Published: July 05, 2009 11:30 pm      

City man takes giant step toward walking

Despite years of therapy and hard work, Bill Burgan of Johnstown still was confined to wheelchairs he has been riding since a 1989 car crash left him with a traumatic brain injury.

“I’ve been through it all,” Burgan said at Johnstown YMCA. “When I got done with my therapy, I was not getting any better.”

But Burgan never accepted the doctors’ prognosis that he never would walk again. He had just reached a plateau, and needed something to help him reach the next level.

Since the doctors and therapists didn’t have any good ideas, Burgan invented his own assistance.

The brain injury affected his balance and muscle control to a point that he cannot stand upright without support.

Doctors call it spastic ataxia, affecting the motor function.

Since his reasoning and analytic abilities remained in fact, Burgan put his energy into helping himself. What he needed was a good foundation.

An active member of the YMCA, Burgan had competed in the bicycling segments of triathlons and was familiar with the use of weights as training aids, his friend Howard Bernstein said.

Working with a machine shop and a relative who does upholstery, Burgan created a system of weights for his lower body that brought almost-miraculous results.

Bernstein is a former YMCA board president and triathlon competitor who has known Burgan for years. He recalled the day Burgan met him at the YMCA to show him the invention.

“When I saw Bill stand up on his own and just stand there, I thought I was going to faint,” Bernstein said.

Then Burgan started walking. His gait still is unsteady and jerky, but he says can get to where he wants to go.

He demonstrates with a walk down the YMCA hallway.

“I could never do that before,” Burgan said. “After 20 years, it felt really weird (the first time). I’m using muscles I haven’t used in a long time.”

Several YMCA employees verified that Burgan’s long history of workouts never included the ability to walk. Burgan has been a regular at the YMCA for so long that the members got together to buy him the three-wheeled bike he rides around town.

“He is a big part of the YMCA family,” Bernstein said.

Burgan has been working toward the day when he could again walk on his own, but reaching the milestone has only created new goals. He believes his continued work with his invention will improve his balance and muscle control to a point he can take off the weights.

In the meantime, he’s hoping to patent the weight system for others with similar symptoms.

He has shown his progress to some medical professionals, but said they were not sure if it could have widespread use.

“They said there is not a lot of population that needs something like that,” Burgan said. “But I find it hard to believe. I don’t know everything, but I know the potential.”