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Marco’s bikeman is an inspirational story
Steven Zandy — brain damaged in an accident at age 15 — takes each day at a time, setting goals, and moving on when he achieves them
QUENTIN ROUX / Staff
Steven Zandy is a common sight on Marco Island as he rides his recumbent bike from one voluntary job to the next. Brain injured since age 15, he sets physical and mental goals for himself, and then "moves on" once he's achieved them.
QUENTIN ROUX / Staff
Zandy is contemplative as he recounts his life's experiences.
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More fortunate people might not be all that familiar with the terms contracoup brain injury and ataxia.
For 37-year-old Marco Islander Steven Zandy however, they are afflictions that rule his life, and have ruled it since a car accident changed everything when he was just 15.
Zandy, a common sight as he rides the streets of Marco Island on his recumbent bike, sustained the brain injury and resultant ataxia — lack of muscle coordination when performing voluntary movements — when he crashed his sister’s car into a tree in 1986.
Yes, there was alcohol involved, and Zandy is the first to admit it.
“We, me and some friends, had a little party at my house. We were drinking, and we were talking about driving. They were getting their licenses soon, but I had a whole year to wait,” Zandy says.
Then, typical teenage bravado overwhelmed him.
“Feeling empowered by the drinking of the alcohol, I said ‘I’ll show ‘em. I’ll drive,’ so I found my sister’s car keys and drove about half a mile before crashing into a tree,” he recalls.
Paramedics freed him with the Jaws of Life, and Zandy was admitted to the hospital in a coma.
His subsequent recovery required years of therapy, and while accepting he’d likely never be the same, Zandy put huge efforts into the physical therapy side of his rehabilitation.
“I focused on it because I wanted my body back,” he says. I did about four years of therapy, and at night I went to a gym. That’s where I could get my frustrations out.”
But his biggest morale booster came from Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, who wrote to Zandy after a request from a former player.
“He sent me a team picture and wrote ‘Steve, we’re all behind you,’ and that meant a great deal to me,” Zandy says. “I didn’t want to let Joe down, so I focused even more heavily on my body at the gym.”
Physical side taken care of under the circumstances, Zandy now turned to his mental state.
“I let my mind go. I felt stupid,” he says. “Everybody was telling me I wasn’t stupid, but that’s how I felt.”
To stimulate his mind, he decided to become a good listener.
“I paid attention to the top people in my life,” he says. “I focused on what they said. I became a good listener ... I watch body action. I can study and tell if a person is in a bad mood or a good mood.”
Still, with his slow and deliberate speech pattern, Zandy is occasionally still perceived to be “a little dumb.”
It doesn’t bother him, however, because he feels that those who actually take the trouble to communicate with him soon understand he’s quite eloquent.
One such person is Matt Walthour, owner of Marco Bike Shop on Front Street.
The shop is one of Zandy’s hang-outs, along with the Marco Island Racquet Center (where he volunteers with sweeping and ball-collecting chores), and also the 7-Eleven store.
“He’s an intelligent guy, and sometimes people are surprised by that,” Walthour says. “Unfortunately, society is like that, but when you talk to him, he’s up on current events, and his memory is amazing. He can quote from TV shows 20 years ago.”
Walthour said it’s good for Zandy to change his fixed routine, so he regularly takes him along on errands.
In his favor, Walthour adds, is that although Zandy constantly strives for all-round improvement, he knows his limitations.
“He’s realistic,” Walthour says. “He knows what he can and can’t do.”
Zandy agrees with that.
“I take my good abilities,” he says. “Whatever I can do, I try to do it as best I can. Once I’m satisfied with how something is, then I move on.”
During the conversation, Zandy pauses for a long moment, his brown eyes focusing on the distance.
Then he turns back, and his gaze is intense.
“You know, I think I’m a good person,” he says. “This is what God had planned for me. It’s my affliction, and I have accepted it.”
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God doesn't plan bad for a person. He got drunk and brought it on himself. Stop the hero crap!
#1 Posted by hourigan82247 on July 10, 2008 at 3:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
hourigan; what the F*%#?
'Let ye who is without sin....'
#2 Posted by gernblanstone on July 10, 2008 at 5:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Really Hourigan82247 please spare us all and don't write anything at all! Have you no heart?
#3 Posted by happyonmarco on July 10, 2008 at 9:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Maybe the next guy that pulls a stunt like that will injure or kill someone you know or love. Way to go Zandy!!!
#4 Posted by hourigan82247 on July 11, 2008 at 11:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
That is just it hourigan....Give the guy credit for telling his story, they could have omitted it and just done the human interest story of a Marco resident with brain damage, but he obviously sees the lesson in sharing with others what happens when you do stupid things. Do you think your being a cold heartless person will teach a lesson? I think not.
And, you don't think living with the disabilities he has (of which I am sure he knows he brought on himself) is punishment enough. I am sure he and his loved ones thank god every day that he didn't injure or kill anyone else or himself.
It must be really hard to think you are perfect.
#5 Posted by happyonmarco on July 11, 2008 at 1:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Stop with the rose petals already. Boo-Hoo! You bleeding heart liberals are all the same. Find a cause to occupy your boring life. And you're wrong... I find it very easy to think I'm perfect!
#6 Posted by hourigan82247 on July 11, 2008 at 2 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Hourigan,the only difference between you and Zandy is Zandy hit a tree and was injured , you ran over a family of four and kept going.
#7 Posted by gernblanstone on July 11, 2008 at 8:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
For crying out loud, hourigan you cold spineless idiot, he was just 15 years old...
#8 Posted by ejburger on July 11, 2008 at 11:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Family of four???? Wierd! ger-no-stones!
#9 Posted by hourigan82247 on July 12, 2008 at 7:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)
15 has nothing to do with it! Cheez, Burger, stop your self righteous----------hey wait a minute.... Cheez burger.....get it? Good one eh?
#10 Posted by hourigan82247 on July 12, 2008 at 2:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)
What a wonderful sign of growth, of maturity!
I am definitely a fan of anyone who desires to keep learning, to keep moving forward and when we sometimes feel the pain of past disappointments, we then count our blessings, replace the negative with the positive and go on to be the best we can be. Way to go, Steve!!
Check out this website. I've heard about this man and he appears to be a really good "Brain Doc."
http://www.perlhealth.com/drperlmutte...
Perlmutter Health Center - Commons Medical Center
800 Goodlette Road North - Suite 270 - Naples, FL 34102
Tel: (239) 649-7400 - Fax: (239) 649-6370
#11 Posted by stevezandyfan on July 14, 2008 at 1:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
okay hourgan,I'll concede to a point...God doesn't 'plan'for bad for a person,but when we fall He certainly opens the door to renewal. And as the article says, Steve knows well the cause of his brain injury (obviously you can't even see yours....read the book of mark...chapter 8 to start with).
Refuting your statement 'stop the hero crap'...nowhere in the article does Steve ever imply that he is a hero, yet I certainly see a man who has come face to face with himself as he is and has the courage to live and do the best that he can....and that is very brave.
I wonder if you can say the same? But then again this isn't really about you.....BTW...I'm as conservative as they come
#12 Posted by stevezandyfan2 on July 15, 2008 at 2:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
WOW!!! A real live Bible thumping liberal! Probably doesn't even belong to a church! HYPOCRITE!!
#13 Posted by hourigan82247 on July 15, 2008 at 8:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I have known Steve Zandy for all of his 38 years, growing up in West Chester, PA. He was our neighbor and close childhood friend to my younger brother Mike. My six siblings and parents always considered Steve the greatest of people--he is a lifetime friend. He made one mistake in his life, and it cost him. Enough said.
Or did it?--because what none of you know is how Steve persevered throough his rehabilition of both his mind and body. The strength he showed as a 15 year old, and continued for years, is the most inspirational example of faith, courage, commitment I have ever witnessed in my life. If you saw it, you would know--Steve has come so far, on his own hard work, his own merit, his own perseverence.
And Steve took his tragedy and had the courage to speak to thousands of high school students about his mistake in and around Philadelphia and the surrounding Suburbs--basically, he took the ONE mistake he made--as a child--and became a man--almost over night.
How many readers could imagine what that must have been like?.---a 15 year old, in a coma for months, who had to literally relearn everything. And he did it, and he did it well!!! That is success--there is nothing I will ever be able ot do in my life, and I doubt many of the readers will be able ot do either, that comes remotely close to the level of success Steve Zandy has achieved--which ahs made him the person he is today.
As Steve entered his 20's and 30's, he looked to do one thing as a mission--help others. Steve is a born leader, we saw it as a child. He also was probably the greatest young athlete I have ever known, and to see this article, and him persevering as an athlete, reminds me of the days he shined playing football and baseball--well done Steve.
He is also one of the smartest people I have ever met, and engaging. If someone who meets Steve and can get past their own inpatience, and selfishness of being 'better than' others, than they will have an opportunity.
For the 23 years Steve has couragously battled his injuries, I often asked myself why God did this--a one time mistake. And I look at Steve Zandy, in that picture today, and I now know why:
God gave Steve, and people who afflicted like him the power to fight, persevere, stay positive, and show the rest of us who have made millions of mistakes how to LIVE. To Live the right way...
I hope all the readers in Marco Island have a chance ot actually meet Steve Zandy some day, I promise you one thing: the experience will be a gift for you--a gift from God.
Keep up the good work Steve and 'well done' from all of the Regan's--your friends. Keep on positively effecting the lives of folks one at a time, and people who say things like the idiot Hourigan above do not deserve the pure privelege of meeting someone like you.
And you are not just a good person, you are a great person--one of the greatest I have ever met!!!
Ambrose Regan
New York, NY
#14 Posted by AmbroseRegan on July 17, 2008 at 7:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Well said, Ambrose....thank you!! By the way.....I would want Hourigan to spend one day with Steve. If doing so doesn't change his perspective then I will just continue to pray that one day his heart will be opened to being more compassionate.
#15 Posted by stevezandyfan on August 10, 2008 at 10:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)
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