The Star Press
PORTLAND, Ind. — Slowly but surely, he's approaching that one year mark.
He's still got a few months to go, but August 11 is looming for Caleb Kunkle. It's the one-year anniversary of a car crash that changed the recent Jay County graduate's life.
When he was driving to the first day of his senior year classes, Kunkle's jeep crashed, ejecting him into a field. He broke multiple vertebrae and it left him paralyzed from the mid-chest down.
Back then, his goal was to play for the Patriots' football team again. He was a starting linebacker, and was looking forward to the season starting.
The dream of playing for Jay County has come to pass with his graduation. He wanted to wait until 2018 to graduate so he could go across the stage with some of his best friends, but his parents pushed him to finish on time.
He took online courses and attended graduation on June 4 while using his wheelchair to get around.
Through surgeries, recovery and a lot of work, he hasn't given up on his ultimate goal. Starting from his mid-chest on down, he can't feel much. A slight push on his lower back registers pressure, but only that.
"It could be an eraser or a needle, I can't tell the difference," he said.
Even so, and without being able to move his legs, Kunkle is learning how to walk again.
Just like he said he would, last October.
Getting some feeling back
When Kunkle was first in the hospital, he watched his legs suddenly spasm. It startled him, and didn't understand it at first.
Because his spinal cord wasn't completely severed in the crash, there's still movement, and some feeling, left in his lower half. If he stretches his leg or foot, they'll start bouncing.
"It's a good thing, because there's still a connection," he said.
Around the end of January, he started going to the Center for Neurological Development in Burkettsville, Ohio. He goes four times a week, for physical therapy and neurological therapy.
They have a machine that shakes his legs, which is supposed to help circulation. They have what Kunkle referred to as white spatulas, which they lightly smack his legs with, and apply ice to try to induce feeling. He can tell when his legs are cold, because the constant tingling sensation he gets is different.
"It's like I'm being poked with stuff," Kunkle said. "Every once in a while, it's like getting zapped by an electric fence. It's a weird feeling."
Right now, he's working on crawling. He's on his hands and knees, using his upper body strength to army crawl while someone guides his legs.
He gets exhausted. His shoulders burn, because it's all he's got to provide power. He wonders if he's not able to use all of his lungs anymore, because it gets hard to breathe.
"For the most part, he's got a whole lot better attitude than I think most people would," his father, Mike Kunkle, said. "There are a few weak points here and there, stubbornness. But he's really optimistic about everything."
The constant workouts have benefited his body. At his weakest, he was down to 140 pounds. He's been able to build back up to between 190 and 200, but that took time.
When he went to therapy in Muncie, Caleb and his mother Kathy would stop at Panda Express. The thought made Kunkle smile, as he attributes the Chinese food to helping him get his weight back.
At first, his strength was sapped. He needed help getting out of bed. Lifting two-pound weights was a chore.
Kunkle might not be back to his former linebacker form, but he's happy with the progress.
"They want me to start crawling on the floor, so I don't have to worry about falling," he said. "And they want me to do it all myself."
He passed his last driving test a few weeks ago, and has a special mechanism inside his car that allows him to drive without his feet. His newest ride is a 2015 Chrysler, which he said he loves.
But does he like it more than his beloved Jeep that was involved in the crash?
"If I had to go back to that time, I would have chosen the Jeep," he said, smiling. "But now, it's hard not to love my new car."
He has controls on his right that he uses to accelerate and brake. Both his dad and older brother tried driving it and thought it was weird, but Caleb didn't struggle because he thinks it's similar to driving the tractors or combines.
He enjoys getting outside and working that equipment, because he's bored otherwise. Headaches set in, and he needed something, anything to do.
And now that he can drive, Jay County football coach Tim Millspaugh texts him, urging him to come out to practice. Teammates tell Kunkle that he should help coach the linebackers, which is where he played before the crash.
Step by step
If Kunkle was going to get back to walking again, it was going to be a long, trying process.
The first step was getting himself in shape. He got a machine that helps him stand.
After sitting down, he straps himself into the machine and uses a hydraulic lever to crank himself into a standing position.
Sometimes, he'll stand for 30 minutes, sometimes an hour. Usually it isn't difficult. The most common problem isn't lack of strength.
"It's not like it's hard to do, I just get bored standing there," he said. "It's good for my organs to have time when I'm standing, there's just not much for me to do when I'm doing that."
If he goes a day or two without standing, he pays the price. After 20 or 30 minutes, he'll get sweaty, lightheaded and have to sit down.
In February, Kunkle was fitted for leg braces. They arrived in March, and he took the first steps, literal steps, toward walking again.
Both at home and at rehab, he has a set of parallel bars. He can strap himself into the braces, then gets help standing up. Once someone locks the braces at the knees, preventing his legs from bending, he's ready to walk.
He supports himself with his arms, then uses upper-body muscles to move his body back and forth.
Slow, shaky steps are the result. They aren't pretty or efficient.
But he's walking, and that's what matters. As he goes back-and-forth in his garage, the family dog, Missy, trots happily around the bars.
"She's protective of him," Kathy said. "She'll sleep under his window every night."
At some point, will he be able to walk without the braces?
"It's hard telling," he said. "The longer I go without being able to actually move them, the less likely it is. With all the technology, there's a chance."
Kunkle plans to keep going to therapy, to get stronger and see if feeling keeps coming back.
"Modern technology has come so far that we never stop hoping," Kathy said. "You never know what could happen."
Kunkle has a friend at therapy who's also paralyzed. He has ReWalks, which works as an exoskeleton for his legs. Recently, he walked most of a 5K. With half a mile to go, the ReWalks stopped working, and he was carried the final distance.
Even with the injury, Kunkle hasn't lost his spirit. He wants to go skydiving this summer. He might be the only person in his family brave enough for that.
Mike said the plane would have to be on fire for him to jump out.
Looking down the road
If therapy seems to be helping, Kunkle wants to continue going to give himself the best chance possible. If not, he's looking at other options.
He'd like to cut back on the number of times he goes to therapy and get a job. College classes are on his radar, but making a little money is his first prerogative.
A desk job isn't for him. He would do it at first, but thinks he would get bored. He's used to working on his family's farm, where they grow corn, wheat and raise animals. A job using his hands is his preference.
Regardless, he's come a long way. In the immediate aftermath of the crash, the Kunkle family didn't know if he would survive.
Even after they knew he would be OK, nobody knew how much progress he would make.
Every wobbly step he takes while grasping the parallel bars looks great to his family.
"It just takes time, and I have to push myself," he said. "It's still been less than a year.
"You can't tell what will happen in the future."
Contact prep sports reporter David Polaski at (765) 213-5848. Follow him on Twitter @DavidPolaski
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