Even a green committee meeting would make the challenge facing Jeff Andrews seem like a walk in the park.
The second assistant at Lahontan Golf Club in Truckee, Calif., Andrews is undergoing rehabilitation therapy at Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colo., after a snowboarding accident last month left him paralyzed from the neck down.
Andrews, 25, fractured his C6 vertebrae March 15 while snowboarding in the Sierra Nevada at the Sugar Bowl Ski Resort in Truckee. He was admitted March 26 to Craig Hospital, a Denver-area facility that specializes in spinal cord and brain injuries and is ranked seventh in the U.S. News and World Report list of best rehabilitation hospitals.
Andrews immediately began the rehabilitation phase of his recovery. According to Lahontan superintendent Michael Cornette, Andrews, who is in his final year of studies in the Penn State turf program, has regained minimal range of motion in his upper arms and has graduated to operating the joystick on a motorized wheelchair and also has regained some minor feeling in his legs, but he still faces a long rehabilitative process.
A native of Santa Rosa, Calif., Andrews is in his final year of studies in Penn State's turf management program. He is facing significant medical bills, and friends are asking for help.
A fund has been established to raise $50,000 to help Andrews defray some of the expenses associated with his rehabilitation. Nearly $40,000 has been raised so far, but Andrews still needs help and is facing weeks of therapy.
"He has slowly gotten some movement back in his upper arms and has vibrations in his legs from time to time," Cornette said. "This is why proper rehab is critical at this time. Hope is there and he is working hard to change his status."