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A former Ferris lineman is tackling a new phase of life with the same determination he brought to the gridiron.

    During September of its 2001 campaign, Ferris' football team improved their conference record to 2-1 with a 38-14 win over Wayne State University, thanks in part to defensive tackle Jason Feasel, who returned a fumble 40 yards for the game's final score. At 6' 4" and 280 pounds, you'd think twice about getting between him and the goal line.

Feasel's (#81) intensity helped earn him the Bulldog Most Valuable Player Award in 2002.

    The kind of play Feasel exhibited in the win over the Warriors made him the Bulldogs' Most Valuable Player during his 2002 senior year. A few months later, he was heading to Big Rapids on his motorcycle after playing softball in Cadillac.
    Just blocks from campus on Northland Drive, a car pulled out in front of him.
    "It happened so fast I couldn't react," says Feasel, who was first taken to Mecosta County Medical Center where he was diagnosed with multiple broken bones, including both arms, and his third and fourth vertabrae. He then was airlifted to Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids.
    "The doctors went through the x-ray and told me I was going to be paralyzed, which with the trauma I really didn't comprehend right then," he says. Feasel does remember the support received after the accident including visits from fellow Bulldogs and coaches. "Almost all of my buddies from the football team were up there. It was like family."
    After being released from the hospital, Feasel began therapy at Mary Free Bed in Grand Rapids. One of his first goals was to gain back the strength he lost while in the hospital. After three and half months at Mary Free Bed, Feasel went home to his parents' house, at first sleeping in the living room since the house hadn't yet been made barrier-free.
    Today, with experimental stem cell surgery behind him, Feasel is still working out, planning to start his own business and has a new goal in sight - to walk again.

PLAYING OFFENSE
    For Feasel, a trip to Lisbon, Portugal, to receive experimental stem cell surgery began at Mary Free Bed when he filled out one of the many forms and applications that passed through his hands. This one was from the Detroit Medical Center's Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan. Once he was home, the RIM called and asked him if he'd like to come to check out their new rehab facility. They also asked if he might be interested in exploring new stem cell surgery - although the procedure was not yet licensed in the United States.
    He didn't hesitate.
    "I said, 'Why not? Let's do it,'" Feasel recalls. Accompanied by his mother, father and sister, Feasel first met with Dr. Steven Hinderer at RIM who explained the surgery. While most Americans who have heard of stem cell therapy would know about it from the controversy over the use of fetal tissue, the Lisbon procedure as pioneered by Dr. Carlos Lima at Egas Moniz Hospital takes stem cells from the patient's own nasal cavity (Olfactory Mucosa) genetically 'amplifies' them and injects them in the spine.
   

A customized Dodge pick-up helps keep Feasel on the move.

"I started rehab up in Detroit first. I wanted to see how much I could improve on my own, and then what the surgery would bring," Feasel explains. "I got some movement back before I had the surgery, but afterward I got a lot more." Just two months after the surgery, Feasel was able to crawl during his rehab sessions, something he wasn't able to do before.
    "Before surgery, it took two people to hold me up and balance me with a sheet used as a sling underneath my stomach and somebody helping me advance my legs. Now I can crawl without any help from the trainers at all," Feasel says.
    While the procedure is still controversial, some of the outcomes have been extremely promising. An episode of the PBS show Innovation entitled "Miracle Cell," profiled another patient of Drs. Hinderer and Lima - a 19-year-old quadrapeligic who six months after her surgery was able to stand up on her toes and move her foot on command. Hinderer is taking a lead role in trying to get the procedure approved by the Food and Drug Administration so that patients can get the surgery in the United States, rather than having to travel abroad.
    "This surgery does work, which gives hope for other people," says Feasel. "All the material comes from your own body, so why not do the surgery here in the states? Hopefully it'll happen next year."
    Because the procedure isn't approved for patients in the U.S., Feasel credits people in the community with helping to raise thousands of dollars to help cover the cost of travel and the surgery itself. He hopes FDA approval will allow insurance companies to help others cover the costs, as well as to speed continued breakthroughs.

PERSONAL BEST
    Feasel continues to travel to Detroit for therapy, and calls his workout sessions some of the hardest he's ever undertaken. "The exercises are not just physically hard, they're mentally tough, because it's retraining your body," Feasel says. "It's like going back to being little again. It's all muscle memory."
    In addition to concentrating on his recovery, Feasel is busy working on setting up a business with a friend of his. Thanks to his customized Dodge pick-up, he hasn't slowed down any. "The cap and everything lifts up and an arm comes out to where I sit to lift the wheelchair into the back. Then there's a hydraulic lift that picks me up to the seat." Feasel took a training course in Grand Rapids to get certified in the use of the vehicle's hand controls.
    Feasel's Web site (www.feaz81.com) says that his biggest goal now is to walk again. He's realistic about his chances.
    "You know, walking might not happen, but I see an improvement in crawling - that's huge for me," Feasel says. "After I got out of the hospital, I went down to Hillsdale for the team's opener the following season. That first game was hard for me. Seeing the kickoff and hearing the cheers. It made me realize that you just can't take things for granted."
    Feasel's personal determination combined with the promise of further breakthroughs in research is a powerful combination. Although the final outcome isn't yet clear, one thing definitely is - you still don't want to be standing in his way.