‘Through hardships to the stars’

WASILLA — Life’s about perspective.

That’s the message Olympian Andrew Kurka delivered when he stopped by Sam Allred’s Wasilla home Wednesday.

Kurka, 23, was injured in an all-terrain vehicle crash when he was 13. These days he competes in monoski and handcycle events for the U.S. Paralympic team. He’s the first summer Olympian from Alaska, he said.

Though nearly a decade separates the two by age, they discover a common set of challenges unites them as they compare stories about their scars and broken bones.

“It happens to us because we can handle it,” Kurka tells Allred, who was injured in a four-wheeler rollover crash July 3.

“You are already in a position to make a difference,” Kurka says, gesturing to the nearby news reporter. “You have a chance to make a difference for others. You aren’t just sand now. You are wet sand. You have an opportunity.”

Allred, 16, was driving his sister’s four-wheeler on Kasilof Beach with his younger brother, Tom, when the vehicle rolled, throwing Tom and rolling several times with Sam still onboard. Neither boy was wearing a helmet.

Witnesses at the beach saw the crash and rushed to help, transporting Tom back to camp and calling 911.

“If they wouldn’t have been there, Sam would have died,” mom, Angie, said by phone a few hours after arriving at Providence Alaska Medical Center in a LifeMed helicopter.

“You don’t think about it’s going to crash driving on the beach,” Allred said.

An hours-long surgery repaired damage to his intestines, diaphragm, spleen, stop some bleeding on the right side of his lungs, and multiple breaks to his pelvic bones. He spent two weeks — including his 16th birthday — in pediatric intensive care while medical staff monitored his progress and his broken ribs, discs in his spine and fractured skull began to heal.

His family ate ice cream with him at the hospital on his birthday, but Allred said he plans a birthday do-over in another month when he can put weight on his shattered pelvis.

“I kind of remember that,” Allred said of eating birthday ice cream with his family.

He’s the eighth child born to Scott and Angie Allred of Wasilla and at the age of 3 was diagnosed with IgM nephropathy, a rare kidney disease that causes his immune system to attack his kidneys. The medicine that has helped keep him alive since then also has stunted his growth. At 16 years old, Allred is only 48 inches tall.

“The cool part is you survived,” Kurka said.

Allred remembers riding down the beach with Tom. He remembers the ATV starting to roll. And then bits and pieces of time for days after the accident, he said.

“I don’t remember any of the pain,” Allred said.

Kurka and Allred met through Kevin Meddleton and Samantha Berg at Alaska Center for Acupuncture in Palmer, where they both receive care.

The older man said he was fishing in Kasilof when he read on Facebook that Allred was injured.

“I was hoping you were going to be OK,” he said. “We weren’t sure.”

A few days after the accident occurred, Allred had been schedule to take part in a Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership. Instead, he spent those days hospitalized. His peers at the conference did not forget his absence: a box with about 100 handmade cards arrived Wednesday wishing him speedy recovery and happy birthday.

“I got a lot of cards,” Allred said. “A lot were from people I don’t even know.”

Angie Allred said their friends in the community have been very supportive this past month. Including a family friend who put them up in a hotel the first night Sam was hospitalized, and sat by his bed site through the night keeping watch.

Kurka said that matches his experience, too.

“It’s amazing how nice people come out of the woodwork when something like this happens,” he said.

For now, Allred is resting in a hospital bed in one of his brothers’ bedroom upstairs. And his older brothers also pitched in and built a wheelchair ramp and guardrails on the Allreds’ home to help.

In 2010, Angie helped her son found the 501(c)(3) Kindness for Kids to give handmade pillows to kids enduring long hospital stays. Now she envisions the non-profit expanding its work to include educating the public about safe ATV use.

“I got some pretty gnarly scars,” Sam says, lifting his shift to reveal a pink ridge from his belly button to his sternum.

“Chicks are going to dig that later on,” Kurka reassured him.

The awareness campaign is in the idea stage, but Kurka said it’s a good idea, especially in Alaska where ATV use is common.

“It’s been a pretty positive response, so far, Angie said of the effort.

So far, she said FedEx and a few other sponsors have agreed to support the campaign. But she’s looking for more groups who might be interested in joining the effort.

Although the reasons vary, both Kurka and Allred also need handsets to operate a car. Allred can’t reach the pedals and Kurka’s legs reach, but aren’t strong enough to drive safely.

Kurka said his mom told him he didn’t need to drive, but he was 16 and ready for independence.

So he persuaded his grandmother to drive him to Lowe’s where he spent about $40 on parts and rigged up hand controls for his car. The low-tech system he rigged has enabled him to drive for the past seven years.

“How do you judge how much you’ve lived? By your experiences,” Kurka told Allred. “You’ve lived more than most people have already.”

Be alert for life’s opportunities, Kurka said.

“I never really thought about it until I broke my femur,” Kurka said of his recent adoption of the sport of hand-cycling. “An opportunity like that, I might as well take it.”

Contact Heather A. Resz at 352-2268 or heather.resz@frontiersman.com.