Without benefits, Holladay man faces long road back from paralysis

HOLLADAY — Lejla Rujevic was on the phone with her boyfriend when the car he was riding in crashed and spun on the way to the east side of Salt Lake City.

The 20-year-old Bosnian immigrant called back frantically, wondering what had happened, but had to wait several hours and travel to the hospital to learn that Chart Meredith, now 21, had severed his spinal cord and was unable to walk.

"I just got tossed around like a rag doll," Meredith said of the crash.

He was with friends and riding in the back seat — but not wearing a seat belt.

The Nov. 6, 2009, accident changed the young couples' lives forever and was heart-wrenching for Meredith's grandparents, who had raised him and an older sister from infancy.

Now, Meredith sits on Rujevic's lap in between thrice-weekly therapy sessions, scripture study and occasional shopping trips.

The Olympus High School graduate is able to operate a wheelchair with his arms but has no leg movement, minimal torso movement and limp wrists and fingers.

But his friendly, confident personality is the same, says Rujevik, and that could well be what has gotten him so far.

"If he's discouraged, he won't admit it," said Daniel Dudley, who has gotten Meredith in touch with Good in the 'Hood, a neighborhood service group.

However, a co-founder of the clinic where Meredith gets therapy says that almost no one fully recovers from spinal cord damage.

"Almost 100 percent of these patients at some point and time will consider suicide," said Dale Hull, co-founder of Neuroworx in South Jordan. "You're not normal if you don't go there, because your life is so changed."

Injury victims either learn to accept the injury and focus on what they can do or sit alone in their basements and whither away, said Hull, who was paralyzed in a trampoline mishap.

Patients have to learn that they aren't going to get "better" in the traditional sense but could get "different" through intensive therapy and hard work, Hull said. His clinic caters specifically to spinal cord patients and is the first of its kind in the state.

Unfortunately for many of those patients, insurance only covers as much in rehabilitation for a broken neck as it does for a new knee or shoulder. In Meredith's situation, his family insurance has already stopped paying therapy costs for 2010, although his doctors recommend at least a year of treatment.

On Saturday, Dudley's group will throw a fundraiser for Meredith to raise $30,000 for the needed care, just one day before his 22nd birthday. The festivities will begin at 6 p.m. at Holladay City Hall, 4580 S. 2300 East, with food, three local bands, professional fire spinning and a silent auction. Tickets are $5 each.

For more information or to see a video documentary about Meredith, visit dogoodinthehood.com

e-mail: rpalmer@desnews.com