CINCINNATI — It can be easy to take for granted the things we are able to do each day. For one man, he’s learned — now twice — that life is precious and to take full advantage of what we can do.
What You Need To Know
- Dan Earls Jr. was in two car crashes that left him with spine and brain injuries
- Earls took up Taekwondo as a way to work on his balance after his first accident
- After his most recent accident three years ago, Earls wanted to get back to earning his third degree Black Belt, which he accomplished earlier this year
- Earls credits his neurologist Dr. Rani Nassar in his ability to recover and gave him an honorary Black Belt as a way to say thank you
Dan Earls Jr. isn’t supposed to be here.
“They gave me a 0% chance to live," Earls said.
He was in a horrific car crash in 1991.
“I was in a coma for 18 days," he said.
He also had significant spine and brain injuries.
“They removed my right temporal lobe," Earls said.
He started at square one in his recovery.
“I had to learn to walk, talk and do everything over again," he said.
Fast forward 30 years, and Earls was in yet another car accident.
“When I went to the hospital, they said that, 'there was some problem with your x-ray,' and then I couldn't walk," he said. "I couldn't stand up and, I mean, you take things for granted, you know, walking. And when you can't do that, it's pretty rough.”
Earls had picked up Taekwondo since his first accident and wanted to get back to doing what he loved.
“I had horrible balance from the first injury," he said. "I couldn't stand with one leg up and not the other, so I did that for the balance aspect. And then 29 years later, here I am.”
Thanks to help from his neurologist Dr. Rani Nasser at UC Health’s Gardner Neuroscience Institute, Earls was given hope.
“My job as a neurosurgeon is to obviously try to get people back to their you know, ideal quality of life and restore function," Nasser said. "And in his situation, he had trouble walking, let alone doing the things he loves, like martial arts.”
“When he looked at the scan and he talked to me and, but when he said to me I can fix this. That was a life changer right there," Earls said.
Earls still has some hardware, a metal cage holding together his spine. But he recently got his third-degree black belt, something no one thought possible. A written message on it reminding him of where he’s been.
“Here’s a man that can now stand," Earls reads off his black belt. "It brings me back, it means a lot.”
And as a way to thank Nasser for his help in getting him back to the sport he loves, Earls knew he had to present him with an honorary black belt.
“Knowing that he was the best neurosurgeon and could fix my back, we made the decision," Earls said. "He needs his own Black Belt.”
“That's why I would do my job for free," Nasser said. "You know, you see people come in and, a worse off state and you watch this movie before you know how it ends. And you have to get him through the, the movie and hopefully, you know, sometimes even a sequel.”
Now, Earls is grateful he can share his story and hopefully inspire others.
“I was at a point where I couldn't do anything," he said. "So then you just have memories of what you could do. And now I'm at a point where I'm making my own memories, you know, doing everything I wanted to do beforehand.”