Political Football

Enough about Politics and Football for a while. This is about Life. The article below is a about a friend of a friend. I was privileged to met Bret and his girlfriend Tracie when some of us drove to Cincinnati to see a professional tennis tournament last year. If you ever get down on yourself – come back and re-read this story. -pf

Here is the original story from last August – CLICK HERE

April 23, 2008

Teaching lessons about life

Students see teacher/coach Bret Neylon as an inspiration

By Josh Duke
josh.duke@indystar.com

He still faces struggles and sometimes reluctantly asks for help, but Bret Neylon says his first full year back as a teacher and coach at Brownsburg High School has gone better than expected.

Neylon returned to the classroom last fall, 14 months after a bicycle injury left him paralyzed from the neck down.

“At first, it was kind of weird to see him in a different environment,” said Jeremy Beasley, a junior in one of Neylon’s U.S. history classes who also had him as a teacher three years ago.

“But it didn’t take as long as I thought it would to adjust and get back to history. He can do just as much as any other teacher. I’m glad to have him.”

Neylon suffered his injury June 17, 2006, during a bicycle race in Wilmington, Ohio. Unable to avoid an accident in front of him, Neylon catapulted over his handlebars and onto his head. The impact fractured a vertebra in his neck.

Neylon rarely complains or even speaks about it, but he teaches and coaches despite a neurogenic pain that he says feels like a cross between a bad sunburn and a blow to the funny bone. The pain, caused by his nerves getting mixed signals from the paralysis, is always there throughout his body and usually increases in intensity the more he speaks. His only relief from the pain comes while sleeping.

“I don’t want people feeling sorry for me,” he said. “It hasn’t kept me from teaching anything. It just makes it a little more difficult.”

Neylon has pulled positives from the injury. He believes it even made him a better teacher.

“My handicap has made me focus more on technology and given me more time to do research, prepare for class and develop better lesson plans,” he said. “Teaching U.S. history really has been one of the few things that hasn’t changed for the most part.”

To aid his return to the classroom, the school district and Indiana Vocational Rehabilitation — a state organization that helps people with disabilities — spent about $30,000 to prepare Neylon’s classroom. They added technology such as Max, a voice-activated computer software program that lets Neylon send e-mails, answer and dial the phone, and run the overhead projector and other video equipment.

The school also hired Neylon’s sister Cathy Stinson to help grade papers, make photocopies and handle other daily chores. Stinson and other teachers feed Neylon at lunch and help get him dressed for track practices or meets after school.

“What has impressed me most is just how good a teacher he is,” Stinson said. “I find myself stopping what I’m doing sometimes just to listen. Every minute of every day I think about what he has accomplished. I don’t think I could do it.”

During a recent writing assignment in class, Neylon maneuvered his electric wheelchair around desks and book bags checking to see if students needed help.

“Don’t just write a sentence or two,” he said after glancing at one paper. “You need to think about it more than that.”

Students say they don’t see a teacher with a disability when they enter Neylon’s class. They see an inspirational leader who just happens to teach U.S. history.

Beasley said the example Neylon set in the worst of times encourages him to work harder as a student.

“He has proven to me that anything can be accomplished if you want it bad enough,” Beasley said.

This has been eventful school year for Neylon outside the classroom as well. His boys and girls cross country teams made it to the semistate in the fall — the first time both teams advanced that far in the same season in Neylon’s coaching career. He and his girlfriend, Tracie Morris, set a wedding date and will marry July 5.

“Everything in my life is as close to being as normal as I can make it,” Neylon said. “Teaching and coaching (have) meant everything to me. I can’t imagine sitting at home and staring out the window feeling sorry for myself.”

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