Students learn seat belt safety from 2 who learned the hard way

Penny Lorenz, a paraplegic with ThinkFirst Missouri, addresses a gymnasium full of students on Monday, March 2. Lorenz was paralyzed when she was a passenger, not wearing a safety belt, in a car that left the roadway and rolled several times.
(Sydney Stonner/Democrat-News)

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On Monday afternoon, March 2, 183 students from Slater, Hardeman, Gilliam and Orearville schools met two victims of such accidents. Penny Lorenz, a paraplegic, and Chad Burton, who suffered a traumatic brain injury, gave a program promoting safe driving and safety belts in the Orearville gymnasium.

Lorenz helped define medical terms associated with brain and spinal cord damage. She also cautioned against using cell phones, either to talk or send text messages, while driving and said, "air bags are not a substitute for seat belts."

Chad Burton, a victim of traumatic brain injury, shows students how he can tie his shoe with just one hand. He learned to do so after becoming a hemiplegic, where only the left side of his body is paralyzed, due to a car accident involving a drunk driver.
(Sydney Stonner/Democrat-News)

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"Think about the things you enjoy doing," she said. "Could you do them if you were me or had my injury?"

Burton, whose brain injury caused the left side of his body to be paralyzed, also discussed his limited abilities with students.

"I look at everything people do with two hands," he said, "and I ask myself, 'How can I do that with one hand?'"

He demonstrated the everyday action of tying shoelaces, using only his right hand, and students were visibly impressed. They questioned how Burton could play basketball with his injury and wondered if he was ridiculed because of his paralysis.

Burton and Lorenz are part of the ThinkFirst Missouri program, whose slogan is "Use your mind to protect your body."

Contact Sydney Stonner at marshallbusiness@socket.net