Rena Smith was overwhelmed, frustrated and desperate for help when she finally contacted the United Spinal Resource Center soon after her daughter Brittany was paralyzed last August in Texas. Less than two weeks after sustaining a gunshot wound through her C6-7 vertebrae, the doctors were talking about sending Brittany home — not because she was ready, but because she didn’t have insurance. Smith wasn’t about to let the hospital jeopardize her daughter’s health, but didn’t know how to stop them. Looking for answers, Smith had found United Spinal and the Resource Center on the Internet. She decided to email even after the hospital social worker told her she’d be wasting her time, as United had no local chapter in Dallas. “I was shocked and amazed that these kinds of things went on with people in a situation as dire as Brittany’s,” Smith says. “Looking back, I was so fortunate to have found the United Spinal site.”

Bill Fertig, the director of the Resource Center, happened to be assigned to Smith’s case and quickly responded to her plea for help. Every month, the Resource Center fields hundreds of calls about spinal cord injuries and disorders. The four-person Resource Center team does its best to  help the callers in whatever ways they can, whether that is simply providing answers and resources, or working with them for as long as it takes to solve their problem or fix their situation.

Over 30 years of working in and around law enforcement have taught Fertig, a paraplegic, how to quickly assess situations and determine how best to proceed. In Smith, he recognized a willing and capable partner who just needed information and direction. The two exchanged emails and voice mails as Fertig tried to provide what Smith needed piece by piece without overwhelming her.

Fertig has learned that providing callers and emailers the resolve to keep fighting is just as important as providing the basics of SCI. He walked her through a similar case he had worked on where a hospital had tried to force out a caller’s son. He also made sure to send a list of success stories. “She needed to be able to see an answer to the question, that it was going to be possible for Brittany to have a life,” he explains. “It’s just outside the realm of understanding for people in a new injury situation, especially quadriplegia.”

Fertig’s message got through. “I had searched and searched and searched for information and then I became a little overwhelmed by information, and Bill just helped me to slow down,” she says. “I felt empowered with the advice I had gotten from him because I finally had an idea what to do. He’s the one that said, just be strong and tell them no. Brittany can’t come home, not yet. She has to have rehab first.”

To make sure Brittany got that rehab, Fertig told Smith to contact her state and federal representatives to try and expedite the process of getting Brittany approved for SSI benefits and Medicaid and connected with Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services. The tactic helped get initial meetings moved up and got Brittany approved and into the systems much faster than she would have otherwise.

Fertig also followed up with the reticent social worker, assuring her that United Spinal was supporting Brittany. “She did an excellent job of putting me off at first, but I said no, you need to understand this, you can either deal with me now, or next week my CEO is going to be on the phone with your CEO and we’re going to start all over again. Blowing me off now is not going to work and our organization is going to keep watching this case.”

A little over a month after her injury, Brittany was transferred to Baylor Institute of Rehabilitation where she immediately began progressing. After initially being on a ventilator and using a power chair, she ditched the vent and started using a manual chair and regaining function in her hands. As she has progressed, so has her mother.  “I feel like the shock has worn off and I’m dealing with it much, much better now,” says Smith. “I hope no one ever has to experience it. But if they do, I would shout from the rooftops, please call this organization because they’ll help. Don’t give up!”