Posted on April 14, 2008
The first day visitors were permitted to see Meghan Bain, Professor April Roth rushed to the UVA hospital. Overcome by chill bumps, she said seeing one of her students in such pain was one of the worst experiences of her life.
“I just sat and looked at her and realized, she’s going to pull out of this,” Roth said. “That was the most amazing thing that with all this equipment all over her – the neck brace, all the wires hooked up to her – I could still see that spirit.”
When Roth asked students to help create a “get well” banner for the sophomore field hockey player, one of her students replied, “Of course. I don’t know her, but she’s one of us.”
Bain was struck by a car on March 15, fracturing bones in her face and suffering a severe brain bruise to the frontal lobe.
After hearing the news, Roth decided that rather than going out and buying Bain an impersonal “get well” card, she would make her a “get well” banner. The banner has remained outside Room 1124 in Harrison Hall for several weeks, acquiring more than 100 encouraging messages both from friends and strangers to Bain.
“This radiates love,” Roth said. “I think it’s really important that the whole JMU body come out to sign it because I want her to know that there are people who have never even seen her that believe in her and I think that’s what JMU is all about.”
Junior Fred Rose and sophomore Nicole Ferraro, both strangers to Bain, willingly rallied together to create the banner as well as the Facebook group, “JMU Supports Meghan Bain’s Speedy Recovery.”
“The banner is all about showing that we care for someone, even if we don’t know her,” Rose said.
Rose said regardless of who this could have happened to, people on campus would always step up to support their fellow Dukes.
“If it was any one of my students, honestly, I would have done something,” Roth said.
“Her close friends obviously tell her that they’re there for her every day but when she knows the whole JMU community is behind her and praying for her then I know that will make her feel really good and maybe help her keep on going strong,” said junior Jenny Shockley, former teammate of Bain.
Bain’s father, Bryan Bain, said there is no doubt in his mind that all the support from JMU has contributed to her recovery.
“It’s certainly boosted her spirit,” he said. “She has been overwhelmed by the love and the spirit from everybody in the JMU community. It’s given her motivation to really work hard in her rehabilitation so she can get back to JMU.”
Bain begins outpatient therapy today at MossRehab Center in Woodbury, NJ. According to her father, the program is designed to get her cognitively ready to do college level work again. It may take weeks or months, but the Bains are estimating four to six weeks until a full recovery.
Throughout the last several weeks, moving from one hospital to another and eventually home, Bain has remained nothing but optimistic while making a faster-than-expected recovery, according to Roth.
“She’s a fighter and she’s a little warrior,” Roth said. “Her parents had told me that it was night and day every morning. It was just a miracle every day she was progressing.”
