NEWPORT BEACH : Spinal Injury Spurs Dedication to Others

Rogers Severson thought he and Jaime could go far together.

Both were paralyzed with spinal cord injuries in 1986 and were learning to walk again at Casa Colina Center for Rehabilitation in Pomona. Severson, 46 at the time, severed his spinal cord in a horse riding accident; Jaime did it in a motorcycle mishap. But when therapy sessions began one day, Jaime was not there. Severson, a Newport Beach resident, found out later that Jaime’s insurance coverage had run out before his therapy was complete. He was sent to a rest home.

The next time the two saw each other, Severson could walk with the aid of a cane, while Jaime needed help to turn over in bed and had lost 50 pounds and any hope of walking.

Though Severson does not even know Jaime’s last name or where he is today, he is dedicated to making certain that other spinal-cord injury patients do not go Jaime’s route.

“His potential was just like mine,” Severson said. “He could have been a productive human being.”

Within six months of being discharged from the hospital in Pomona six years ago, the co-owner of Saddleback Associates real estate development firm held a $500-per-plate luncheon in Newport Beach, raising $160,000 for other spinal cord patients.

The annual SCI Special Fund luncheons at the Four Seasons Hotel, as well as year-round fund-raising efforts, have generated about $1 million to pay for patient therapy, which costs about $800 a day.

“It is a life-changing situation” for patients, Severson said. “It means not being a ward of the state for the rest of your life and sitting in a rest home and being miserable.”

Severson’s story fits that profile.

Hours after being thrown, Severson was told by neurologists at Mission Community Hospital in Mission Viejo that he had no hope of walking again.

“I was devastated, obviously,” Severson said. “But my wife knew that I would walk again.”

Thanks to prompt and proper therapy, Severson has gained not only mobility--he has gone from a quadriplegic with no use of his arms or legs to having free movement of his arms and some movement in his legs--but the determination to become an activist on behalf of others.

His next big project is to help people who have been rehabilitated and are ready to re-enter the workplace.

“The hardest part (of recovery) is getting out after rehab and adjusting to the real world,” he said. “Many people get out and then never go anywhere.”

Last year, Severson donated $30,000 to Goodwill to start an office that finds jobs for such people. So far, the office has helped find work for three people and, in one case, purchased a special van so a person could commute to work.

Severson also recently traveled to Washington to testify before a U.S. Senate committee about funding rehabilitation programs.

“You ask yourself how this can happen,” Severson said, referring to Jaime’s fate. “But it happens a lot, and I didn’t know that until I went through it.”