Tragedy Leads to Career Mission
Grant Bumgarner’s job is to assist people with their final arrangements. It’s one he believes he’s uniquely qualified for.
Bumgarner, 44, does advance planning and aftercare for Mackey Mortuary in Greenville. Four years ago, he suffered devastating injuries when his motorcycle was broadsided by another vehicle.
His left leg was crushed, his wrist was shattered, his arm was broken, his spleen was ruptured and the ball joint in his left hip was broken.
“Medically, there’s no reason why I should be alive,” he said.
The November 2001 accident happened near Walhalla while Bumgarner and a friend were on their way back from a trip to the North Carolina mountains. Bumgarner, who sustained the worst injuries, was taken to Oconee Memorial Hospital where his spleen was removed. From there, he was air-lifted to Greenville Memorial Hospital where he spent seven weeks in treatment, half of which he doesn’t remember.
A Kansas native, he had moved to South Carolina in 1993 to work for Mackey as the at-need director, doing embalming, dressing and cosmetics. But after five years, he got tired of the unpredictable hours and working with families whose grief was fresh. Just before the accident he had taken a job in the printing business and had no medical insurance.
Home from the hospital, his arm was immobilized by external fixator pins, his left leg had been amputated at mid-thigh, and surgeons had installed a zipper down his middle so they could keep the internal injuries clean.
“I got around hopping and in a wheelchair,” he remembered.
His brother Brad came from Kansas to take care of him and he continued to receive therapy at home. After Brad returned home in March, he was on his own.
In July 2002, he began outpatient therapy at Roger C. Peace Hospital-Rehabilitation in Greenville and it was there he started the real process of recovery.
But he also was having trouble with his memory and his reasoning ability. A friend referred him to Lorraine Smith, an S.C. Vocational Rehabilitation Department counselor stationed at Peace Hospital to work with people who had traumatic brain injuries. Testing indicated Bumgarner had a closed head injury and his therapy expanded to help with that.
“When we’d see some memory challenges, we’d develop memory management strategies,’ Smith said. “Somebody as high-functioning as Grant can talk their way around a lot of situations. We worked for more than a year on compensation techniques.”
Meanwhile, medical bills continued to mount and the emotional impact of what had happened to him was beginning to tell. With the help of Smith and doctors at Peace, he began to realize that he was undergoing a major life-changing event and that adjustment and coping are processes.
“We did a lot of counseling,” Smith said. “There were some very difficult things happening to him.”
“I also knew life would get better,” Bumgarner said. “All I had was hope. It was my life; what I had to do.”
In February 2003, Bumgarner came to the SCVRD Center for Comprehensive Programs in West Columbia for evaluation and additional therapy.
By April, he had returned to work in the printing business. Smith did several site visits to make sure everything was going well and VR purchased a new, more comfortable prosthesis for his left leg to replace the one he had received in November.
“VR gave me the confidence to go back to work,” Bumgarner said.
He did not want to go back into the at-need side of the mortuary business, but when Mackey offered him a job in December 2004 doing pre-arrangements and aftercare, he didn’t hesitate.
“I’ve done things that have never been done before,” he said. “I’ve increased the number of pre-arrangements and started the aftercare program.
“I feel privileged to be back for a second tour of duty. I’m doing the ministry I’m supposed to be doing.”
Today, he walks with a slight limp, but that doesn’t stop him from water-skiing, playing golf and pitching for his church softball team. He also directs the choir.
Because of the way his wrist healed, he can’t turn his left hand over, which means he can’t put his hand under a faucet palm up or get change at a drive-through, but “I can write, type and drive,” he said.
“I can’t pitch like I used to, but I’m a better pitcher now,” he said.
Bumgarner’s medical bills totaled about $500,000. Medicare and Medicaid paid about a quarter of that and an attorney negotiated the rest.
His church, Trinity Presbyterian in Travelers Rest, supported him for 14 months, paying all his living expenses. He worked in the church office part-time doing computer work and answering the phone.
He’s serving a four-year term on the Travelers Rest City Council; he’s chairman of the North Greenville Family YMCA Scholarship Drive; he’s serving his second year as president of the Travelers Rest Business Association; he coordinates the Travelers Rest Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society; and he was named Citizen of the Year by the Greenville County Committee on Accessibility.
Bumgarner doesn’t think what he’s accomplished is “a big deal.”
“You always have choices,” he said. “You can let it run over you or you can say ‘I’m not going to let that happen.’
“I’m not willing to say this is as good as it’s going to get,” he said. “I’m determined to water-ski standing up.”
