Evan Brandstatter went from being paralyzed and hospital-bound for a time last August and September to shooting a 74 at Dykeman Park Golf Course Friday and placing tied for fourth among all individuals at the Logansport Sectional.
It’s been quite the journey over the last 10 months for Brandstatter, who just completed his sophomore year at Logansport High School.
It started with a scoliosis surgery last August at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.
Brandstatter’s mother, Dr. Emily Brandstatter, an eye doctor in Logansport, explained the decision to go to Boston.
“We took Evan out there to see if he was a candidate for a tethering procedure it’s called, it’s a way to deal with scoliosis,” she said. “He wasn’t a candidate for that, but we liked the doctor so much where he said that he would do it just traditionally. And so that’s why we took him back out there.”
Evan has a history of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. He went in for a routine spinal fusion surgery on Aug. 15 at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. During the procedure the surgical team detected loss of signal in Evan’s lower extremities and the surgery was aborted.
“I was getting SCS scoliosis surgery to be corrected, and I ended up losing signal in one of my legs and I had blood clots on my spine and I ended up getting a spinal cord injury from that,” Evan said. “And I ended up having three surgeries, but in the end I had a lot of problems. I had to completely relearn how to walk again. I don’t know what really happened. My spine was in such bad shape, it was very twisted. I had a lot of kyphosis, which is probably the reason why they couldn’t even correct it all the way, because if they did, it risked paralysis and made stuff even worse. So it was not a very good situation, but we made the most of it.”
Scoliosis surgery has risks.
“It’s a very low risk, but it is a risk with a spinal surgery to have an injury or paralysis,” Emily said. “Obviously that’s kind of worst-case scenario and we fell into that. It was a complete freak accident and luckily we had a really good surgeon and he was just great.”
A difficult recovery
Twenty-four hours after the original surgery, Evan went in for emergency surgery to drain two hematomas that had formed on his spine. He then had to lie completely flat until the surgery could be completed. On Aug. 23, Evan underwent a T5-L1 posterior spinal instrumented fusion with a T9 partial corpectomy.
He spent 17 days in ICU and nearly a month at Massachusetts General Hospital. It was determined that Evan suffered an incomplete spinal cord injury. He was unable to walk, stand or even sit up unassisted after his surgeries.
But he has slowly recovered from his injuries, which the family feels is a miracle.
The family also thinks it helps that Evan was under the care of Dr. John Braun, a pediatric spine and scoliosis surgeon in Boston.
“We were in the best hands being out in Boston, and we think it was a blessing that we ended up in Boston to have the surgery,” she said. “He’s a very good surgeon, a great man.”
“He always came in, even on Sundays he would come in to check in how I was doing. So I was very happy,” Evan added. “He did the surgery. He was the one who was correcting it.”
“He did all three surgeries,” Emily added. “We think if we weren’t in Boston, things could’ve been a lot worse.”
On Sept. 11, Evan took a medical flight from Boston to Chicago and entered the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab for extensive inpatient rehabilitation where he had to re-learn to walk. On Oct. 12, Evan was discharged from the hospital and started extended outpatient rehabilitation at the NeuroHope facility in Indianapolis.
Family always by Evan’s side
His family drove down to Indianapolis three days a week until January when Evan went back to LHS full time. They continued to drive to Indianapolis after he went back to school after school. Since October, he has completed 65 hours of outpatient rehabilitation. It is likely Evan will need more therapy as he is not fully recovered, but being out on the golf course has been therapy in itself.
Emily decided to leave her optometry practice in July.
“I had actually already decided to step away from practice to spend more time with my family,” she said. “It ended up being a blessing because I was able to stay with Evan the whole time while he was in the hospital and I was able to take him to all of his therapy in Indianapolis after. I am so thankful I was able to have that time to focus on Evan and his recovery.
“I was with him the whole time in the hospital. And Kurt was in and out because obviously he’s trying to work and our family stepped in and helped the kids when we needed, and we were very fortunate for that, so I could be with him the whole time.”
Evan was 15 years old when he had his surgery. He is now 16.
He’s the oldest of Kurt and Emily’s three children. They also have a 14-year-old son, Drew, and an 11-year-old daughter, Ella.
Evan had his work cut out for him when he got to Chicago. He had to relearn “basic things, how to grab stuff, go to the bathroom, get dressed, take a shower, grab stuff from the cabinet, all that. Everything was a battle.”
Kurt, who owns Central Paving in Logansport, said that Evan still has work to do in his recovery.
“Spinal cord injuries take years to heal and he’s definitely still recovering. It could be two, three more years down the road maybe for a full recovery,” he said. “And he may not quite get a full recovery, but I think he’s accepted where he is at. And it’s never stopped him. He’s never really complained about the situation. He’s just embraced it and I think that’s why he is where he is today and shooting this awesome score.”
An amazing accomplishment
There were times his family did not envision him even competing let alone placing fourth at the sectional with a round of 4-over par on Friday. The Berries won the team sectional title against Twin Lakes by just one shot.
“There were some tough days, some bad days,” Emily said. “Our goal was to get him home. And we didn’t know what the future would look like. We weren’t sure if he’d walk again, let alone play golf.
“We were thankful we had so much support from our family and our friends, school,” she added. “School was amazing, worked with us.”
Evan also deserves a lot of credit in his own recovery.
“He never gave up,” Emily said. “He worked really, really hard. He did all the work and they’d ask him to rest and he wanted to work, work, work. He worked really hard, so his determination really got him through all of it. He did that on his own.”
Evan said shortly following his surgeries that he would be back walking and on the golf course soon. He’s made that happen.
“I was told that I was going to be needing a wheelchair to go back to school or at least some kind of device to help me, but I recovered so well,” he said. “I was in Indianapolis where I spent the next four months doing therapy at this place called NeuroHope. And I ended up going to school with no device, no walker, no wheelchair, and I was able to feel like I was somewhat normal going to school, pretty normal.”
Evan didn’t start walking by himself until December. He didn’t fully swing his golf clubs until February.
“When I came back to play golf, I was never really in any pain, which was a very good advantage for me,” he said.
The Berries started their season April 14 by winning the Rochester Invitational, where Evan shot an 87.
He earned medalist honors by shooting a 41 at Rock Hollow Golf Club on April 29 in a dual meet with Maconaquah.
His swing coach is Todd Smith from Rock Hollow.
“I have a very good swing coach and obviously my dad helps me a lot,” he said. “He’s a very good coach. He’s helped me through a lot. It’s been a couple years I’ve been with him.”
Evan shot an 84 at the Hoosier Conference Meet at Bear Club Golf Club in May to earn all-conference honors.
At the Logansport Sectional on Friday his round of 74 was his career-best for an 18-hole tournament.
“I was very consistent off the tee,” he said. “I was able to put the ball in the fairway, which is probably what kept my score so low. And I only had one three-putt. So when I’m putting, my score is usually a lot lower and I was able to limit my putts and I was able to make a few at the beginning which gave me a lot of confidence. And toward the end, I started getting tired, but I was able to just push through and end up with a few pars and ended up shooting a pretty good score.
“I did struggle a few times throughout the year with my swing, but by the end of it, I just realized that when I commit to my shots and when I make good putts and I don’t three-putt, I do pretty well.”
Optimistic about the future
The Berries compete at the Lake Central Regional at Sandy Pines Golf Club on Thursday.
Evan did get an exemption from the IHSAA to use a golf cart this season.
“In the beginning, we knew that even if I was going to play golf, I would not be able to walk 18 holes. I knew we were going to need to get a cart,” he said. “So I had my physical therapist send down an email and the surgeon, and we were able to get an exemption for a cart, which has been very beneficial in all this. And I don’t think I’d be able to walk 18 holes every Saturday and be able to play consistently well. So it’s been very nice to have that cart to be able to play.
“Next year I would really like to get back to walking the 18 holes instead of using cart. If I have to use a cart, so be it.”
Evan knows he’s fortunate to still be able to play the game he loves.
“Even though sometimes I don’t play well, it’s always in my head that I really should not be playing,” he said. “I shouldn’t even be playing sectionals. I shouldn’t be in the top five. And yeah, I am. So that’s always on my mind. If when I’m say sometimes if when I’m playing bad, I’m like, at least I’m out playing and playing the sport I love.
“I think with the whole situation of me being away for six months and being able to come back is definitely a miracle, a miracle of God. And being able to be here today is a very, very special thing for me.”
