CORY'S STORY

Cory was born and raised in Fort Jennings, a small town in Putnam County. There is where he graduated High School. He then enrolled at the University of Toledo. Cory only lasted one semester before he was in a serious car accident. Cory was thrown from a car he was riding in Jan. 8, 2000, while he was home on winter break from the University of Toledo. This accident injured Cory’s spinal cord at level C4/C5 leaving him a quadriplegic.

After the alcohol-related accident, he spent 29 days in intensive care at St. Rita’s Medical Center in Lima. The first week, he was in a drug-induced coma and spent 55 days in rehabilitation at Ohio State University Medical Center. During his time in Columbus, he received occupational, physical, recreational, speech and language therapy.

Following his time at OSU, he decided to go back to college. The University of Toledo was not the best school for wheelchairs so he decided to attend Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. Cory found student workers to help him around campus, get him in and out of elevators and open doors. In class, a helper would take notes and write down answers to math problems he figured out in his head.

In his dorm room, notes were taped to his walls. Using a stick in his mouth to type, he would do his homework. The workers would feed him lunch and dinner, get him into bed and check on him once during the night.

Cory earned a math degree and a 3.0 grade-point average even though it sometimes took him four hours to complete a test. He graduated June 10 2006, complete with cap and gown. He has moved back to Fort Jennings and lives in an addition with features designed for his needs that were built by community residents.

He is currently a High School math teacher and president of West Central Ohio Paralysis Foundation.