First SCI quadriplegic to participate and complete the Hawaii IronMan.
Doctors, mystified by both Rummerfield's miraculous recovery and his ability to maintain it, cite his can-do attitude, genetic make-up and his rigorous commitment to a daily regimen of physical therapy that includes lifting weights, jumping rope and riding a stationary bike at the local YMCA as factors in his recovery. Dr. John McDonald (Chris Reeve’s doctor), director of the International Center for Spinal Cord Injury at Kennedy Krieger Institute, says "Most people who have the same neck MRI as his are in a wheelchair."
First SCI quadriplegic to participate and complete the Hawaii IronMan.
So complete was his rehabilitation by 1991 that he began to compete in triathlons throughout the United States. In 1992, he took on the formidable IronMan Triathlon in Hawaii - a 2.5 mile swim, 112 mile bicycle ride and 26.2 mile marathon.
Throughout the entire, grueling rehabilitation process, Rummerfield took on additional challenges. He returned to work, where he became a mining safety specialist in Idaho, Wyoming, Montana and Illinois and he invented a back-strengthening program that became internationally known for reducing sprains and strains. He returned to school, where he studied Underwater Engineering at the Diver's Institute of Technology in Seattle. He married and became the father of two daughters.
