Andy Scott holds one of the jars used to raise money for his surgery scheduled to take place on June 17 in Portugal.

— Photograph by Kara Bacon

Many people recognize who former Northwest College student Andy Scott is, but few know his story and the choice he now faces.
In his senior year of high school on Jan. 19, 2001, Scott was injured within the first eight seconds of a wrestling match.
“I picked up the kid in a double leg, and he was pretty high in the air. A double leg is where you put the opponent’s head on the left side and take him down on the right. He pushed and I started to fall. When he fell, all his body weight landed on my neck,” Scott recalled.
Scott was knocked unconscious for about five minutes, and when he came to he was already stabilized on a stretcher.
“I remember looking into the coach’s eyes, and they were so huge so I knew something was wrong. I didn’t ever think that kind of thing would ever happen to me and figured I was invincible — just like every other healthy 17 year old.”
Doctors told Scott that his chances of walking were not good — but he didn’t want to accept those conditions.
“I thought I’d bounce back, and it took awhile for it to sink it…about two to three months. The hardest time was finally realizing what had happened to me. I decided I had to accept it and do everything to get better. Not trying at all was not an option for me.”
Scott now gets around with his motorized wheelchair but it took him a couple of months after his injury to have enough strength to use it.
“I was so sick and had lost so much weight during the surgery and hospital time that it was at least a month and a half before I could even sit in it for half an hour. Just sitting up was hard and it took awhile to get the energy to drive it. I used to use a pushchair a lot, but when I realized I couldn’t use that outside very well, I switched to using a wheelchair all the time,” Scott said.
When others were informed of Scott’s condition, he received letters from people throughout Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska and Idaho.
“I had so many letters that it was impossible to sit and read them all. The community has been so great. My dad Ron Scott, my mom Maryland Barrows, step-dad Brian Barrows, girlfriend Betsy Nielson and NWC employee Carol Zawacki, have all been so great and supportive with everything I’ve had to go through.”
Some may think that being in a wheelchair limits Scott but he says that he just has to do things a little differently.
“I still hunt and fish. I go out and about, and have even snowmobiled and skied during the winter. Just because it’s a little more difficult, doesn’t mean that’s a reason not to do something,” he explained.
Scott heard of a surgery for paralyzed individuals that supposedly worked. He researched it a little on the Internet, but didn’t really get into the idea of it until Nielson saw a special about the surgery on television.
“We really started looking into it after we saw what the surgery did for the girl on TV. She had a lower injury than me, a T10, but she could crawl and walk with leg braces after weeks of training her legs in therapy. There was also a boy who had more of an injury like me, that the surgery worked on (him) and he could crawl and learn to walk as well,” Scott said.
Scott kept looking and reading into the surgery, and the more he read, the more confident he grew. He told Zawaki about it and she got things rolling with the help of Nielson and her mother Linda.
Scott is scheduled to get the surgery June 17 in Portugal. However, the surgical procedure is considered as experimental — the Scotts are debating with their insurance company. Insurance does not cover experimental surgeries — even those that have been proven to work.
The cost has prompted a community-wide fundraising effort for Scott. He hopes to convince the insurance agency to pay for the extensive therapy he will have in Detroit, Mich., to regain strength in his lower body.
Scott says he’s not really nervous and hasn’t been because he already had surgery on his neck and arms.
“I am excited to get the surgery because things can only get better.”

Micah Medina-Cox, a four-year-old, bright blue-eyed boy, was in one of Alana VanGrinsven’s pre-school classes.
“Mrs. VanGrinsven told us that there was a boy who had to walk in a wheel chair because his legs were weak. She said he had to go very far to get help and that he needed money. I told mom and Nanny and Poppa that I needed money for the boy. I kept the money in my Spiderman wallet,” Medina-Cox said.
“I put clothes away in drawers and stuff and then I got money.” He said he had earned “about $10.”
According to VanGrinsven, “He raised about $100.”
VanGrinsven said she talked to Carol Zawacki about fundraising for Andy Scott. VanGrinsven told her NWC Child Care Center class of three- and four-year-olds about Scott in December.
“I showed a picture of Andy and told the class he needed money for surgery because he had to go far away and it cost a lot,” VanGrinsven stated.
She said that Micah had never met Andy Scott. “However, without even knowing who Scott was, Micah went home, touched by the story I had told the class,” VanGrinsven said.
When he arrived home Micah told his mother, Dorie Medina-Cox, a nursing student at NWC, about Andy Scott. He said to her that he needed money and not just little money — he needed money in bills for the boy who walked with the wheelchair.
Micah began his fund-raising by giving up his allowance and taking all the money from his piggy bank.
He called his grandparents and told them that he would work for them to raise more money. Micah did chores at home and for his grandparents. He kept at it until he made “big money.”
“Most kids Micah’s age are very egocentric because the only world they know is their own. However, Micah Medina-Cox saved his money to help a young man he’s never known because, he just wanted to help him,” said VanGrinsven.