It was approximately four years ago – on May 5 – when 38-year-old Jyl Waters was severely injured in a farming accident.
Waters, a wife and mother of two, was operating a forklift on her family’s farm in Clarinda when, for an unknown reason, she blacked out and fell off the piece of farm machinery. Waters survived the fall, but was paralyzed from the chest down.
“It was just a freak deal,” said Jyl’s brother, Brooke Ryan Turner.
Turner said the accident forever changed his sister’s life, as well as his own.
When doctors informed Jyl’s family that she probably wasn’t going to walk again, the 46-year-old Turner was devastated. To help cope with the pain, he wrote a song for his sister titled “Now I Know What True Love Is,” from the foot of her hospital bed.
“Love is when you feel her pain, doc said she can’t walk again, wipe the tears from her eyes,” sang Turner to his sister, who lay in a coma. “Till my sister fell, thought I knew it well, now I know what true loveis.”
After putting the lyrics to music, Turner came up with the idea to ride a horse 700 miles from Clarinda to Nashville to perform his song in an effort to raise funds and awareness for spinal cord injury research. His journey attracted several reporters as well as supporters, but Turner didn’t want his mission to end there. He then formed the Spinal Cord Injury Organization for Research and Enrichment, known as S.C.O.R.E.
This weekend will mark the fourth year the group has sponsored a fundraising event in southern Iowa, with support and attendance increasing each year.
“Money donated by individuals is critical to allow the rapid movement of science,” said Dr. John McDonald, director of the Kennedy Krieger’s Spinal Cord Injury Center in Baltimore, Md., who was also one of the primary physicians for the late Christopher Reeves as well as Jyl’s leading physician. “(Clarinda’s event) does a lot for awareness, particularly in the community.”
While improvement in quadriplegics and paraplegics was previously thought to be impossible, the International Center for Spinal Cord Injury at Kennedy Krieger in Baltimore, Md., was founded on the principal that individuals with paralysis can hope for the recovery of sensation, function, mobility and independence.
“A cure doesn’t mean completely repairing the nervous system, but the ability to move and feel,” McDonald explained.
McDonald said Jyl Waters is a good example of what continuous effort can do for improvement and compared the 41-year-old to the late Christopher Reeves.
“Here’s another example of someone just like Chris. Jyl Waters has done so much for so many and never wants anybody to focus on her,” he said.
This weekend, the focus will be on raising awareness and funds for spinal cord injury research. Dr. Visar Belegu, a member of the team that founded the Kennedy Krieger’s Spinal Cord Injury Center as well as Patrick Rummerfield, the world’s first fully functional spinal cord injury quadriplegic both plan to attend and speak about the importance of spinal cord research.
Country music recording artist Michael Martin Murphey will perform in concert on Sunday evening. Murphey has recorded 23 albums and 16 music videos.
Turner also plans to perform and sing the “song that started it all” following the performance.
“He sings these songs about his sister and gets everybody crying in the audience,” McDonald said of “That’s How I Know What True Love Is.”
Turner said Jyl’s accident has made him a better all around person.
“We take every breath that we breathe for granted,” he stressed. “The things that (individuals with paralysis) go through that you and I take for granted are just incredible – brushing your teeth, brushing your hair. It puts things in perspective.”
Because Jyl has limited use of her arms and hands, it is difficult for her to perform everyday activities, but the challenges have only made her a stronger person.
“She’s just a sweet person,” Turner said. “She’s got a heart bigger than she is.”
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