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Contact: Melissa Peveto
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466
6/4/98
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NATCHITOCHES - When Kevin Fontenot of Tioga graduated from Northwestern State University in May it was a day he never thought he would see. Receiving his diploma from a wheelchair was also a day he never imagined seeing either.
The 29-year old Fontenot, while attending NSU, was severely injured in a one car accident in the spring of 1994. That wreck left him paralyzed from the chest down.
"It was the last week of school before finals when it happened," said Fontenot. "I was having the best semester I had ever had at NSU. I worked so hard to get A's and B's and they weren't easy courses I was taking. I had 16 hours and was enrolled in comparative anatomy, biometry, plant taxonomy, genetics and all the labs that go along with those courses."
In a matter of moments, the world he had known came crashing down.
The accident on Highway 504, about two miles from campus, caused his truck to overturn. He broke two vertebrae in his neck, three in his back, lost a kidney, his spleen and a rib.
He was airlifted to a Shreveport hospital where he spent a month in the Surgery Intensive Care Unit. He underwent 11 surgeries in 28 days to repair and remove organs. He was transferred to a nearby rehabilitation hospital where he spent five months in physical therapy.
Once he was well enough to go home, he received home health care and physical therapy for close to a year.
"I don't remember anything about the accident," said Fontenot. "About the only thing I recall from that day is one of my biology professors, Dr. Dean, downloading some computer programs for me. I also vividly remember buying a calculator for class that day too. I can't recall anything for the first month after that though."
One year later, Kevin made an attempt to return to Northwestern. "I bit off more than I could chew," he said. "I was going to come back and tear the world down. It didn't work that way. I had to first learn how to live all over again."
Fontenot's struggle in learning to live in a new environment came when he attempted to communicate with people on campus. "I was just so lost and didn't know how to tell people what I needed or wanted. I had to try to knock down barriers that had not previously been present for me."
Ironically, Fontenot had had practice in dealing with handicapped issues at NSU long before his accident.
Two years earlier his best friend, Bill Britt, broke a vertebrae and was paralyzed from the waist down during a hunting accident near Baton Rouge. "The deer stand he was in broke and he fell out of it and onto the ground."
Britt was an offensive guard for the Demon football team and a wildlife management major, like Fontenot. The two often turkey hunted together.
"When he returned to NSU after the accident, I would take Bill to class and then once we were through I would just load his wheelchair in the back of my truck. It was easier for him to get to class that way."
Fontenot was at his buddy's side from the time the accident happened. "In some respects his accident taught me a lot," said Fontenot. "In other ways, I have been disappointed." The blow that Britt took paralyzed him from the waist down. "He has full control of his upper body and I don't. He can do so much more than I can. For instance, he can still pull back his compound bow and I can't."
Still, Fontenot is thankful for the things he can do, things doctors said he never would accomplish. "They said I would never drive a four wheel drive and I want you to look at how I got here today. I may not get in my truck and go through the fields as much as I'd like to, but I can still do a lot."
Fontenot says he is not superstitious, but says he is now a little more cautious about what he wishes for. "After Bill had his accident I would go to his house and visit him. He would be in his recliner and I would walk to his wheelchair and sit in it. I always told him that I needed something as comfortable as the cushion in his chair to sit on. I never thought I would one day have one of my own."
Even though the blueprint of Fontenot's life thus far may not have been drawn exactly as he would have preferred it, he has dealt with the changes. "I have only let it change me as much as I have had to. I was never a patient person, now I have learned how to have only as much patience as necessary to get by."
He has also learned to rely on family and friends. "I have had excellent support from my family and friends and from the people here at Northwestern. There is no way I would have made it without all of the people pushing me. So many people wanted to see me graduate."
He credits NSU President Dr. Randall J. Webb, ADA Coordinator Steve Hicks, Dr. Martin Rudd and Dr. Gillian Rudd for the amazing strides the four accomplished when it came to handicapped accommodations for himself and so many like him. "There is no way you can understand the barriers of a handicapped individual unless you are one, but at least NSU, once they were aware of things, made the necessary changes. It is good to know the administration is listening and that they are helping handicapped people. "
After 11 years and many obstacles, Fontenot's to do list now has a check beside the words college graduation. He now begins the journey of locating his ideal job as a wildlife biologist.