Paralyzation No Roadblock to Young Man's Dreams

MARION - A car that hit Kurtis Jones while riding his bicycle 20 years ago may have shattered his future, but it could not stop him from dreaming. From realizing some of those dreams from his wheelchair. From gathering with friends and family to give thanks this weekend for what he has.

"For another year, for sure," Kurtis says. "Friends and family. And, I guess, for what's left of my health."

Paralyzed from the neck down with spinal cord injuries, Kurtis reclines in his wheelchair. He stretches out by rolling the back of his head on a button and can drive the chair with a "sip and puff" tube at the corner of his mouth. When thirsty, he sips Sprite through another straw. When friends call, he answers his cellphone via a headset.

"I honestly think," says the eternally optimistic Kurtis, "if I could have aggressive therapy, I could get upper arm movement, if not walk again."

He shrugs his shoulders slightly. His eyes twinkle. He smiles.

"He has about the same injuries Christopher Reeve had," says his mother, Sherrie Coghlan. "They say he's been able to live this long because he grew up with it."

Reeve, who played Superman in the 1978 movie, became paralyzed in a horse-riding accident in 1995 at age 42 and died nine years later.

Kurtis was 13, riding his bicycle after 5 p.m. on Nov. 14, 1991, in Marion when he was hit by a car and thrown upon its windshield. His injuries turned him into a quadriplegic, necessitating constant care even today.

"We've come a long way since then," says his mother, who lives with Kurtis. "Now he's doing his bucket list."

Yes, at 33 this young man is thinking about what he wants to do before he dies.

Kurtis would like to visit Las Vegas. He dreams of some day flying in an airplane. He'd love to attend a Green Bay Packers football game. And, maybe, some day, with advancements in technology, he'll be able to drive his van.

He checked off riding in a stock car in the summer of 2003. He nearly accomplished sky-diving a few years later, although a last-minute glitch with insurance canceled that. Last June he took a boat ride on Lake Macbride.

"It was a blast," Kurtis says. "The only thing I was nervous about, you see on TV, you see people walking out to the boat on a floating dock. I'm thinking here's me, 450 pounds, out floating around."

But boat owner Sean Payne of Marion and a volunteer crew managed to load Kurtis and his wheelchair aboard the pontoon boat.

"He like, totally redid it for me," Kurtis says. "He tore half his boat apart so I could get on it."

With life jackets packed all around, Kurtis sat in the back of the boat as Sean sped off.

"We were at full throttle," Kurtis says. "It was as if we were airborne."

Through the years Kurtis has skimmed over one challenge after another, despite regular hospitalizations, infections and a collapsed lung. His stepfather, Dave Coghlan Sr., who has been with his mother since 1987 and married her in 1993, pushed him to excel.

Kurtis transferred from Linn-Mar to Marion to graduate high school. Hard work in physical therapy strengthened his diaphragm so he didn't need a respirator. He completed some college but a cut in state benefits prevented him from earning a Kirkwood Community College degree.

This weekend, Kurtis was surrounded by the love of two-dozen family members for Thanksgiving. On weekend evenings, you may find him at the nearby tavern sipping a Miller Lite and singing Karaoke. He still idolizes his stock car hero, the late Dale Earnhardt, and has a checkered flag hanging above his bedroom doorway.

Kurtis, bucket list in hand, is determined to make it to the finish line.

"I decided from the beginning," he says, "I wasn't just going to sit around."

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