Learning to live with life-altering injuries is no easy feat, even with a support system and top-of-the-line medical care. It takes resilience to adapt to serious injuries. Physician Life Care Planning wants to recognize that resilience and the students who embody it ahead of their college careers.
This year, the life care planning services team awards its Surviving & Thriving With a Life-Altering Injury Scholarship to one such resilient student. Tyler Ranzenberger is in the process of overcoming serious physical injuries and the loss of his mother. The car accident that changed his life may have altered the trajectory of his future, but it did not break his spirit.
Ranzenberger is currently a freshman at the University of Virginia. He has not yet declared a major but is in the process of finding his footing. He intends to apply to the McIntire School of Commerce after he completes his first year of study, after which he hopes to graduate with a B.S. in Commerce.
A Life-Changing Car Accident
The car accident that transformed Ranzenberger’s life came out of nowhere while he and his mother were in the car together. The collision left him with multiple hip, spine, and rib fractures in addition to severe lacerations of the spleen and liver.
He also suffered from a life-threatening traumatic brain injury and brain bleeding, which led medical professionals to put him in a medically induced coma for over 72 hours. The medical team at the University of Colorado Hospital oversaw his care until he could come out from sedation, at which point, Ranzenberger asked about his mother. Unfortunately, his mother hadn’t survived.
“My dad’s response didn’t hit me at first,” Ranzenberger reports, recalling his recovery. “I was numb. My only focus was on healing and the doctor’s instructions. Days after taking my first steps with a walker, they transferred me to Denver’s Craig Hospital, where the real work began.”
Contending With Serious Injuries and Transformative Grief
Ranzenberger’s recovery required him to undergo extensive speech therapy, as his traumatic brain injury had damaged his memory and ability to process. He also had to relearn how to walk, as his accident impacted his physical mobility. For a young man who had previously thrived on the basketball court, this was a stark and humbling change.
Focusing on his rehabilitation therapies allowed Ranzenberger to leave the hospital six weeks after his accident, at which point the reality of his family’s losses began to hit home. The grief of losing his mother was easier to process with his father and brother on his side, but the process was—and still is—painful.
Fortunately, neuropsychologists assisting with Ranzenberger’s recovery had advice at the ready. “[They] encouraged my family to dedicate time each week to remembering her to help process her absence,” he says. “Now, my dad and I visit her grave with flowers every Sunday. On these visits, we discuss how far I have come and how I’m working to make her proud.”
Getting 1% Better Every Day
All physical recoveries take time and can prove all the more frustrating when the physical activities that were once second nature to an accident victim seem nearly impossible. Such was the case for Ranzenberger, who had previously played basketball and found it easy to slip into a low place when confronted with the limiting reality of his injuries.
However, his brother came to the rescue with a book by James Clear, Atomic Habits. According to Ranzenberger, the book reminded him that recovery wasn’t an all-at-once process. Instead, the book inspired him to focus on getting 1% better through small, daily steps.
“I adopted this approach in my recovery and focused on breaking down my goals into small, achievable tasks using daily to-do lists,” says Ranzenberger. “I knew by staying consistent with my checklists, I could return to playing club basketball.”
What to Expect From Tyler Ranzenberger in the Future
Ranzenberger is still in the process of recovering from his car accident. At the time of application, he had spent 18 months healing and living with the grief of losing a parent.
However, Ranzenberger isn’t down for the count. He currently attends the University of Virginia. While he hasn’t picked a major yet, he hopes to apply to the university’s McIntire School of Commerce after completing his first year of college.
As a student at the school, he hopes to one day graduate with a B.S. in Commerce, making it easier for him to work in the finance industry in a managerial position. The scholarship selection committee with Physician Life Care Planning has no doubt that the dedication he’s shown to his recovery will serve him well throughout his college and professional careers.
About the Surviving & Thriving With a Life-Altering Injury Scholarship
The team with Physician Life Care Planning takes pride in helping people who are contending with catastrophic or chronic injuries create a plan to address those conditions. We believe that these plans make it easier for injured people and their support networks to live full lives without compromising their right to attentive medical care.
The Surviving & Thriving With a Life-Altering Injury Scholarship reflects Physician Life Care Planning’s goals by providing financial support to a young person who has found themselves dealing with physical and emotional losses far too soon in life. The scholarship promises $2,500 in aid to a student who’s learning to live with new physical limitations.
The team hopes that its scholarship can highlight the struggles that these students undergo as well as the determination they bring to their recovery. Applicants must write essays going into detail about their conditions and meet other qualifying criteria to be considered for the scholarship.
Three Cheers for Tyler Ranzenberger!
Ranzenberger’s losses and griefs are many. It would be devastating enough to have his chance to play basketball stolen from him while he recovered, to struggle through physical therapy and the aftereffects of a traumatic brain injury. To do all of this on top of having lost his mother in the same car accident that so upended his physical health is devastatingly unfair.
Fortunately, Ranzenberger has a tenacious spirit and a support network that wants to lift him up. The team members with Physician Life Care Planning are proud to be part of that network and to award Ranzenberger $2,500 to dedicate toward his continued studies. The team hopes that this support can help Ranzenberger continue to improve his life, 1% at a time.
Any students wishing to follow in Ranzenberger’s footsteps can visit the terms and conditions page for the Surviving & Thriving With a Life-Altering Injury Scholarship.