gillette STORIES Tag: rehabilitation

You know, there might be nothing more Minnesotan than lacing up a pair of skates and heading out to the rink. "You bet, you'd better believe it," says Tony Lang of Loretto, Minnesota. "I grew up playing hockey my whole life. It's a family tradition. In fact, when we had kids I built a rink in our backyard."

As he ambles down a long hospital hallway, smiling with every step and practically daring you to do the same, it can be pretty easy to forget that this wasn't supposed to happen. Mateo Arcos was never supposed to walk.

They came to Gillette Children's with twice the hope. Twice the dreams. Twice the determination. The Bracho Diaz family left their native Venezuela eager for another round of expert care for their 10-year-old twin daughters Maria de los Angels and Maria Antonieta. Yes, identical twin sisters who share the name Maria and a diagnosis of spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy.

Your brain isn't like your arm. You can’t see it or touch it. It’s not really tangible, which means that we rarely spend time thinking about the thing that makes us think, unless we have to. This is what those who experience a TBI go through.

This is not what Earl Weir planned for his junior year in high school. The 17-year-old from Howard Lake, Minnesota was a busy teenager—involved in his school's broadcast club, spending time hunting and fishing with his dad and listening to music with his mom. Earl is an example of how life can change in an instant.

"If there is anything that I want people to understand, it’s that parents who have children who have disabilities want what any parent wants for their child."