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Welcome Home Ben
SURGERY SLATED MONDAY FOR TEEN
Teen's injury mirrors Reeve's
Judge's son to get treatment in Atlanta
Outlook 'optimistic' for injured teen
Trockman suffered spinal cord injury
SHOWING SUPPORT
Judge's son injured in motocross accident

'Welcome Home, Ben'
By BRYAN CORBIN
Courier & Press staff writer 464-7449 or corbinb@courierpress.com
Originally published 02:50 a.m., June 21, 2006
Updated 02:50 a.m., June 21, 2006

Standing in the rain and then under a humid sun, more than 100 friends of Ben Trockman waited to see the 17-year-old for the first time in three months - since the motorcycle accident that broke his neck and changed his life.

And when the big moment arrived - when a Ford E350 van carrying Trockman and his family returned to Evansville from an Atlanta paralysis-treatment center - the crowd erupted in cheers on Tuesday.

Judge Wayne Trockman motored slowly down the long drive leading to the teen's temporary new home. Escorting the van was a parade of schoolmates, family friends, co-workers and community supporters, toting hand-made signs reading "Welcome Home, Ben."

The party was held at Solarbron Pointe Retirement Community, where Trockman will live until his family's home is renovated for wheelchair accessibility.

There was a drum roll as the van door opened. A ramp slowly unfolded and Trockman emerged in his wheelchair, pushed by his mother, Jill.

Tears welled up as the young man mouthed the words, "Thank you so much. You got me all choked up." The trachea tube in his throat means he has to pause frequently when speaking.

Trockman got a big kiss from his grandmother, Joy Fine, and more kisses from high school friends. Then, his mother pulled his wheelchair up the walkway to his new apartment.

Because the spinal cord injury left Trockman with only limited movement below his shoulders, his mother lifted his forearm to help him wave to the crowd. "I'm helping now, but soon he'll be doing this on his own," she said.
Trockman, a student at Harrison High School, was competing in a motorcycle race March 19 in Poole, Ky., when his neck was broken in a crash. He has spent most of the last three months at the Shepherd Center, a catastrophic care rehabilitation hospital in Atlanta.

The sight of so many supporters lining the entranceway to Solarbron and carrying signs and balloons came as a surprise.
"Oh, my God, it was unbelievable. I just burst out in tears," he said. "This is the best feeling I've had in three months."
Trockman described the long, difficult regimen of physical and occupational therapy at Shepherd. Electrical stimulation of his muscles has restored slight movement in his arms and legs. "Small
His father, Wayne, judge of Vanderburgh Superior Court, noted his son drove a large pickup truck. "His heart is bigger than that pickup truck," he said.

"There have been a lot of very tough days, and there will be a lot of tough days ahead. He's shown just tremendous courage, and if he keeps that courage going - which we all know he will - he's going to accomplish big things," Wayne Trockman said, wiping tears from his son's face.

Ben will be living in his Solarbron apartment with the help of a physical therapist for four weeks. On July 19, he will transfer to a spinal-cord injury center at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore for four weeks of intensive physical therapy, supervised by the same medical director that treated Christopher Reeve.

Ben Trockman noticed many of his supporters who awaited his return Tuesday were wearing blue wristbands imprinted with his name. He said he was encouraged by the many cards and e-mails of support he received in Atlanta.
This fall, he intends to rejoin his class - the incoming senior class - at Harrison High. "I'm definitely going back. I can't wait. It's the first time I've ever been excited about going back to school," he said.

Retirement-age residents of Solarbron Pointe watched the parade of cheering younger people stroll by. Ruth Brummett and her husband, Len, were at the curb to enjoy the procession.
"We just support him as residents, and he's coming here to be part of 'our family' for a while," she said. "We're all grandmas and grandpas here. I hope he'll have time and feel like coming up to the dining room; that's where we all eat. We're just glad to have him."

SURGERY SLATED MONDAY FOR TEEN

Sunday, June 04, 2006
By Jacob Bennett, Courier & Press staff writer
(812) 464-7434 or bennettj@courierpress.com

Ben Trockman, an Evansville teen who was paralyzed in March in a motocross accident, will undergo surgery Monday in Atlanta to stabilize his vertebrae.

Trockman, 17, sustained a spinal cord injury similar to that of the late actor Christopher Reeve. He may be able to return home after a couple of weeks of recovery in the Shepherd Center rehab facility. The senior-to-be at Harrison High School is excited he’ll be out of the halo that is bolted to his head. “I don’t have any motion in my neck right now,” he said. “It’s not as bad as it sounds. I don’t really feel it.”

Trockman has spent the last few weeks in occupational and rehab therapy, including electric muscle stimulation and range of motion exercises. Doctors had told him he would never be able to feel or move anything below his neck, but they were surprised May 25 when he moved his left bicep muscle on command. They were surprised to see, too, he can move the arm five or six inches to one side. “They’re pretty excited about it,” said Jill Trockman, Ben’s mother, who alternates weeks in Atlanta with her husband, Vanderburgh Superior Court Judge Wayne Trockman.

Ben Trockman also did better than expected during electrical stimulation therapy on a stationary bike. Normally the patients, when they get on it for the first time, they can only ride five or six minutes. Trockman rode 47 minutes. “It made me feel really good,” he said. “It made me feel like I was actually doing something for myself. It was pretty awesome.” His mother noticed a difference in him during the exercise. “He had that same color in his face and the brightness in his eyes that I haven’t seen since he got hurt,” she said.

Today, Ben Trockman will be moved to Emory Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta, where surgeons will fuse bones from his rib and hip onto his skull and spine to stabilize his neck bones. Jill Trockman hopes her son will be able to come home for at least a couple of weeks later this month. After that, he may spend a few weeks at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, working with neurologist John W. McDonald, who worked with Reeve.

Until then, he’s making his way through past seasons of the TV show “24,” which he discovered while in the hospital. He’s reading hundreds of letters from people back home (for which the Trackman’s say they are grateful). He’s using voice recognition computer software to navigate a computer. And he’s beating some of his new friends in the hospital in wheelchair races. “I’ve got the power wheelchair,” he said. “Some of the other guys have the manual chairs.”

Monday, April 24, 2006
by Bryan Corbin / Courier & Press staff writer
(812) 464-7449 or corbinb@courierpress.com

Although his spinal cord injury is similar to that of Christopher Reeve, Ben Trockman has shown “phenomenal” strength, courage and attitude, his father said.  Trockman, 17, of Evansville, suffered a broken neck March 19 during a motorcycle crash in Poole, Ky.  He now is in the Shepherd Center, a catastrophic-care rehabilitation hospital in Atlanta. 

Trockman has been diagnosed with a “complete spinal cord injury,” which means he has no sensation or function from the neck down – with the exception of his shoulders, where he has regained some movement, said his father, Superior court Judge Wayne Trockman.  Ben Trockman was injured at the same level of the neck as was Reeve, the actor paralyzed in a 1995 horse-riding accident who became an advocate for spinal-cord injury research.

“We’ve been told by the doctors that whatever recovery Ben makes will be long in its duration, and many times full recovery isn’t achieved – whatever that full recovery is going to be – for 18 months or more,” Wayne Trockman said.  Ben Trockman is alert and can speak in short phrases because he is on a ventilator and must pause to take breaths.  He can move his head but it is in a restraining device called a halo vest while the broken bones heal, Wayne Trockman said.

“One of the most amazing things that has happened through all of this is to see his attitude, because the doctors have been very forthright with him from the beginning, and he knows what he’s facing,” the elder Trockman said.  “He’s had very little pity for himself.  He’s been quite motivated to work as hard as he can on his recovery.”

Every day at the rehabilitation hospital, his father said, Ben Trockman receives:

• Physical therapy to stretch his muscles so they don’t atrophy.
• Occupational therapy, learning to use a telephone, computer and wheelchair, “everything that he’s going to have to know if his condition doesn’t change,” his father said.  Ben is learning to operate a computer through a modified Morse code system – with puffs of air breathed into a straw to form the dots and dashes – instead of a keyboard and mouse.
• Speech therapy, learning to speak effectively with a trachea tube in his throat.  Doctors hope Ben eventually will breathe independent of a ventilator.  Another option is implanting a diaphragm pacemaker, similar to a heart pacemaker, to electrically stimulate muscles that inhale and exhale.
• Meetings with a counselor and with an educator.  The latter is helping him catch up on his already-assigned homework from Harrison High School, where Ben is a junior.  The goal is for him to return to Harrison this fall and keep up with his class, his father said.

Noting that the Shepherd Center is one of 16 “model” spinal-cord injury facilities in the nation that share research, Wayne Trockman is encouraged by medical advances in the field.  “They believe there are ongoing (medial) trials in several different areas that will change his prognosis in the near future,” he said.

Wayne Trockman and his wife Jill, alternated spending weeklong visits with Ben at the rehab hospital in Atlanta.  Their visits overlap on weekends, with younger brother Josh Trockman riding down to Atlanta with one parent and coming back to Evansville with the other, Wayne Trockman said.   The family has been heartened by many e-mails (posted on the Web site www.bentrockman.org), cards and messages from friends and supporters in the Evansville community.

Ben Trockman long has been involved in the family’s hobbies: cars and motorcycles.  Last summer, Ben and Wayne Trockman went on a motorcycle ride through Colorado.  The night before his motocross accident, Ben postponed a date with his girlfriend so he could work on his motorcycle with his dad.  “He was the kind of kid I was able to spend a Saturday night in the garage with, hanging out and turning wrenches and talking and having a good time.  And we did a lot of that,”  Wayne Trockman said. 

It is not yet known when the 17-year-old will be released from the rehab center. 

For the past year, Ben Trockman had worked part-time at Romain Buick in Evansville as a porter – washing and cleaning cars and doing detailing work.  His boss, fixed operations manager Larry Renschler, said Ben was an excellent employee and an upbeat, positive teen.  Ben is “a likable young man with a world of potential, who has his whole life ahead of him”  Renschler said.  When the motorcycle accident happened, “everyone was just tore up; I know I was,” he said.  “Everyone still is very positive.  They know what kind of worker he is.  And if anybody can overcome this, he can,”  Renschler said.  “I’ve got a tremendous amount of faith he can make a full recovery.”

Ben’s father is similarly optimistic.  “With everything that’s been going on, he’s been so courageous, and has such a positive attitude, that I’m certain he will make significant progress,” he said.

Judge's son to get treatment in Atlanta
Tuesday, March 27, 2006
by Bryan Corbin / Courier & Press staff writer
(812) 464-7449 or corbinb@courierpress.com

An Evansville teen injured in a motocross accident last week is being flown today to a spinal-cord injury rehabilitation center in Atlanta, a family member said.

Ben Trockman, 17, suffered a broken neck and spinal cord injury when he crashed during a motocross race March 19 in Poole, Ky. He has been in intensive care at Deaconess Hospital since then. Today, Ben and his family will be flown to the Shepherd Center, a catastrophic-care hospital in Atlanta.

"They specialize in spinal cord rehabilitation and research,"
said Jeff Trockman, a cousin of Ben's father, Wayne Trockman.

It's undetermined how long the Harrison High School junior will have to remain at the rehabilitation hospital.

According to its Wed site, www.shepherd.org, Shepherd Center was founded in 1975 and is the largest free standing hospital in the nation devoted to the medical care and rehabilitation of people with spinal cord injury and disease, brain injury, multiple sclerosis and other neuromuscular problems.

More than 850 patients are admitted each year, and the average in-patient stay is 35 days, the hospital's Web site said.

Wayne Trockman, a Vanderburgh Superior Court judge, said last week it was too early for doctors to offer a prognosis. Ben Trockman is alert and able to communicate with family and with friends who have visited, Jeff Trockman said.

"They're taking it day by day," he said.

He added that a web site, www.bentrockman.org, has been created so supporters and get updates about the injured teen, view photographs and post get-well messages. He said those messages will be passed on to Ben.

The web site mentions that a trust fund has been set up for donations to defray costs associated with Ben's treatment and rehabilitation. Donations may be made to the Ben Trockman Fund in care of Integra Bank, it said.

The father of an Evansville teen who suffered a spinal-cord injury in a motocross accident said his son will have to spend time in a physical rehabilitation center, but the family is "extremely optimistic" for his recovery.

Ben Trockman, 17, suffered a bruise to the spinal cord in the accident Sunday, said his father, Vanderburgh Superior Court Judge Wayne Trockman.

The teen, who has limited sensation in his extremities, remains in intensive care at Deaconess Hospital. Doctors "are indicating it's way too early to know what type of permanent injury that's going to cause. They are also indicating that it may be weeks or months before we know what kind of permanent injury it could cause, if any," Wayne Trockman said. "He is in 'spinal shock,' as they call it, and there is still some swelling. The hope is that when he comes out of shock and the swelling dissipates, that full sensation will return," the judge said.

"The bright side is, as of (Wednesday), he's been alert and talking, and communicating," the father said. "He's also a very gregarious young man, and we've been joking and having some fun, too. He smiles and makes faces; he will pucker up for a kiss when he wants one and stick his tongue out when he doesn't agree."

A junior at Harrison High School, Ben Trockman was racing Sunday at a motocross track near Poole, Ky. He made a sharp turn, went over a jump and crashed, just out of view of his father, who was in the stands. Wayne Trockman rushed onto the track to render assistance. The injured teen had to be airlifted by AirEvac helicopter to Deaconess. "They're my heroes right now," Wayne Trockman said of the helicopter crew.

Ben Trockman's parents have been candid with him that he may be in rehabilitation for an unknown length of time.

The judge planned to tour three facilities that specialize in spinal-injury rehabilitation with the intent of transferring Ben to one next week, he said.

Wayne Trockman expressed appreciation for the "very touching gatherings" conducted nightly since the accident by Ben's friends from Harrison High School and friends of the family from the community.

The vigils have been organized in part by Harrison students Emily Searl and Chris Holland. "These are a good group of kids," the judge said. Thursday night, a vigil took place at the Adath B'Nai Israel Temple, 8440 Newburgh Road, Evansville.

And according to Noah Brown of the Evansville FCA MX team, another prayer service is scheduled for 7 p.m. today in the gymnasium of Crossroads Christian Church, 10800 Lincoln Ave., Newburgh.

Trockman suffered spinal cord injury
by BRYAN CORBIN Courier & Press staff writer
(812) 464-7449 or corbinb@courierpress.com Thursday, March 23, 2006

Many friends and supporters of Ben Trockman held a vigil Tuesday night for the Harrison High School junior, who was injured Sunday in a motocross accident.

Trockman, 17, suffered a spinal injury in the accident at a track near Poole, Ky., and not a head injury as was initially reported. The teen remains in intensive care at Deaconess Hospital with his parents, Jill and Wayne Trockman, by his side, said David Searl, a family friend.

Wayne Trockman is a Vanderburgh Superior Court judge and had to postpone a trial this week because of his son's serious injury.

Searl said Ben Trockman suffered no brain injury and has been able to communicate with his parents. "He appears to have all his mental faculties," Searl said.

One of the judge's colleagues, Superior Court Judge Robert Pigman, said that doctors have identified the location of the injury to the spinal cord. But the prognosis for the teen isn't yet known, and tests continue.

"Obviously, with a spinal cord injury, paralysis is the big thing they are worried about," Pigman said. "Because he is so young and physically in good shape, waiting is the appropriate thing."

Tuesday, night, approximately 100 people, including Ben Trockman's friends and classmates from Harrison High School, attended the prayer vigil at Jeremiah's Christian Centre on Lincoln Avenue.

Searl said the event was organized by his daughter, Emily, and another friend, Chris Holland, both seniors at Harrison. Ben Trockman's younger brother, Josh Trockman, a freshman at Harrison, was among those who spoke to the gathering.

"Every adult who was there was uplifted to see how good these kids really were," Searl said of the large crowd of teens supporting their friend. "What I saw was the best in our young people."

The injured teen cannot yet accept visitors at the hospital, but he may be able to next week.

"These kids are champing at the bit to go in and see Ben, but right now he needs his rest," Searl said.

SHOWING SUPPORT
Photo by DENNY SIMMONS Courier & Press
Wednesday, March 22, 2006

(caption under picture...)
About 100 friends and family, including Joy and Gene Fine of Boca Raton, Fla., center, showed up at Jeremiah's Christian Centre on Tuesday night to show support and offer prayers for Ben Trockman, a junior at Harrison High School, who was seriously injured in a motocross accident Sunday. The Fines are Trockman's grandparents and were amazed at the strong showing of support the teenagers friends were offering him and his family.

Judge's son injured in motocross accident by BRYAN CORBIN
Courier & Press staff writer
(812) 464-7449 or corbinb@courierpress.com
Tuesday, March 21, 2006

A son of Vanderburgh Superior Court Judge Wayne Trockman remained in Deaconess Hospital on Monday, where he was airlifted after being seriously injured in a motocross accident Sunday, officials said.

The injury forced the judge to delay Monday's jury selection in the trial of former fugitive William C. Davis until next month.

Ben Trockman, a junior at Harrison High School, was riding in a motocross event at the Echo Valley MX track near Poole, KY., when the accident happened around 1 p.m., officials said.

"The patient apparently had crashed his motorcycle," said Paramedic Chief James Ivy of the Henderson County (Ky.) Ambulance Service, which went to the scene. The ambulance crew assessed the teenagers condition and summoned an AirEvac helicopter from Evansville. The helicopter landed at the track and flew Trockman to Deaconess for treatment, officials said.

Deaconess spokesman Sam Rogers said the family had requested that all questions be referred to court officials.

Judge Robert Pigman, also of Vanderburgh Superior Court, said Trockman's son suffered a head injury and still was being evaluated Monday. "He is undergoing tests to determine the extent of the injuries," Pigman said. "They are still doing tests. It could be days or weeks before there is a prognosis."

Ivy described the crash as "a single-motorcycle accident"
but did not know what type of event was taking place at the motocross track.

Pigman also was not familiar with the details of the event, but said that both of Trockman's sons have raced bikes for years. The crash happened "right in front of" Judge Trockman, Pigman said.

A man answering the phone at the listed number for the Echo Valley MX track in Poole declined to answer questions, and hung up on the Evansville Courier and Press.

At Harrison, where Ben Trockman attends school with his brother Joshua, a freshman, teachers were notified of the accident.

"We were available (Monday) to talk to any students who were concerned," Principal Janet Leistner said. "Overall, the atmosphere was calm and optimistic; the kids were talking among themselves."

Monday, Harrison students filled a large canvas with handwritten get-well messages to be delivered to Ben Trockman at the hospital, she said.

"Ben is an excellent student; he's an academic honors student. He is a conscientious, outgoing young man, and a very popular student," Leistner said.

I've been very impressed with support that the students and family friends have given to Ben during this difficult time," Leistner added.

The family emergency forced Trockman to postpone until April
17 the start of the Davis trial, which had been set to being Monday with jury selection in Clark County, Ind. Davis was a fugitive wanted on child-molestation charges who was apprehended in North Dakota after his case was profiled on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and Winfrey offered a $100,000 reward for his capture. Davis, 33, of Wadesville, Ind., remains in jail awaiting trial.

With Trockman's son being hospitalized, it was not clear when the judge would return to the bench in Vanderburgh Superior Court. Pigman said that he and Judge Robert J.
Tornatta share the same rotation with Trockman; and with the other judges, they will handle Trockman's cases in the interim.

"All of us will chip in and cover his workload for as long as it takes," Pigman said.