By Laura Thornton
An infection following routine spinal surgery paralyzed Howard from the waist down ten years ago. He didn’t know if he’d ever walk again—or what his life would look like going forward.
“It’s the most terrifying thing you can imagine, only you can’t really imagine it,” he says. “You never think it’ll happen to you.”
Howard and his husband, Patrick, knew he would need long-term rehabilitation, but they didn’t know where to go until someone suggested Kennedy Krieger Institute, just up the highway from their home in Washington, D.C.
At Howard’s first appointment at Kennedy Krieger’s International Center for Spinal Cord Injury, Dr. Cristina Sadowsky, the center’s clinical director, said to him, “‘I want you here. I know we can help you,’” he says. “That was the beginning of hope.”
Kennedy Krieger was there for me because others have supported it over the years, and we want to help future generations get the care they need at Kennedy Krieger, too.” – Howard
Howard and Patrick soon found they were at a medical center unlike any other they’d experienced. “Before coming to Kennedy Krieger, when we’d ask doctors about Howard’s prognosis, the answer was always, ‘Everybody is different,’” Patrick says. “That didn’t feel like an answer to our questions. But at Kennedy Krieger, they said, ‘Everybody is different, but for Howard, here’s what we know and can try.’”
“Kennedy Krieger gave me back my future,” Howard says. “They saved my life—they saved both our lives.”
Howard is now walking with single-point canes, and has regained strength and independence. He still goes to physical therapy at Kennedy Krieger, now at the Institute’s Maple Lawn location in suburban D.C., which opened up a few years ago. “Since coming to Kennedy Krieger, I’ve never stopped recovering, never stopped moving forward,” he says.
A few years ago, when Howard and Patrick were revising their wills, they each decided to add Kennedy Krieger as a legacy recipient. “It’s a way to pay it forward,” Patrick explains.
“Kennedy Krieger was there for me because others have supported it over the years, and we want to help future generations get the care they need at Kennedy Krieger, too,” Howard adds. “We want to leave a legacy not just of dollars, but of hope.”
