Meet Michael Schwass. He's a member of the National Speakers Association, a therapist, a coach, an author — and quadriplegic. The first quadriplegic ever to walk again without the aid of braces. I encourage you to read his compelling autobiography, Don't Blame the Game, for details of his personal journey. I met Michael sixteen years ago when he spoke at a group I was leading on the spinal cord unit of Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital in Wheaton, Illinois, during my doctoral internship in counseling psychology and we became fast friends.
Michael was a star hockey player injured in a high school playoff game 31 years ago this Sunday, later watching his team go on to win the Illinois State Championship. He never stopped being an athlete though, and his grueling daily exercise routine has been critical to keeping him functioning at his absolute maximum. While he is no longer able to walk, he is still able to stand, a miracle I witnessed myself this past June.
Despite his phenomenal strength of spirit, the long term physical effects of quadriplegia are devastating. In 1997 he survived a staph infection such as took Christopher Reeve several years ago. I've known him to be very close to death three different times since I have known him. And maybe there were more times than that which he forgot to let me know about — he's cagey that way. He's had many surgeries (twenty-something?), including a life saving surgery in Ecuador a few years ago in which nerves were harvested from his legs to rebuild part of his spinal cord.
The aging process is sped up to double time in quadriplegia and over the years, I've seen the change in him, though remarkably I'm the one with the most gray hair. I've seen him transition from a manual to an electric wheelchair. He's not as strong and independent as he was when we first met although his wit has sharpened to compensate for this. Contrary to common belief, quadriplegics may still experience physical sensations below the level of their injury and certainly can experience high levels of pain. With arthritic changes, stresses on various bodily systems and our famous Chicago winters, Michael is no stranger to "discomfort" though I have yet to see him let that spill out in negativity directed toward others. He is one of the most gracious and disciplined people I know.
If you were to have the pleasure of meeting him, you would experience a vibrant, wonderful, sweet, and funny man. Very spiritual with a Buddha smile. You can forget, if you want to, that this is a man who has to pay attention to every little detail to keep that bod running. He has to put up with a lot of missteps by the rest of us and he does this with a grace that humbles me. Like the time I spilled tea on him when I had the slightest lapse of attention while holding the mug for him to sip from. Or the wacky time I almost flipped his chair in the van taking a turn too fast. Oh, how we laughed about that one!
Article comments
1 - Syd Gallaher
Hi. Thank you for writing this. I was wondering how Michael's health is today. I am a caregiver for a quad who is currently about 21 years post injury.
2 - Laura Young
Hi Syd,
Michael is still rolling, into his 24th year post injury. In fact I'll be heading out to see him today and just attended the Illinois high school state hockey championship where he gives out the MVP award.
Winter is tough on him, as I know you can appreciate but he's made it through another one. He's got nine lives, at least. The biggest problem we have now is that he is outliving his van and his equipment and as you know that stuff isn't cheap to replace!!!
How's the person you are helping getting along?