Getting Close

Ran on Saturday, June 16, 2007

Getting close
Former UW-Eau Claire football player still recovering from injury

By Keighla Schmidt
Leader-Telegram

Some things can’t be explained; they simply must be embraced.
Justin Greenwood was a junior linebacker for UW-Eau Claire on Sept. 27, 2003, when helmet contact with an opponent caused severe brain damage and put him into a coma after a blood clot was removed from his brain. The Park Falls native spent three months in the hospital and the last 3 1/2 years recovering, and he continues to make progress.
“The only thing holding me back,” Greenwood said, “is my vision.”
Greenwood is walking, talking and living without medication. He uses a walking stick to help him navigate.
However, Greenwood suffers from tunnel vision, limiting his line of sight. He has no peripheral vision and shallow vision directly in front of him. His left eye is has both exotropia and hypertropia, meaning it pulls up and out, causing him blindness in that eye. The eye complications are a result of a lack of oxygen to the brain at the time of the accident.
Doctors initially told Greenwood he would be able to see only about six inches in front of him for the rest of his life.
But a special treatment from an optometrist in Stone Bridge, Ga., Dr. Daniel Gottlieb, is equipping him with the therapy and glasses he needs to prove the other doctors wrong.
Greenwood started therapy sessions Monday in Stone Bridge; he was to return today to his home in St. Louis Park, Minn.
After three days working with Greenwood, Sharyn Freant, lead vision therapist at the Gottlieb Vision Group, said the former Blugold is making great progress.
“He’s having wonderful success,” she said. “He’s realizing the success, and it’s motivating him to do more.”
“The glasses are really helpful,” Greenwood said. “They make vision a lot more clear in front of me.”
Greenwood’s mother, Glenda, said since the beginning, she “knew he’d go a long way, and if we kept pushing, technology would find a way.”
They prayed it would eventually catch up; their prayers were answered.
The therapy strengthens the eyes by using prisms on glasses that function similar to side mirrors on a car that bring awareness to objects in the periphery.
But commuting to Georgia for the therapy sessions isn’t easy or cheap, Greenwood and his mother must fly to Georgia and stay in a hotel during the therapies. While the medical expenses are covered through insurance, the travel expenses are not.
Donna Kuklinski of Eau Claire, a friend of the Greenwoods, is working with the community to help raise money to cover travel costs.
“I made a promise to him,” Kuklinski said. “And I can’t let him down.”
Kuklinski has been instrumental from the start to get Justin Greenwood fitted with the special glasses.
Just a few weeks after his accident in 2003, Kuklinski was watching a television show featuring Gottlieb and his techniques for helping people regain their eyesight. Since then, she has worked to coordinate the visits with the doctor.
She is one of many people who have supported the Greenwood family since the injury.
“Without the support he’s been given throughout the recovery process, he wouldn’t be where he’s at today,” Glenda Greenwood said. “He’s worked very hard to get to the point he’s at now. These glasses mean a lot to him.”
RCU has established the Justin Greenwood Recovery Fund, where people can donate money to help offset the travel costs. The UW-Eau Claire football team has held multiple fundraisers for the family, and many others have personally helped them.
A tutor from the Courage Center where Greenwood receives tutoring in math, reading and cognitive skills, gave the Greenwoods her frequent flyer miles to take the first trip to visit Gottlieb.
Others simply keep the family in their thoughts.
“We certainly have prayed every step of the way for this young man,” said Darlene Kotelnicki of Litchfield, Minn.
Kotelnicki was at the game watching her son play for UW-River Falls when Greenwood was injured.