Brain Injury Inspires Student to Earn Degree, Assist Others

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(UMSL Daily) – It was supposed to be a simple procedure.

Back in 2006, when Kevin Geekie was 26 years old, he went into the hospital to get a benign tumor removed from his cerebellum, at the back of his brain. Expected recovery time: two weeks.

“I was in there for six months,” Geekie says. “I started taking a nosedive. I was doing fine. Then, all of a sudden, I did really bad.”

Geekie developed an infection that drove him into a coma. Through the ordeal, he developed ataxia, a nervous system condition that resulted in severe motor and speech impairments and left him using a wheelchair.

It took Geekie some time to get used to his new life. Once he did, though, he knew he wanted to make a difference for others in a similar situation. CONTINUE