Soon after Fred Meyling served his country in the U.S. Army and received an honorable discharge in 1976, he suffered a horrible accident when he fell from a roof and broke his back, which resulted a spinal cord injury that left him wheelchair-bound. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, he moved with his wife and three daughters back to California, with the hope that the sea level altitude and the warmer climate might help in his recovery.
It turned out to be a good move. After several years of difficult and intense rounds of medical treatment and physical therapy, Fred Meyling was once again able to walk out of the wheelchair. Believing he was cured, he tried to put his life on something of a normal track. Unfortunately, he was a bit more tender than he thought and, in and he believed he had largely been cured. It didn’t last, however. In 1984, he made a twisting motion while picking up an empty trash can that was apparently awkward and he injured his back again. That put him back in the hospital for several months. His injuries served to make it clear to Fred Meyling was that the rejection he felt for being disabled made everything much more difficult, which is why he’s spent 30 years trying to make things better for others.
