Pat Rummerfield could write the book on courage in the face of adversity. The defining moment in his life happened in 1974 when at age 21, he was involved in a near fatal car accident. He freely admits, "My best friend and I had had too much to drink when he flipped & rolled my Corvette at 135 miles per hour". Far from cavalier about the accident, Rummerfield says, "I made a huge mistake and take full responsibility for my irresponsible actions." That mistake cost him dearly.
It was while learning to operate a wheelchair with his mouth at a California rehabilitation center when another miracle occurred. He recalls, "I was lying in bed one night thinking how much I loved to play basketball and dreamed of driving a race car one day when my big toe moved." With characteristic optimism and determination, he spent the next three years learning to walk and to use his hands. Over the next fourteen years, he struggled through balance and coordination problems caused by the accident to learn to jog and ride a bicycle without falling down. Along the way, he endured five knee surgeries and total reconstruction of his right ankle and right wrist. To this day, nerve damage to the right side of his body has left him with an off-kilter gait.
With every rib fractured, his neck broken in four places (C3-C4-C5-C6), his collar bone shattered, massive head injuries and an eye that had to be put back into its socket, Rummerfield defied doctors' expectations just by surviving. Since he was unable to move from the neck down, his chances of long-term survival were not good and doctors recommended he be sent to a convalescent home. Deciding not to follow the doctors' orders, Rummerfield felt that whatever time he had left he wanted to spend in rehabilitation.