Baron Schroeder
“Be Perfect stepped in when our insurance stepped out one year after my accident in 2021 at the age of 13. I am full of life and have so much more life to live. I have been gaining back so much that doctors said would never be possible. Be Perfect has granted me a scholarship to The Perfect Step to get the rehab support and workouts I need to continue to progress and get stronger.”
Hello! My name is Baron. On May 28th, 2021, when I was 13 years old, I was on my mountain bike training for one of my dirt bike races when I overshot a jump by several feet causing a severe head injury. After the accident, I was transported by vehicle to the nearest fire station, was stabilized, and then helivaced to Loma Linda where I was diagnosed with a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score of 3. A GCS score of 3 is the lowest possible score and is associated with an extremely high mortality rate, with some medical professionals suggesting that there is no chance of survival. I was on life support for two days when they stated there was a possibility I would never wake up again and if I did my family would never know the neurological state I would be in. While at Loma Linda I was progressing with scans but had several neurological storming episodes. I continued to stay in a coma for 15 days before I woke up. Once I woke up the hospital declared I no longer needed any hospital-like care so they released me to go home dependent on a g-tube for feeding. I was also mute and paraplegic. I had absolutely no movement on my right side and the rest of what I was able to move was very delayed. I spoke my first set of words and started to show alertness almost two months after my accident on July 19th, 2021. At this point, my family started looking into inpatient rehab facilities for me which lead us to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles for the next six weeks. I did four to six hours of intensive therapy five days a week. At this point, I showed tremendous progress but insurance was no longer willing to extend the authorization for me to do inpatient rehab. I was discharged back home and for the next several weeks (two months to be exact) my mom called our insurance daily to find out when we were going to get our new authorization for outpatient services. We finally got that and I have been going to outpatient rehab twice a week since September of 2021. On June 6th, 2022 our insurance dropped all rehab services altogether. And that is when we found the Be Perfect Foundation. Be Perfect stepped in when our insurance stepped out one year after my accident. I am full of life and have so much more life to live. I have been gaining back so much that doctors said would never happen. Be Perfect has granted me a scholarship to The Perfect Step to get the rehab support and workouts I need to continue to progress and get stronger. I've only been at The Perfect Step for a short time, but so far the trainers are helping me to understand my limits and how to work past them both mentally and physically. Be Perfect has brought me hope towards accomplishing my only goal which is to walk unassisted again. With Be Perfect’s support and the expertise of my trainers at The Perfect Step, I feel that it is only a matter of time. The trainers and equipment are amazing. I can't express the amount of gratitude I have for the people that have contributed to my ongoing recovery. I am going to make the most of this opportunity by giving my maximum effort. Thank you so very much!
