Friends band together to help injured teen

By Marda Johnson/The Lebanon Reporter

Lebanon — It looked to be the start of an exciting time for Randy and Tammy Rose of Lebanon.

Their daughter, Abi, 18, was starting her senior year at Lebanon High School, and their son, Alex, 16, was ready to begin his sophomore year — and looking forward to playing his first football game of the season.

But an accident on Aug. 9 has put many of Alex’s plans on hold, and has changed the lives of the Rose family.

Alex suffered a spinal cord injury in a 4-wheel ATV accident on Aug. 9.

Tammy said that Alex was out having fun with a group of his best friends when the accident happened.

She said Alex’s ATV crash was just a freak accident.

“He has ridden since he was old enough to walk,” Tammy said.

His injuries left Alex’s friends and their parents devastated. But as they talked about the accident with Tammy and Randy, everyone began to understand that if anyone could recover from such an ordeal, it would be Alex.

“He’s very strong and determined,” Tammy said.

The accident left Alex in critical condition at Methodist Hospital.

Word of the accident spread quickly, and friends began arriving at the hospital in a show of support for Alex and his family.

“He has such a good group of friends,” Tammy said. “The first night, more than 100 kids came to see him.”

Tammy said the hospital allowed the family to take kids back to see Alex until 2 a.m.

The next day, Alex underwent more than 6 hours of surgery to repair his thoracic vertebrae and stabilize his spine.

While he continues to be paralyzed from the waist down, the family learned that his spinal cord was not severed. Last week, Alex was taken out of critical care. He will likely be hospitalized another month or more and is expected to go home in a wheelchair, with months of therapy in front of him.

It’s too soon for a long-term prognosis, Tammy said.

The pain associated with the injury has been intense, “but he’s a tough kid,” she said.

Riding an ATV was just one of many outdoor sports Alex enjoyed — other activities included snowmobiling and hunting and fishing.

And then there’s football. Alex has played football since starting with the youth league in the second grade, and had always played cornerback. This year, Tammy said, Alex was trying out for the positions of receiver and running back.

A swift runner, Alex also ran track, starting with longer distances in middle school and running the 400 and 200 in high school.

For now, those activities are on hold.

But Alex isn’t going to miss out on his sophomore year of school, Tammy said.

She said the school corporation and his teachers are assuring that they will provide the materials he needs, and a mystery donor has provided Alex with a laptop computer to help him keep up with his studies.

And everyone in the family will continue to learn about tending to Alex’s medical needs and take comfort in the help of the network of friends that has sprung up in the community.

“We really don’t know what we need,” Tammy said. “There’s a lot of medical things we have to learn. ... This is a whole new world.

“But it’s been amazing because we’ve had a group of people — family, friends and people we don’t even know — come to us and say, ‘How can we help?”

She said that home-cooked meals have been provided for them every single night, and that volunteers have started working to remodel a “mother-in-law” cottage on their property to fit Alex’s needs while he’s in a wheelchair. Benefit after benefit has already been organized.

Lana Hale is one of many volunteers happy to help out the Rose family. She said that Roses have always been there to help other people, and that people are now stepping up to help minimize the Roses’ worries.

Volunteers have declared themselves Alex’s Team and are excited about how they might help.

Lana said the biggest need at present are the funds, supplies and manpower to finish the remodeling project, which has already been generously supported through donations and by volunteers.

“It’s just been a gift of the heart,” Lana said.

The Roses are amazed by the outpouring.

“People are taking time out of their busy lives to make a difference in the life of someone else,” Tammy said. “We are so blessed to live in a community like Lebanon where people know you, and even those who don’t are willing to help you. God pulled everyone together. We’re so fortunate. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.”

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