Year of recovery

It’s almost impossible to write his story without the use of cliché.

That’s because it’s chock full of so many familiar adages.

Scott Collier, 37, of Brightwood, has had a passion for hunting for nearly twenty years. But almost a year ago, tragedy struck when he was doing the very thing that he loved.

It was Thursday, December 18, 2008. It was 3:45 p.m., and it would be dark soon. The place was Woodberry Forest School, where Collier had been employed as a groundskeeper for three and a half years. The end of the work day brought just enough time for a little hunting.

It all seemed so normal.

But Collier had no idea what that late afternoon would bring. Surely he thought about his possible prey, but a moment’s lapse in security proved his demise on that day.

Though he had gone through the customary procedure of climbing a tree with the use of a tree stand, it was different this time.

“The top piece got off angle,” he said. “I went to unhook it. I took the cable off and put the pin back through it. I thought I had it hooked. I didn’t. I was in a hurry.”

Enter now the story’s first cliché: “better safe than sorry.”

The 6-foot-4, 235-pound country gentleman wasn’t safe. And he took a dreadful fall.

“I came tumbling down 22 to 25 feet,” he said. “I remember all of what happened. I landed on my back with my gun in between me and the ground. Most of the time, I pulled the gun up to me using a pull rope. That day I didn’t. I was in a hurry. Being in a hurry will get you every time.”

That time it got Collier in a real bad way.

“I knew I was hurt bad,” he said. “I called my wife (Nita). I remember the medical (personnel) carried me out of the woods to someone’s truck. They drove me to where the ambulance was, and we went through Gordonsville on our way to U.Va. My best friend, Jeff Weakley, went with me.”

The damage was intense: two breaks in his back including a spinal cord injury, a broken right collar bone, five broken ribs on his left side, a collapsed left lung, a third degree tear in his spleen, and a torn aorta with blood clot.

The big guy was on the ground for nearly 25 minutes with those injuries.

Relief came, and his wife recalled what led to his rescue.

“He called my mother, Deborah Morgan, first,” said Nita Collier. “She had our kids, and he thought he was dying. He then called me. I was in robot mode at first: unemotional. I hung up and called 911. My call was transferred to Madison County.”

The medical team succeeded in getting Collier to doctors before it was too late.

He was hospitalized at the University of Virginia from December 18, 2008 through January 5, 2009, with 17 of those days spent in the Intensive Care Unit. Doctors performed surgery on his back the first night. Two days following the accident, on December 20, 2008, doctors woke him as he had begun to breathe on his own.

On December 24 he had another surgery, which was performed over five and a half hours to fix the aorta, and to cut off the blood supply to the top half of his spleen to stop the bleeding there.

Doctors inserted a stint to fix the tear in the aorta, but the ongoing concern was that he would contract pneumonia because of the collapsed left lung.

Thankfully, that did not happen. But the surgeries continued.

On December 27 doctors repaired his collar bone, and two days later he left the ICU and went to physical rehabilitation where he remained until January 6, 2009. He was then placed in Health South, an acute care rehabilitation hospital on Fontaine Avenue, where he stayed for a month.

But he wasn’t ready to come home.

Collier, a physically imposing outdoorsman, and father of three children, Ryan (11), Haley (8) and Hunter (2), had to learn to do something he never thought would be asked of him: how to live in a wheelchair.

It was at Health South where learned the art.

For someone who had enjoyed hunting for more than 20 years, learning to maneuver in a wheelchair has been admittedly demoralizing.

“It’s been tough,” he said. “I hate it. Not being able to go where you want to and with as much as I like to go. When you go from full throttle to an idle, it’s tough.”

But here comes another one of those old clichés.

Collier has been battling back despite all odds laid against him.

“The doctors said there was a less than ten percent chance he’d ever walk again,” said Nita Collier. “With the aorta problem, they said there was a less than five percent chance he’d live. But he’s walking, or at least is upright now, and he’s bearing some weight on his legs. They told us he’d never do that.”

And yet a couple of more clichés enter the story because Collier has been on the comeback trail ever since he fell. He smiles at the mention of the old adage, “You can’t keep a good man down.”

Ever since he woke up at the hospital and began breathing on his own, Collier slowly began his comeback. He’s defied the odds by hunting again, but he had to be resourceful to return to the sport he loves so much. After all, he still remains in a wheelchair.

“I got my truck modified,” he said. “It has a lift for my wheelchair and hand controls to drive the truck. I’ve been back out there ever since deer season opened a few weeks ago. I’m out there six days a week.”

The Colliers have stuck together through it all. They will celebrate their 15th wedding anniversary on Feb. 10. They recognize they have endured the ordeal through the help of a very generous community.

“The community support has been amazing,” said Nita. “Actually, words like amazing, don’t describe it. The support that has come from Albemarle, Madison and Culpeper…we went six months without Scott’s salary but with the community support we’ve been able to make it.”

And how’s the comeback guy doing with his return to his favorite sport?

“I killed a six-point buck with a rifle on November 14 in Barboursville,” he said. “The event was sponsored by Wheelin’ Sportsmen NWTF (National Wild Turkey Federation which provides people with disabilities the opportunity to participate in outdoor activities). I shot from inside a camouflaged tent on the ground.”

And his wife’s reaction to his return to the sport?

“That suits me just fine,” she said.

She has been so inspirational and pivotal in her husband’s recovery.

“I’m on line every day doing research,” she said. “I’m a technical nut. I work as technical support specialist in Albemarle County. Looking back, I remember googling and the Christopher Reeve Web site came up with a link that took me to mattcourson.org. I contacted him because at the top of his Web site it said, “I can do all things through Christ,” a reference to Philippians 4:13.

“I emailed him and he emailed me back the next day and told me his story. He had an ATV accident and told me his therapy options. He highly recommended a place in Ohio.”

That place is SCI-Step, Inc., a privately owned spinal cord injury recovery center where Scott entered on July 13 and participated in therapy for two weeks. The center’s motto is, “Never Give Up.”

With Collier’s determination to make a comeback he lived up to the facility’s motto perfectly.

“This is where Scott made huge inroads,” said Nita. “The equipment, the electrical simulators, the track and harness, it was all extremely safe. SCI told us that in 36 months from the date of treatment he can see the partial return of muscle functioning.”

After leaving SCI-Step, Scott went to the Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center in Fishersville where he participated in the residential part of the program for six weeks. Afterwards, he went there for outpatient services twice a week for about one month, or until Oct. 15.

He continues to work with the Department of Rehabilitative Services with his counselor, Warren Blatz.

Nita and Scott are hopeful that he can return to SCI-Step but the costs have proven prohibitive.

The local community has an excellent opportunity to help make this happen.

On February 27, Bethel Baptist Church of Culpeper, where the Colliers are members, will hold a benefit event at the Reva Fire Hall. The event includes dinner, an auction of donated items, and live music performed by Bluegrass bands, “Dark Hollow” and “Courtney Hollow.”

There is no fixed cost to attend. Donations will be accepted at the door.

“We want to get back to SCI-Step,” said Nita. “They’re telling us that if they can have Scott for a month we’ll have him happy.”

How’s he doing now?

“I’m not full throttle but I’m at a steady pace,” he said. “I still have pain. I’m not Scott-free,” no pun intended. “Most of my pain is in my back.”

And walking again on his own remains questionable, but that won’t deter him.

Does he ever see himself climbing a tree to hunt again?

“Yes,” he said. “Some how: some way. I’m going to get back up in there again.”

He also hopes to return to work at Woodberry Forest next spring.

Considering what he’s been through and what he’s overcome, odds-makers would have a hard time convincing anyone to bet against him.

About Scott Collier
Collier, 37, is a native of Brightwood and graduated from Madison County High School in 1990. He was injured in a hunting accident last fall. He worked as a groundskeeper at Woodberry Forest for more than three years before the injury. He is married to Nita Morgan Collier. In February they will celebrate their 15th anniversary. They have three children: Ryan, 11, Haley, 8, and Hunter 2.