Brandon Breunig capped off his high school basketball career with a gold medal around his neck on March 11, 2017. It marked the second year Brandon celebrated Wahoo Bishop Neumann clenching the Nebraska Class C-1 state championship title. In the final game, he took the court with less than a minute to go and attempted two baskets—one of them a three-pointer. Brandon had possession of the ball when the buzzer sounded signaling the end of the game.
“Being back on the court with my boys, remembering all the good times we had playing basketball. It was a great feeling,” Brandon said. The courageous athlete returned to the court following a lengthy recovery from a one-vehicle crash in April 2016 where he sustained a spinal cord injury. The crash affected his L4 vertebra and caused temporary paralysis below his waist. Brandon had surgery and spent 11 weeks recovering at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals-Lincoln Campus.
At 6 foot 6, his parents chose Madonna due to his height and the innovative therapy and equipment. Aquatic therapy allowed him to regain movement early on. The Lokomat, robotic-assisted treadmill training, helped Brandon with his gait and the bionic suit, known as the Ekso GT, helped the teenager shift his body. From the beginning Brandon’s attitude was one of determination.
“Don’t feel sorry for yourself. Get up every morning and get to the gym and work as hard as you can to get back to normal.”
Throughout inpatient and outpatient therapy, the determined young man never backed down from a challenge. In the summer of 2016, Brandon showed his pig at the Saunders County Fair using a walker for support. He soon transitioned to a cane and then by the time college started in the fall, the proud young Nebraskan walked independently. Two years post-accident, Brandon returned to his loves of running and waterskiing. He’s a college graduate and is passionate about serving the agricultural community through his job at Frontier Cooperative.
Brandon looks at life a little differently now. “This experience has made me look at the bigger picture of life. Playing sports doesn’t mean the world to me like it used to. It’s just one aspect of my life. I’ve had thousands of great memories and a whole life ahead of me.”
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