Reflections of a dad after a tragic accident

By WILLIAM K. ALCORN

alcorn@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

In an instant, he became a quadriplegic.

It was an idyllic afternoon on May 29, 2008, in Mill Creek Park when Dr. Fred Dunlea was struck by a vehicle while training on the bike path for a 100-mile bicycle event.

He suffered a cervical spinal injury, the same injury sustained by the late actor Christopher Reeve while horseback riding, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down.

The father of 10 could no longer do all the physical things that had defined his life — camping and canoe trips with his wife, the former Rita Klein, and children, woodworking, gourmet cooking, gardening and creating a weekly newsletter that kept the widespread family members informed about one another.

The man who used to walk three miles a day now speaks with the aid of a tracheal device and gets around his home in a sipper-puffer wheelchair: Puff or sip a certain way, and the wheelchair goes forward or backward or turns, as Dr. Dunlea demonstrated.

“No wheelies,” he said.

Sad and tragic, yes. Life- altering for Dr. Dunlea and his wife and children, shatteringly so.

But his MENSA-quality mind, warm smile and sense of humor remain, as does his status as an admired and revered husband and father.

Read his story, and his children's thoughts about their dad on Father's Day 2010 in Sunday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.