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Sunday, April 16, 2000
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Not driving, but still driven
IRL star making strides since paralyzing accident
By Jeff Wolf
Review-Journal
he defending champion in Saturday's Indy car race in Las Vegas isn't thinking about defending his title.
It's not because he's moved to another racing series, lost his sponsor or decided to retire from the death-defying profession.
He has more important things to do, like trying to regenerate the mysterious communication link between most of his muscles and his spinal cord.
"I've been feeling pretty good for a month now," Sam Schmidt said in a telephone interview last week from his room at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. "I feel good. It's not exactly boring. They keep you busy around here."
Schmidt's odyssey began about three months ago, when he was testing his Indy car for Treadway Racing at Walt Disney World Speedway near Orlando, Fla. On his seventh lap of the day, just a few weeks after recovering from a crash in Fort Worth, Texas, in October's season-finale when he severely injured his feet, the Henderson resident's car "bottomed out" as he entered the second turn and backed into a guardwall at about 160 mph.
The impact damaged his C-3 and C-4 vertebrae, but paralysis was not the immediate concern.
Schmidt, 35, wasn't breathing when rescue workers removed him from the mangled car. Because it was an official Indy Racing League testing session, the association's rescue crew was on hand.
"If they weren't there, I'd probably be dead," Schmidt said. "I wasn't breathing when they got to me. They told me I was blue."
He was resuscitated at the scene, and a ventilator was inserted before he was airlifted to an Orlando hospital.
Schmidt spent about a month in the Orlando hospital, where doctors stabilized his condition so he could begin rehabilitation therapy.
When he arrived at the St. Louis hospital on Feb. 2, Schmidt needed a respirator to breathe, and it appeared he could face a future similar to that of actor Christopher Reeve, a quadriplegic who needs breathing assistance 24 hours a day.
After three weeks in the St. Louis center, one of the best of its kind in the world, Schmidt began working with Dr. John W. McDonald, director of the Spinal Cord Injury Unit and assistant professor of neurology and neurological surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
The results have been nearly miraculous.
"The doctors are ecstatic with what has come back," Schmidt said.
Schmidt hasn't required breathing assistance for about a month. He has use of his diaphragm, chest, shoulders and upper arms. He also has regained feeling in his back below the injured vertebrae. His weight, which was about 175 before the accident, dropped to 135 but is back up to 155.
"He's really amazing," said McDonald, a 35-year-old graduate of the University of Illinois and the University of Michigan Medical School. "He's already exceeded average expectations. He's done what it takes most people two years to do.
"No question it's his competitiveness. What drove him to do the things he did before he got here are the same things that drive him here."
Schmidt said the hardest thing is being patient.
"There are always hurdles in life, whether financial, mental, whatever." he said. "The biggest problem with this situation is that I'm not in control.
"In the past ... it's like OK, here's the problem, and here's what we have to do to fix it. Within reason, the result is the effort you put in to fixing it. With this deal, you can put in a huge amount of effort and still not see any benefit.
"But it's easy for me to have a positive attitude and to work real hard at this stuff because it's the way I've always been."
He hasn't regained use of his hands and is not able to walk, but he isn't complaining.
Not about daylong physical therapy designed to help him lose the label of being a quadriplegic, and not about missing a chance to defend the only title he won in the Indy Racing Series.
McDonald said the next two goals are for Schmidt to gain control of his elbows and get wrist flexation that will give him use of his hands.
"The next 20 (steps) don't compare to how important the next two are," McDonald said.
Schmidt spends about 45 minutes daily on a bicycle that is pedaled by his legs with assistance from electrical stimulation. He also spends time in a parachute-type harness walking on a treadmill, again with electrical input activating his leg muscles. The goal, in addition to exercising the muscles, is to send electrical impulses back to the affected areas of the spine to try to regenerate communication from the spinal cord to the muscles.
"I can honestly say I didn't work this hard before the accident," he said. "It really doesn't seem to aerobically tire me out, but when I go to bed at night, I'm tired."
Schmidt was provided use of an electric wheelchair with controls in the headrest.
"My mom says I never used my head for anything before, and now I have to," he joked.
The therapy staff learned quickly it doesn't take long for a racecar driver to learn how to maneuver a wheelchair. After a brief explanation on operating the chair, therapists lifted Schmidt into it. Before getting any further instructions, Schmidt took off.
"It was pretty funny," he said. " They said it typically takes two days for patients to figure how to work it, but it took me five minutes. They didn't have to run to catch me. It was only set up with about 30 percent power (2 mph)."
Last week, it was programmed to full power.
"I kept whining that it was too slow, and they finally bumped it up."
As part of recreational therapy, Schmidt and a few other patients left the hospital to attend a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game at Busch Stadium. Schmidt drove his wheelchair to the train station, then to the stadium and his seat. This week, he went to a movie and dinner.
"I had a good time going down the sidewalk on the way to the movie," he said of the outing that included his wife, Sheila. "Sheila was with me, but you still had to deal with everything that comes up in front of you. Everything is different. You can't even push the button on the elevator by yourself."
Even with the progress Schmidt has made, he knows his fortitude will be challenged this week because he will not be able to compete in the Vegas Indy 300.
He can only relive the memories of Sept. 26, when he became an Elvis impersonator to help promote the race by growing sideburns to match those of Elvis Presley and dyed them, along with his hair and eyebrows, black.
Then he went out and won the race.
The closest he'll get to Saturday's race will be an interview on ABC as part of the telecast.
He's been talking with his Treadway Racing crew and team manager Skip Faul for the past month But it wasn't easy for him emotionally when the team was at the speedway last month for practice.
"Just talking to them during the open test in Vegas was pretty depressing," Schmidt said. "That's the one place next to Indy I'd really like to be at."
"He's going through some difficult times, but Sam's OK," said Las Vegan Davey Hamilton, who along with Tyce Carlson are the only IRL drivers who have visited Schmidt since the accident. "I left there very happy I went to see him. He's my friend. I care about him."
Schmidt and Hamilton said they understand why drivers might be reluctant to see Schmidt.
"(Paralysis) hits a little closer to home because it was Sam," said Hamilton, who fractured his back three weeks after Schmidt's accident at the same track during the IRL opener. "I believe racing is a safe sport, but we have tragic moments when people lose their lives or get hurt like Sam.
"But we put that in the back of our minds and try to do our job."
Schmidt understands.
"Some people might have a hard time with (my injury) because it's the reality of the situation," he said. "It could happen to them."
Schmidt learned the dangers of racing when he was around 12 years old. His dad, Marv Schmidt, crashed during an off-road race. That mishap left the elder Schmidt with a blood clot on his brain and partial paralysis on his left side.
"We were doing the thing we loved to do," said Marv Schmidt, who along with his wife, Judy, have been at Sam's side since the accident. "All of us racers know that things like this can happen."
Today, the Schmidts' involvement in racing is limited, but Sam has started new endeavors.
The first thing he's done is make certain the key drug for treating spinal cord injuries -- methylprednisolone, a steroid -- is available at all major IRL testing sessions. It is most effective, according to McDonald, when administered within the first one or two hours of an accident. It's now available at most major races, Schmidt said.
McDonald, who also is a scientist, said they are trying to develop a package that will allow the drug to be in every ambulance. Because the powdered steroid has a very short life once it is mixed with a liquid for intravenous use, he said it is not readily available for paramedics.
"Data from research on animals indicates we can reduce (spinal cord) damage by one half if the drug is administered within the first one or two hours after the injury," McDonald said. "The cost in savings to the country would be in the billions."
Schmidt is learning the high cost of treatment and therapy for paralysis victims.
He said the IRL provides a good accident insurance program, but he also had a supplemental policy.
"I don't do many smart things, but I did have a decent (insurance) policy," he said. "The system tends to suck things down pretty quickly. I think I'll be OK (financially) for a while."
Because of his concern for others, Schmidt has started the Sam Schmidt Foundation to help individuals overcome spinal cord injuries and other debilitating illnesses.
He wants the foundation to concentrate its fund-raising efforts on supporting research, developing innovative equipment for rehabilitation and providing financial help for spinal cord injury patients caught between public and private funding.
Schmidt spends a couple hours each day working on foundation business on a cell phone and headset provided by Sprint PCS, which sponsored him last year. The company is providing airtime for Schmidt and his father.
Schmidt's wife and their two children, ages 2 1/2 and 9 months, have temporarily relocated to St. Louis, as have his parents. Schmidt expects to remain there for about two more months before returning to his home in Henderson, where the family has lived for about four years.
"We're waiting to see if anything else wakes up," Schmidt said. "If more (nerves) come alive, then I'll stay longer and work the hell out of that. If we get to a point where we're not really gaining anything from being here, then we need to get home and save the insurance company some money.
"There comes a point where you have to go home."
He knows another arduous journey begins when he gets home, but he won't be doing it alone.
"Sheila is real strong," he said. "The kids, of course, don't know any better. That's unconditional love; daddy's in the hospital, but they don't care.
"I started off with the support of the family that has been above and beyond, and a circle of friends that is a lot larger than I thought it was. The lengths people have been willing to go for me so far is something I never would have imagined."
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Related Story:
Sam Schmidt Chronology
From his St. Louis hospital room, Henderson's Sam Schmidt works with an ABC camera crew on a profile that will air next weekend.
Associated Press photo
Schmidt works out on a special stationary bicycle that uses electrical stimulation to activate muscles in his legs.
Associated Press photo
Schmidt, sporting Elvis-like sideburns, celebrates after his victory in last year's Vegas.com 500 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Associated Press photo
"There are always hurdles in life, whether financial, mental, whatever. The biggest problem with this situation is that I'm not in control."
-- Sam Schmidt
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