[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 21 (Tuesday, February 20, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1279-S1280]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            MAN OF THE YEAR

 Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I want to bring to the Senate's 
attention the accomplishments of an amazing young man. I first met Doug 
Wilson in connection with legislation that I sponsored to encourage 
States to pass universal motorcycle helmet laws. This legislation was 
included in the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 
1991 [ISTEA] and Doug was very helpful to me in getting this law 
passed. But Doug didn't stop there. He has worked tirelessly at the 
State level, encouraging State legislatures to pass effective 
motorcycle helmet laws. Doug was instrumental in convincing the 
Maryland Legislature to pass a universal motorcycle helmet law.
  Doug is a very convincing young man. Unfortunately, one of the 
reasons he is so convincing is because he has experienced first hand 
the consequences of being involved in a motorcycle crash without a 
helmet. Doug's injuries were minor except for a severe brain injury--
the result of hitting his head on the pavement. His journey to recovery 
has been long and difficult but it also has been extraordinary. His 
accomplishments are many and the Journal in Maryland has just named 
Doug Wilson its ``Man of the Year.''
  Mr. President, I cannot think of a more deserving person to be the 
``Man of the Year.'' Since Congress unfortunately repealed the Federal 
motorcycle requirements recently in the National Highway System 
Designation Act, I am particularly grateful that Doug, and others like 
him, are working at the State level to educate people about the 
benefits of wearing motorcycle helmets and the terrible consequences 
when they do not. I want to congratulate Doug and wish him the very 
best in whatever he chooses to undertake in the future. I ask that the 
Journal article recognizing Doug's accomplishments be printed in the 
Record.
  The article follows:

              After a Brush With Death, He Leads Full Life

                            (By Sean Scully)

       Doug Wilson was never supposed to walk or talk again 
     following a severe motorcycle accident almost five years ago.
       But in September, he ran a 5-kilometer race--the third 
     annual Doug Wilson Thumbs Up race--and he's eager to talk 
     about it.
     
[[Page S1280]]

       ``I was in the hospital for three months [in 1991],'' 
     Wilson said. ``It never made me upset because I said I was 
     going to be fine, I never thought [running] was something I'd 
     never be able to do again.''
       In the spring of 1991, Wilson was a senior at the 
     University of South Carolina, only six weeks away from an 
     economics degree. The athletic and good-looking Wilson had 
     been a soccer player at Churchill High School in Potomac and 
     a place-kicker for the university's Gamecocks football team. 
     He seemed to have it all.
       Then it came crashing down. For a still-unknown reason, 
     Wilson lost control of his motorcycle on a clear, straight 
     road. He fell and struck his head on the pavement. He wasn't 
     wearing a helmet.
       The accident only broke three bones, but it jarred his 
     brain severely, causing swelling and plunging Wilson into an 
     eight-day coma.
       He spent three months in the hospital and six months in a 
     wheelchair. Over the next four years, he had to relearn the 
     tasks most of us take for granted.
       ``I have an appreciation for certain things most of the 
     whole world wouldn't understand,'' said Wilson, who has only 
     the slightest hesitation of speech, along with a shuffle in 
     his walk, giving clues to the serious injury he has overcome.
       But Wilson's recovery is more than a personal journey for 
     him. It has involved his entire community.
       When he first began to walk again, Wilson said, he 
     volunteered to help with local youth sports. Kids and parents 
     rallied around him, he said. The kids would pick him to play 
     on basketball teams, even though he could barely walk, let 
     alone run and jump.
       ``They said, `we don't care, we just want you on the team,' 
     '' Wilson said.
       He received so much support that he's made it a mission to 
     give something back.
       ``I learned to respect kids,'' Wilson said, ``I help them 
     because they helped me.''
       Wilson, now 27, lives with his parents In Potomac.
       His list of activities is impressive, long enough that he 
     has trouble remembering them all: He is one of the original 
     volunteers at Club Friday, a youth program at the Potomac 
     Community Center, he is a youth soccer instructor for 
     Montgomery Soccer Inc.; he serves on two county recreational 
     advisory boards; he helped found the Potomac Adaptive 
     Basketball Association; he is an active member of the Rotary 
     Club of Potomac, and he founded the annual 5-kilometer race, 
     which benefits Club Friday and the Brain Injury Association 
     of Maryland.
       ``To me, he's just a super human being,'' said Potomac 
     resident Randy Zeibert, whose children played on a soccer 
     team coached by Wilson. ``He does all these things and asks 
     nothing in return.''
       In the wake of his accident, Wilson made it a personal 
     quest to see Maryland and other states adopt mandatory 
     motorcycle helmet laws. His testimony was a key factor in 
     Maryland's law, which narrowly passed the General Assembly 
     four years ago, said former state Sen. Howard Denis.
       Denis said he was wavering on the bill, torn between his 
     desire to prevent devastating injuries and his belief that 
     the government should not place to many restrictions on the 
     public. In the end, Wilson pushed Denis to back the law.
       ``Doug was a particularly compelling witness because he had 
     lived through it and he was very articulate,'' Denis said.
       On top of all his other activities, Wilson returned to 
     South Carolina for a semester in 1993 and earned his degree.
       ``I wasn't supposed to walk again, so I walked,'' Wilson 
     said. ``I wasn't supposed to go to college and take classes, 
     so I went back and graduated with my best semester in 
     college.''
       Despite volunteering at least 50 hours a week,'' Wilson has 
     started a business, called ``We'll Keep It Clean,'' hiring 
     disabled people to clean and maintain people's property; yard 
     work, pool cleaning, and the like.
       Disabled people, he said, make excellent workers because. 
     ``they're not interested in doing it for the money; they're 
     out there trying to prove they can do it.''
       On top of that, Wilson lobbies state lawmakers nationwide 
     to pass motorcycle helmet laws similar to the one he helped 
     pass in Maryland.
       ``He's just gung-ho about life,'' said Sam Eammelli, past 
     president of the Rotary Club. ``I think it's great.''
       The key, Wilson said, is to set goals high. That way people 
     can fall a little bit short and still do better than anybody 
     else expects.
       And his goals remain high.
       ``Maybe someday,'' he said with a twinkle in his eye, ``I'm 
     going to try out for an NFL team.''
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The distinguished majority whip, the Senator 
from Mississippi, is recognized.

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