. I just endure it,” he
said.
He takes business classes at
Reading Area Community Col
lege. Although he had an interest
in taking business courses before
the accident, he had been leaning
toward diesel mechanics.
The one thing he can’t do is
milk the cows. If the family had
a different set up, modifications
could possibly be made, but at
this time, he’s busy with field
work and mechanical duties.
Last year’s drought was the
worst that Brandan’s dad ever
remembers in his lifetime. A
sparse harvest and dwindling
milk prices are discouraging.
Brandan Wagner has always been described as good
looking, great personality, strong, and determined. Now
“inspiring” has been added to the description. Two years
ago, Brandan was paralyzed from the waist down, but he
hasn’t left that stop him from farming, going to college,
and accomplishing many other activities that
20-year-olds like to do. Notice the Ventrac that enables
him zip around the farm.
Wheels are important to Brandan. His Jeep Cherokee
has been outfitted with hand controls and allows him to
quickly heave the collapsed wheel chair into the Jeep.
Brandan said, “If other people
would work as hard as farmers,
this world would be a different
place.”
As for himself, he said, “I’m
not giving up. 1 can do anything
I want to do. I don’t waste time
thinking about what I could be
doing if this hadn’t happened,
but I figure out how I’m going to
do it.”
His mom said,
doesn’t let himself get down. He
really has determination.”
The Wagners were a former
Berks County Farm Family.
Brandan’s parents Rodger and
Dorothy will celebrate their 40th
wedding anniversary on Sunday.
They have four adult children.
Another son, Dean, also works
full time on the farm.
They are involved in the Penn
sylvania Farm Bureau and at the
St. John’s UCC.
“Brandan