By Theaibold Kennon III
Lamp staff
Jeff Conan takes one class each semester and is mainly in the lower level of the library
You could talk to Jeff about his favorite baseball team: He is a lifelong White Sox fan. You could ask him all about the classes he has taken over the last six or seven years. He will tell you about how awesome his professors are. But Jeff will want to share with you the day that changed his life forever. The day that led him to need a wheelchair to get around.
Jeff shares his testimony of his life with young high school teens taking driver’s education at events all over the state. Five days before his 16th birthday, in 2001, Jeff took a ride with three of his friends.They were heading back home to Taylorville from an impromptu trip to Springfield. Back then, the highway they were traveling on was a two-lane one. They tried to pass in a no passing zone. Suddenly a mini- van was right in front of them. Jeff’s friend was driving and he swerved on the gravel. They pulled back on the road, but ended up hitting the median.
“The people in the mini-van were OK. The kids in the back seat were OK, but the driver broke her leg, I think. This was all told to me later. I was out of it.” Jeff recalls.
Jeff’s friend behind him, Willie, died on impact. Jeff’s best friend, Chris, only had an ear injury. Chris was behind the driver. The driver, Thad, was sent to the hospital that night but released. Jeff was airlifted to St. John’s in Springfield, where he was in a coma for three months.
“In the coma I saw God. He asked If I wanted to live or die. I said I wanted to live. He said we will see.” Jeff said.
Jeff awoke three and a half months later with his dad by his bed. Jeff went on to therapy for the next year and a half. He went back to school and even had visits from St. Louis Cardinals players. When he graduated from high school in Taylorville, Jeff walked across the stage; he can walk with the help of a walker or cane.
Jeff has found a deeper meaning and connection in life beyond survival. He gets to do, as he says, awesome things, like canoeing down the Mississippi, or going on the field with the White Sox. He has given his testimony in front of two churches, including the one his dad goes to, so far.
Jeff is now thirty-one and lives on his own. He takes the Springfield Access bus, to and from Lincoln Land. He has a caregiver that helps him by making his bed, helping with his laundry and cooking his meals for him. He faces challenges every day, Jeff meets them, then looks for his next set, beyond school, Jeff is on the Special Olympic Bowling team. He hangs out with his girlfriend, friends, his brothers, and his dad. Jeff fills his life with choir at church and being a genuine nice person.
“Through everything that I’ve been through, there’s one thing that held me together, my faith. With God, I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. But without God, I don’t know where I’d be.” Jeff speaks of his life.
Theaibold Kennon III can be reached at [email protected]
