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Jonathan O'Shea
Foundation Recipient
Jonathan O'Shea
Jonathan O'Shea
Jonathan's Story
Jonathan was a union pipefitter/welder/HVAC employee in Florida prior to his accident. He started his career as a pre-apprentice with the union in Mobile, Alabama when he was 19. He completed four years of apprenticeship, then went to work as a journeyman pipefitter. He worked his way up to foreman then superintendent. Most of the jobs he worked on were located on military bases, and his accident occurred while working at Eglin AFB.
He was helping demolish piping in a mechanical room where he fell off a 14 foot ladder!
He fell onto a boiler, breaking his back. Then, he fell the rest of the way to the concrete floor, causing a TBI (traumatic brain injury) and an SCI. (Spinal cord injury) His spinal cord injury was a T9 complete, (meaning no feeling or movement below the point of injury) and his vertebrae was fused from T6-T12. As soon as Jonathan got out of rehab, he set two goals for himself. The first was to go back to work, and the second was to remain involved in his children’s activities. “I know nothing but work,” Jonathan told us. “I want to be able to go to job sites and run crews, but I just can’t here in Florida because it is so sandy. I am a very loving husband and father of five,” he continued, “and I want to be able to enjoy life with my family like we always have because we are a very on the go type family.” Because so much of the terrain where Jonathan lives is sandy, a standard wheelchair was not best for his situation. He needed a Trak Chair in order to accomplish both of those goals, but neither Worker’s Comp. nor insurance would pay for it. While doing online research, he came across an organization that helped workers in the trades – the Joseph Groh Foundation.
Thanks to our wonderful supporters, we were able to meet Jonathan’s needs!
Jonathan told us his needs here would allow him to go back to work, doing what he loves. His company told him he could start out working from home, then adjust back into the office and next to the field as a project manager. “I will take off the plans for materials and meet on-site with the crews to make sure they have what is needed to get the job done,” Jonathan told us. “Perhaps best of all however, I will be able to attend my children’s outdoor activities and be a big part of their lives again.”
Jonathan maneuvers his Trak Chair in the sandy terrain