Community comes together to help family of man paralyzed in ATV accident

Kevin’s recovery: Community comes together to help family of man paralyzed in ATV accident

The following article was reported from WEAU in Eau Claire.


MENOMONIE, Wis. (WEAU) – A local man continues to recover after being paralyzed in an ATV accident.

Faced with a mountain of medical bills, the community is coming together to help the man's family in their time of need.

This past May, Kevin Knospe was riding an ATV around his family's cabin in northern Wisconsin when his life changed forever.

“I missed a corner and hit a dirt berm and it tipped the machine over,” Knospe said.

Part of his vertebrae was broken and his spinal cord was stretched.

The 43-year-old soon found out he was paralyzed from the chest down and there was a five percent chance that he'd get any feeling back.

“We've never dwelled on the 95 percent. It's always been whatever we got to do to get better,” Knospe said.

And that's what Sunday’s benefit at the Veterans Center of Menomonie was all about.

Dozens of family, friends and people from the area came together to the event to raise money.

“There’s a lot of stuff that health insurance doesn't cover. We have some hefty hospital bills and things like that so hopefully that will help relieve some of the pressure,” Knospe said.

Knospe said this benefit is going to inspire him on his journey to get out of his wheelchair.

The father of two said he's making progress in physical therapy, getting back some feeling in his back, hips and feet.

“Ultimately, I’m going to walk again. I told myself and my wife told me ‘You're not going to be in that chair forever’,” Knospe said.

His wife Lauri said they were riding through lots of dust when the accident happened.

She said ATV riders should slow down when visibility is poor.

“Things change in a blink of an eye. One minute you're on an ATV riding and the next minute you're in my husband’s condition where he's paralyzed,” Lauri Knospe said.

The next step of Knospe’s recovery is returning to his job at the Walmart Distribution Center this week.

“The support has been just unbelievable. I appreciate everything,” Knospe said.

If you’d like to help, a link to the family’s website posted below.

http://knospebenefit2012.com/


Source: http://www.weau.com/news/headlines/Kevins-recovery-Community-comes-together-to-help-family-of-man-paralyzed-in-ATV-accident--181778061.html