Dane's story
Dane Lauver gives the bad thoughts 10 minutes.
He could dwell on them longer, if he allowed himself. He was riding his motorcycle one day, and a car going 45 miles per hour rear-ended him. The collision ruptured a disc in his neck, which sapped his strength and left almost no mobility in his legs. When he first arrived at Penn State Health Rehabilitation Hospital, where he’d spend 65 days as an inpatient, he could barely move his left toe.
But 10 minutes is all the time the 56-year-old allows himself to think about that. Then he gets back to work. “Let’s face it,” he said. “No one likes to work with someone who’s always negative and complaining.”
The ratio has worked wonders. Dane continues to receive therapy through Penn State Health Rehabilitation Hospital’s outpatient program. There, he notches milestone after milestone with insatiable positivity and a laser-like focus on his key goals – walking unassisted and driving a car again.
“I haven’t gotten there…yet,” he said. “But I’m on my way and determined to get there.”
“A lot of people have asked [if my goal is] to ride a motorcycle again,” he added. “I say maybe once just to say I did it.”
The rehabilitation hospital had come highly recommended and had a spinal cord injury program specific to his injury. A physician-led team of physical, recreational and occupational therapists could join nurses on a rehab program that started small.
When Dane arrived, he couldn’t sit up. Physical therapists helped him strengthen his core muscles, and soon he notched his first milestone – sitting up in bed without help.
Occupational therapists taught him to use a transfer board – a flat surface patients can slide on -- and provided strategies for moving between his wheelchair and other surfaces. Dane also climbed into and out of a device designed to look like the front end of a car, so he could prepare for the real thing.
A metal frame helped him stand while he coaxed his strength back to form. Just standing helped him through the arduous tasks of retraining his muscles toward his ultimate goal of walking
Early on, Dane focused on taking steps. At first he needed a lot of help from his therapists just to stand and put one foot in front of the other. He gripped the cross beams on parallel bars and willed his legs to move.
He rode a stationary device called a functional electric stimulation bike, that uses mild electrical pulses to stimulate muscle contractions which allow the rider to pedal and build their muscles.
While Dane worked at getting back on his feet, his rehab helped him acclimate to life sitting down. He learned strategies for moving in both a power chair and a non-electric wheelchair, easing the chairs through an Activities of Daily Living Suite – a portion of the hospital that features a kitchen and a bedroom designed to help patients get used to what their lives will be like when they return home, preparing meals and doing daily chores.
The hospital involves family members in each patient’s rehabilitation work. Dane’s wife, Lori, joined him, encouraged him and obtained an education herself in the best ways to help Dane get from place to place and rejoin his old life with limitations he’s slowly overcoming to this day. “I couldn’t do it without her,” Dane said.
By the time he was ready for discharge, Dane could walk gripping the parallel bars without help.
He took time to notch each milestone – even the little ones. “I realized, after some time, that it was important to set some short term, achievable, goals,” he said, “to go with my ultimate, long range goals to avoid frustration and get some wins.”
After two months in the hospital working to rebuild some strength and feeling, Dane went home. His therapists recommended the Penn State Health Rehabilitation Hospital’s outpatient day program and regular outpatient physical therapy appointments to continue his progress.
There, with the help of his therapists, Dane continues to pile up accomplishments. He still rides the functional electric stimulation bike. He walks on crutches that support his weight from the elbows, slowly eking out longer distances. And, with the help of therapists who help support his weight, Dane had begun taking steps on his own.
At home, Dane no longer uses his power chair, instead opting for a manual chair and a walker. It’s progressive – the plan is to move on to using the crutches more often and eventually get back to walking without support.
His therapists have a strategy for everything. Dane likes to travel, and recently he joined a group of fellow patients and his Penn State Health therapists at Harrisburg International Airport. American Airlines brought in a plane and, without the pressure and fast-pace of handling it during an actual flight, Lauver and his friends practiced getting through security and boarding a flight.
Dane hasn’t traveled since his accident. On this night, he found himself walking down a jet way with his crutches.
The day is coming, he knows, when he can make the same trip without them.
“As I like to say it’s 60% mental and 40% physical,” he said.