- December 14, 2025
On the morning of Aug. 27, 2012, Kirk Crandall was driving to his job in Erie, Pa. when he fell asleep at the wheel. His truck reached a bend in the road and the moment Crandall woke up he swerved trying to miss a sign causing his vehicle to fishtail before before going over a ravine.
The next few seconds would change the life the young man had been living.
Crandall's truck flipped eight times with the roof eventually coming down on him. At one point Crandall remembers pulling his head and arm back inside the vehicle by grabbing the steering wheel. He believes he didn't pass out until the truck rolled for the eighth and final time.
When Crandall was brought to the hospital the diagnosis was grim — he was paralyzed from the chest down and doctors told him should expect to never regain the use of his hands, his arms, his legs.
However, Crandall and his mother Shawn Reynolds, refused to accept the bleak words. So they began looking into physical therapy treatments, despite what doctors had told them.
"They acted like we were crazy in the beginning to even pursue doing therapy for Kirk," Reynolds said. "They told me he was a typical Christopher Reeve injury and that when I was seeking intensive therapy for him they told me I was pretty much wasting my time."
But the single mother and her son, who was now a C5-C6 quadriplegic, decided to give it their all.
For the first couple of years, Crandall was doing physical therapy five days a week. He said that when he would come home from the sessions he would continue his physical therapy. Persistence paid off.
Little by little, Crandall began regaining the the use of his hands, his arms, even his legs. His therapy sessions took him from Pennsylvania to Michigan and finally back to the place he'd grown up — Florida.
The now 26-year-old Crandall, a former weightlifter for Spruce Creek High, has regained some leg movement back, which he is able to control and is taking steps in braces. Even more, he has started driving again with a car that accommodates his wheelchair and that he drives with hand controls.
But Crandall hasn't stopped there. This year, he enrolled in his first semester of full-time classes at Indian River State College, just down the road from where he goes to physical therapy in Port St. Lucie.
"It's just so exciting to be back at school and be independent," Crandall said. "Just event the fact that I'm driving myself to school and leaving school by myself. I feel like I'm going to have a successful future, I'm going to have a great life, so there's a lot of hope and optimism in the air."
Still, to continue his physical therapy, Crandall and his mother have faced thousands of dollars in expenses. It costs around $50,000 each year for Crandall to be in the therapy program.
Because of this, friends of Crandall and his mother have rallied together to help put on fundraisers each year. Reynolds said the group of people helping them with these fundraisers has been with them since the beginning and that it wouldn't be possible for her son to have this treatment without them.
This year, a golf tournament fundraiser is being held at Cypress Head Golf Course on Saturday, Nov. 18. This is the second year a golf fundraiser has been held for Crandall in Port Orange.
As for the future, Crandall is nothing but optimistic.
"I had felt so blessed to even be alive and be given any chance to improve," Crandall said. "I felt like I owed it to God to go for it and to go for that opportunity no matter how small that chance was."
To help with therapy costs, checks can be made payable to HelpHOPELive, with Kirk Crandall on the memo line, and mailed to Cypress Head Golf Club, 6231 Palm Vista St., Port Orange, FL, 32128.
