Like most 13-year-olds, Avery Mohrman started April daydreaming about the end of the school year and how he’d spend his free time. But an ATV accident on April 12 changed his summer plans.
“I broke both of my legs, fractured my humerus and had a skull fracture,” Avery said. “It was not good. I was very broken.”
In addition to several broken bones, Avery also experienced serious brain trauma and visual deficits. He went from his hometown of Columbus, Nebraska to Nebraska Medicine in Omaha for surgery. After three weeks, he came to Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals’ specialized pediatric program, eager to get back to being a kid. But his care team knew that might look a little different for a while.
“When Avery first got here, he was not able to put weight through either of his legs or his right arm because of his injury,” Haley Haefner, PTA, Avery’s physical therapy assistant, said. “He also had to wear a back brace that went from his neck to about mid-chest area and he had some braces on his legs and a brace for his arm.”
With all those weight-bearing restrictions, the first thing Haefner tackled with Avery was simply sitting up and getting out of bed.
“Learning how to transfer from the bed to a wheelchair with only one arm is a pretty hard thing to do and a lot of people can’t do it, but Avery learned how to do it pretty quickly,” Haefner said. “Initially, he needed two people to help him get from bed to a chair, but he got independent quickly.”
With the help of Madonna’s specialized technology, like the Madonna ICARE by SportsArt elliptical and the Bioness Integrated Therapy System (BITS), Avery got stronger and his vision improved. He was able to stand on his own, and went from a wheelchair to a cane. After mastering his activities of daily living, Avery and his care team were able to start incorporating his favorite hobby into their therapy sessions.
“The best way to try and keep a kid motivated is finding out what they like early on and trying to incorporate that into therapy,” Haefner said. “Avery loved baseball, so we would try and incorporate bat mechanics or working on relating his hand-eye coordination to returning to sport. Showing that he can still do fun kid things. It just looks a little different for a bit.”
When he wasn’t pushing himself physically in therapy, Avery was keeping his mind agile. With Madonna’s Therapeutic Learning Center, he worked on lessons he missed while in the hospital and prepared for the start of his 8th grade year.
What stood out about Avery to his care team was the personal resolve and grit he showed, far beyond what’s expected for a teen.
“He came at such a level where it could be really disheartening, especially for someone that age, and he just never let it get him down,” Alysa McKenny, OTR/L, CAPS, Avery’s occupational therapist, said. “There were little moments every day where I’m like, ‘Wow, he is really putting forth good effort every single day,’ and his mindset was one of confidence and trust in himself and in us. I find that people that have those mindsets make the best progress, so he consistently showed that. It really made it like, ‘Wow, this kid’s going to go far.’”
Avery’s dedication and progress at Madonna surprised his parents, but they say his sense of humor remains unchanged.
“You never know when you have a brain injury what’s going to happen, but he is definitely still himself, for sure,” Avery’s mom, Amanda, said.
His dad, Lucas, echoes that sentiment.
“His personality has not taken a backseat, that’s for sure,” Lucas said. “In fact, it might have amplified it a little bit. He always seemed like he was in a good mood. He had a joke for his therapists and he’d always find a positive that helped him get through while he was here pushing.”
His family says his whole care team really got to know Avery as a person and how best to motivate him. They played on his competitive spirit, which helped him set new goals with each therapy session.
“He always knew what his goals were the previous time they were tested and he always wanted to try and do a little bit better,” Lucas said. “He would always be like, ‘What was it last time?’ and he’d want to do a little bit more than he did the time before.”
With a little bit of laughter and a lot of faith, Avery returned home with his family, able to be independent. He continues therapy through Madonna’s Rehabilitation Day program. His parents encourage other families to trust the process.
“The doctors and surgeons can tell you what they see on the screen and on their papers, but they don’t factor God into the picture,” Amanda said. “We had to keep that hope that he’s going to get better.”
Lucas said Madonna was the right place at the right time.
“Even at UNMC, they said once he was ready, Madonna was where he needed to be,” Lucas said. “They can get him healthy to a certain extent, but then they were pushing us as soon as we could to get to Madonna and get to work, and that’s what we did.”
The Mohrmans say they’re especially grateful for the sense of community they found at Madonna.
“We were gone from home for a long time, but while we were here, it kind of felt homelike,” Lucas said. “Even the people who came in to take his food order every day, we got to know them and they knew him. They’d say, ‘Hey, I bet you want your two chocolate milks for breakfast.’ You make relationships with everyone that was here, so it was great. Everyone was great.”
His mom added, “I just feel like we couldn’t have gone to a better place than Madonna, honestly. They’re the best of the best and you always want what’s best for your child and I feel like we are providing that for him, so we are really grateful for that.”