Positivity: From tragedy to inspiration in Ionia

From Ionia, Michigan:

Published: Saturday, December 8, 2007 12:57 AM CST

Grand Ledge’s Breck Lonier used to be your every-day guy.

He could ride a bike, climb the stairs or go most anywhere he wanted. Lonier even hunted, quickly loading up his bow and hiking out to his tree stand, like so many do in the fall.

And then, one evening in October of 1999, seven miles north of Ionia off Wooded Lake Rd in Ronald Township, Lonier’s life changed.

“It’s kind of weird. There are certain things I can remember from the day of the accident, like how I helped an old guy change his mercury light,” Lonier said. “I remember feeling hot, dizzy and sweaty. But I cannot tell you where I sat, what tree I was in. Then I remember waking up, I don’t know how long later, in a hospital bed with people around me. It was awful.”

Lonier had gone out with his father-in-law at the time and good friend, Ken Pickett, who owned the property. After climbing up the ladder of his 14-foot tree stand, Lonier said he might have passed out or suffered heat exhaustion from being too bundled up and dehydrated.

Pickett called his name and asked if he could get down.

“I thought I could,” Lonier said. “I unstrapped my safety belt. That’s when I fell.”

Lonier suffered severe spinal cord injuries and will never walk again.

“He’s tough for surviving that fall,” Pickett said. “But he’ll be in a wheelchair the rest of his life.”

For months after his accident, he could barely get out of bed. After losing the use of the lower half of his body and enduring an excruciating surgery that placed two titanium rods on each side of his backbone, Lonier was confined to bed rest and rehabilitation at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital.

It was six months before Lonier’s Ford F-150 was physically modified - complete with adapted hand controls - sufficient enough for him to drive. He then had to pass a special driver’s training test, which he felt was almost an insult.

“Piece of cake,” Lonier said of the test.

Lonier made it back to work at Robert Sinto Corp. in April of 2000, where he still works as a manager. Getting back to work finally brought some sense of normalcy to his life. The six months in between were the darkest days of his life.

“It was depressing,” said Lonier, who entertained thoughts of suicide after his accident. “It was so much of a hassle. Everything. I didn’t want to go outside because I’d remember what I used to do; how life used to be. I thought, ‘what could I do?’”

Things like taking a shower and getting dressed before work in the morning - things Lonier said most people take for granted - became enormously difficult.

“It used to take me 10 minutes to shower, now it takes me a half hour,” Lonier said with detectable sadness. “Takes me a good five minutes to even get in my pickup; an hour and a half to get ready for work.”

But, Lonier said, there came a silver lining. All the depression and sadness fell away as Lonier developed a stronger relationship with his 12-year-old son Garret.

It was, quite literally, what saved his life. Being a father and example to his son - through even the most hellacious experience - could set no better example. ….

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