Brock Mealer's next step? Walking down the aisle
Brian had the video on Brock Mealer walking unassisted yesterday, but here's a story about why he's trying to walk by himself. Brock is getting married in December and Mike Barwis is making him walk the aisle alone.
Excerpt? Excerpt.
Every step is one closer to his goal of walking the full 70-yard field at BarwisMethods. Barwis has been in front of Brock every step of the way.
Last week, he looked Brock in the eye as he readied to walk nearly 30 yards.
“I already walked down the aisle once, I’m not doing it twice,” Barwis said.
“What the hell does that mean,” Brock said, laughing.
“It means I’m not standing in front of you anymore,” Barwis said. “The last thing you need is my ugly face going down the aisle with you.”
“What do I do if I fall?”
“You put your hand out like everyone else does. I don’t know what to tell you, boss. You’re at that point. It’s time to walk.”
Barwis stepped back. Brock took a moment then took his first step, cautious and calculated. Sixty steps later, he was at the wall.
“It was exhilarating,” Barwis said. “Every time something happens I feel like someone’s kicking dirt in my eye. You know I don’t cry; I’m too tough for that.”
Say what you will about the Rich Rodriguez coaching staff, but the Brock Mealer story is one of the most inspiring ones I've heard. Who knows where Brock would be without Barwis, but he most certainly wouldn't be walking.
August 21st, 2012 at 6:35 AM ^
I can't even fathom the amount of work, pain, and frustration Brock has gone through, but he keeps fighting. The dude is getting married and he is close to walking. Has anyone accomplished more than him in the last four years?
Congrats to Brock, his Bride, and Barwis for all their successes, and here is hoping for alot more!
August 21st, 2012 at 7:01 AM ^
A nice way to warm up for that event would be to walk out (unassisted) with Elliot on Senior Day in late November. That would be a glorious moment.
August 21st, 2012 at 7:33 AM ^
August 21st, 2012 at 7:46 AM ^
August 21st, 2012 at 12:10 PM ^
This was a reply to someones post that appears to have been deleted itself...
Thank you.
August 21st, 2012 at 12:19 PM ^
It would really be nice if we were allowed to delete our own posts, as you can in many forums and comment fields. That way, the dreaded "double-click = double post" could be easily fixed, and someone who realizes they said something really stupid could delete it.
"Self-policing" is why the points system is here. Maybe allowing self-editing through deletion would be a great next step to help us police ourselves.
August 21st, 2012 at 12:29 PM ^
If members were allowed to delete their own comments or posts we may end up with a lot of nonsensical orphaned comments (and on posts, OPs posting more recklessly than they do now). Omitting facially essential content works great here (Garfield Minus Garfield)
but maybe not so well on MGoBoard.
August 21st, 2012 at 2:46 PM ^
Garfield Minus Garfield is good, but I like Arbuckle even better. Here, people redraw the strip with Garfield, but without his thought bubbles, showing the world through Jon's eyes:
August 21st, 2012 at 8:09 AM ^
August 21st, 2012 at 8:44 AM ^
...the Daily's Stephen J. Nesbitt for another quality feature.
August 21st, 2012 at 10:49 AM ^
August 21st, 2012 at 11:41 AM ^
This man... wow. Listen, I don't know that his workouts are all THAT, but I'll tell you what: endurance is the name of this mans genius. Of course this applies to footbaww, but it takes a special type of person to go up to someone who has been through what Brock has and be tough with him--- If i did it, I would be an ass. Barwis? He makes a cripple with nearly no chance to walk , walk.
All of this, of course, goes double for Brock. Seeing that guy walk-- and showing the videos to my wife, who is a rehab nurse-- is just awesome. If it takes a special guy to be tough to a guy like Brock, it takes an even more rare person to respond like Brock. The difference in this video and the one that was out a while back is how much easier it looks (in the sense that you can see how much progress Brock has made; I am not saying it was easy).
August 21st, 2012 at 11:53 AM ^
Brock Mealer is an inspiration plain and simple. And I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that if Brock ever has a son, he's going to have some form of Mike in his name. Mike Barwis is awesome for everything he's done for Brock. One person I think that gets left out of this is Brock and Elliot's mother. She deserves alot of credit for all that she's been through and for helping raise a kid like Brock who has never given up on his goal.