Alumni Spotlight

Portrait in Perseverance

Many college students take an extra year or two to complete their undergraduate degrees. Brad Ebenhoeh, Class of 2003, is one of those taking some additional time. He didn’t make that decision; the decision was made for him. At age 19, while a sophomore at the University of Michigan, he suffered the unthinkable. In April 2005, while driving with a friend, Brad experienced strokelike symptoms and pulled over. By the time his friend drove him to the hospital, Brad was unconscious, and then slipped into a coma. His journey from that fateful April day to the present defies conventional wisdom. And is an incredible “portrait in perseverance.”

High Hopes

Brad was an accomplished high school student as well as an outstanding musician. He played clarinet, and played piano “for everything” such as school liturgies and the play. When he started Michigan in the Fall of 2003, as an Engineering Physics major, he played piano for the Newman Choir at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Ann Arbor, and accompanied musical theatre students at Michigan as well. On April 15, 2005, he suffered a massive brain hemorrhage (called an AVM) and remained in a coma for the next three months. Despite the coma, he was undergoing physical therapy. Brad’s mother Cindy had always worked parttime, and his father Bob was a Roseville fireman. Together they juggled schedules, one of them always at the hospital with Brad. “We’d get home at 10:30 at night. And then the next day, we’d start all over.” Cindy said In May 2005, doctors told the Ebenhoehs that Brad would be moved to a nursing home. His parents fought back, and found a specialized brain injury rehab center. Doctors brought him out of the coma medically, in July 2005. His parents continually pushed for more acute rehabilitation, and Brad returned to U. of M. hospital in August 2005. At that point, his body was like “jello.” He had to relearn how to breathe and swallow. He couldn’t talk, couldn’t sit up, couldn’t move without assistance. Doctors estimated it would take years of physical rehabilitation to recover from his brain injury. And insurance wouldn’t cover it, because Brad wasn’t in a car accident, nor had he been born with disabilities. Cindy and Bob kept getting denials for physical therapy. The Ebenhoehs were unwilling to accept that their son would never improve. They knew Brad’s journey to physical recovery would take years. And that the battle through bureaucratic red tape was just beginning.

The Battle to Recover

In November 2005, Brad came home to live, requiring 24 hr. medical care and tube feedings.Brad’s brother Brandon (who now works in the DC area after graduating from Michigan) was a sophomore at DLS; younger sister Alissa was nine. In addition to working to find appropriate physical rehabilitation services for Brad, Cindy and Bob had to deal with the overwhelming medical expenses. “We had to fight for everything,” Cindy says. “No one comes knocking at your door to tell you how to do things.” Brad had progressed sufficiently by 2008 to enroll for classes at Macomb Community College. He took

Brad Ebenhoeh

as many courses as he could, even tutoring in Math, including Calculus 3, Physics, and Chemistry. And he continued hours and hours of physical therapy. Learning to sit up. To talk. To stand, with assistance, and to use an elliptical trainer for exercise. He even “stood up” for a college friend’s wedding.

Back to Michigan

During all the classes at Macomb, and during all the rehab, Brad continued to dream of returning to Ann Arbor. He proudly posted his acceptance letter on his Facebook account in February 2015. His plans hit a snag in the Fall of 2015 when he was told that since he would be living in Washtenaw County, that his aid from Macomb County wouldn’t apply. Cindy said, “No one had ever done this process.” Brad frantically reached out with emails to everyone he could think of, asking for help in shaking the bureaucracy. In mid-December he got the approvals. Brad and Cindy did whirlwind interviews of caregivers so that Brad could start in January 2016. “He moved into the dorm on January 3, we trained caregivers on January 5, and he started classes January 6.” Brad is taking two classes this semester, and is now in the Aerospace Engineering program. He has eight caregivers, although he says he really needs 13 or 14. When one is unable to make it, either Cindy or Bob drives to Ann Arbor to care for their son. “Things are falling into place,” Cindy says. Daughter Alissa, in her third year at Michigan in Biomedical Engineering, has connected with a rehab engineer who is now working with Brad’s professor and an assistive technology manager to help Brad do his homework independently. Brad only has the use of one hand, making typing tedious. Cindy and Bob are also working with attorneys to create a trust for Brad. He cannot have any income or he will lose his medicaid and health insurance. “Brad had thought he could set up a GoFund me account. Under the laws, that’s not possible.” He expects to graduate in 2018. And hopes to work for NASA or at the JPL, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. Brad writes, “I want to be the first disabled person in space.

Helping a Fellow Pilot

Brad’s journey from that fateful April day in 2005 to the present has been a continuous battle to get help from insurance companies and medicaid. As his mother explains, because it was not a car accident, the insurance standards are different; Medicaid limits how much money he can earn. Steve Graus, ‘74, heard about Brad’s plight and decided to help. He organized a “Championship Sunday” fundraiser for Brad in 2015, and again in 2016. Proceeds from the event, which featured bigscreen TV’s, raffles, a silent auction, and a full buffet, go into a fund to help with Brad’s expenses, such as batteries for his wheelchair.

Steve said, “Unless something like this happens to us, we don’t reach out. I heard about Brad and thought, here’s a graduate of my school, and he has such

Steve Graus ‘74 perseverance. I decided that anything I could do to help, I would. Alumni dads Bruce Castano, Joel Urbin, and Sal DiCaro also helped me put the event on. Sal’s brother owns Fern Hill, and we were able to arrange to have this event there.