Cerebal palsy no obstacle for happy hiker, biker, Ph.D.-to-be

The most remarkable thing about Brad Hintze is not that he is an honors student who manages to earn high marks, but that he struggles just to feed himself and talk.

It's not that he has managed to cycle thousands of miles and hike numerous mountain peaks despite the challenges of cerebral palsy.

It's not that he had several of the nation's brainiac schools lining up this year to give him a scholarship in their Ph.D. biochemistry programs, with Duke University coming out the winner.

It's none of those things. The most remarkable thing about Brad Hintze is that he looks like he needs our help — but maybe we need his.

People see him daily around the Utah State University campus with his head listing painfully to the port side, a slight limp to his gait, his speech a little slurred, and after a time they see him as a source of strength. He is often stopped by fellow students — perfect strangers — as he makes his way to class, and all they want is to meet him and thank him for his obvious determination, attitude and inspiration.

It has become his mission. Hintze was planning to serve a formal mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a few years ago, but when he was told that his condition would preclude proselytizing, he decided to go to school instead. During his first semester at USU, a student stopped him on campus.

"Can I meet you?" he asked. Hintze was puzzled — "I mean, who says that?" he says now of that exchange.

"Uh, yeah, sure," he replied.

"I just want to thank you for doing what you do," the stranger told him. "You are an inspiration."

"Right then and there," Hintze said earlier this week, "I decided this was where the Lord wanted me to be. This might be where I can do the most good. It was very comforting."

Last spring, USU presented Hintze with the school's Legacy of Utah State Award, which is presented annually to the student who represents "the heart and soul of the university" and who is committed to study, service and perseverance through adversity.

Hintze was born with cerebral palsy, a disease that affects the motor control centers of the brain, resulting in the loss of varying degrees of muscle control and coordination. In Hintze's case, it has affected mostly the fine motor skills and his balance. He can't use a pen or a pencil, and he needs help feeding himself. "He can do it himself, but it isn't pretty," said his father, Les. He cooks his own meals, but, like most college students, he must keep it simple.