Cole Parker fiddled with his Zip'r Mobility Scooter on National Running Day.
He watched an energetic crowd at a celebratory fun run in Murray Park in Little Rock, a faint reminder of the hours he used to spend competing on baseball fields and golf courses.
But of about 150 runners gathered early Wednesday morning, only Parker received a medal.
Just after 6:30 a.m., ultramarathoner Paul "PT" Turner draped his 2012 Houston Marathon finisher's medal around Parker's neck in the first-ever presentation by Medals4Mettle Little Rock. The international nonprofit allows athletes to honor the endurance shown by people battling life-threatening illnesses.
"Thank you for seeing," Parker said. "A lot of people don't see that my life is now a constant struggle."
On June 10, 2006, after a long day of fishing with a handful of buddies, then-17-year-old Parker drove a Nissan Xterra off the road
and it flipped into a ditch. He was airlifted to Arkansas Children's Hospital with extensive brain injuries. He wouldn't survive, doctors told his mother, Tina Hutchison. But he made it through the night.
He'd never last five days, they said next. Parker held out.
If they were lucky, he'd be in a vegetative state for the rest of his life. "You're going to need a miracle," the surgeon told Parker's parents.
"His father said, 'You better get ready to see one,'" Hutchison said.
Parker stayed in a coma for a year and at the Timber Ridge Neuro Rehabilitation Center in Benton for another 12 months. The miracles came, but painfully slow: a blink, a nod of acknowledgement, a new vocabulary word. For the next eight years, Parker and his family gritted their teeth and clawed their way toward recovery.
"Therapists -- they're great," Parker said. "But if you really want to get better, you have to fight for it."
ORIGIN STORY
That's the type of courage Medals4Mettle founder Steven Isenberg saw when he visited a colleague hospitalized with prostate cancer in 2003. The Indianapolis surgeon and marathoner impulsively gave the man his Chicago Marathon finisher's medal.
Out of that experience, Isenberg formed the nonprofit Medals4Mettle in 2005. Today, 73 national and international chapters collect earned finishers' medals from half-marathoners, marathoners and triathletes and present them to patients dealing with chronic or life-threatening illnesses.
The organization is managed by volunteers, according to national chapter coordinator Scott Dahl. Each medal is a transplant of courage, earned with sweat and donated intentionally.
"It's the spirit of the earned medal that carries on to the recipient," Dahl said.
NEW CHAPTER
A strong running community makes Little Rock an ideal location for a Medals4Mettle chapter, according to chapter coordinator Erin Taylor. Veteran racers like Turner accumulate dozens of medals that end up gathering dust in shoeboxes under beds.
"We have so many people who are worthy and would be inspired by this," Taylor said.
On Wednesday, Taylor said more than 60 medals have already been donated to the Little Rock chapter since its debut last month. Volunteers from the central Arkansas chapter of Girls on the Run helped to clean and restring the awards with Medals4Mettle's signature ribbon.
Recipients are chosen through partnerships with Camp Aldersgate, the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System and Children's Hospital. Medals4Mettle also works with corporate sponsors including Acxiom Corp., where Parker's mother works. Hutchison heard about the kickoff event and contacted Taylor with an idea for the first recipient.
"When she shared her story with me, I could not believe it," Taylor said. "I was like, 'It's a sign. It has to be him.'"
PRIVATE MARATHON
Today Parker is 25 and living independently in Conway. He works part time at the University of Central Arkansas athletics department taking tickets at home games and recently re-earned his driver's license.
He is in a wheelchair. His short-term memory is limited, and he can't stand for more than about a minute without succumbing to all-over muscle tremors.
The most difficult part is encounters with strangers, though, Parker said. People who don't know the journey he has been through become frustrated with his limited mobility and unfamiliar speech patterns. How could they understand the days and months he spent relearning to speak?
Medals4Mettle acknowledges Parker's hidden marathon with public honor. Parker's race is different from the grueling event where the medal was first earned. And he hasn't crossed the finish line yet, he said.
"This is one of those life-goal trophies."
Fayetteville also has a chapter of Medals4Mettle. Al Dominguez says he has not done presentations but instead provides donated medals to hospitals. Donors can contact him at [email protected].
In Little Rock, donors can drop off medals at Rock City Running, 10300 N. Rodney Parham Road, or Go! Running, 1819 N. Grant St. More information is at medals4mettle.org.
ActiveStyle on 06/09/2014