September 14, 2009

Family Care member finds opportunity in loss.         

38-year-old Jayme Memmel says he was arrogant prior to a car accident which left him a quadriplegic at 25. “It’s a good thing this happened to me, because where would I have ended up, if I didn’t have the humility of this?” says Jayme, a Columbia County Family Care member.

Before the accident, Jayme worked on helicopters, played minor league baseball and partied with his buddies. All that changed when he rolled his Isuzu Trooper on his way home from a wedding, dislocating his neck and causing spinal cord damage.

“It’s funny: the guy in the room next to me broke 42 bones. Six weeks later, he walked out of there. I dislocated my neck by centimeters and spent a year in rehab,” Jayme notes in amazement. But he also feels blessed: “I wasn’t supposed to have my arms back, so that’s major independence.”

After his accident, Jayme enjoyed the activities and accessibility of living in Madison, where he was enrolled with Community Living Alliance (CLA). But difficulties obtaining in-home assistance forced him to move back home. He returned to an accessible apartment in his grandfather’s home in Columbus, with his mother living above; his new wife, Sonia, just joined him there after their August 9 wedding.

“We have a great relationship. Our Christian faith is probably the most important thing in our relationship,” he notes. When they met online, Sonia was working with children with special needs. Now she’s become one of Jayme’s major supports—emotionally, but also through the Self-Directed Supports (SDS) program.

Jayme started working with Care Manager Sara Gerke when they both came to Family Care in summer 2008. The first thing Sara did was get Jayme started with the SDS program, since prior to Care Wisconsin, he’d had to work his activities around the schedule of his agency support.

The SDS program has instead allowed Jayme to plan help around his commitments. In addition to being a student, Jayme works at ministry camps and as a television underwriter, leads a bible study, does motivational speaking for Guard units, schools and churches, and has a very active social life. He manages SDS very well, with Sonia, his sister and his mother as primary supports and a few friends as secondary supports.

“I feel like I’m never going to be left out in the dark with Care Wisconsin. I have a say in the way I’m taken care of and in my goals,” Jayme emphasizes. He approaches Sara with questions about what he can and can’t do—and he appreciates her openness in helping him with the appeals process. “It’s always good to know that your program is like that—that you have their support.”

While he’s grateful for all the benefits available for people with disabilities, he emphasizes the importance of being your own advocate. On his own, he’s identified and received a free travel ramp, and researched many other resources to supplement his care plan.

Sara admires that Jayme doesn’t let anything get in the way of his hopes and dreams. He’s just completing his Bachelor’s degree in human development from Amridge University this fall and will start his Master’s in rehabilitation psychology at UW-Madison in January.

His goal is to become a Christian counselor for people with disabilities. With his own challenges and his experience with a developmentally disabled brother—also a Family Care member—he’s inspired to help others learn how to see the opportunities in their lives.

For more personal stories about Care Wisconsin and our members, see our  2009 Storybook.

Read Mike’s story—a story of how one Family Care member’s care team used bowling as a way to help ease his transition to his new care program.

For more news from Care Wisconsin, click here