Racing to recovery: Madonna hosts cars for patients, motivating recovery

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - For patients at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals, the road to recovery can be long and daunting.

Tuesday, patients at the Lincoln campus had the chance to get out of their rooms and check out some souped-up cars, all while working in a little physical therapy.

It all started with a social media post.

14-year-old Bryan Post from Beatrice has a passion for fast cars. But after suffering a spinal cord injury he’s been sidelined for this racing season.

To help motivate Bryan on his road to recovery, his dad, with the help of Madonna, recruited drivers from across Nebraska to bring their cars to the hospital.

“We knew that he was very motivated by the race community,” said Jeff Stec, the Pediatric Program Manager. “He was involved in that prior to his injury and so we worked with the family and got things moving in this direction.”

Robbie Juarez has been a patient at Madonna for a month. He said Tuesday meant a lot to him in getting to see the race cars and connecting with other patients.

“We all like NASCAR racing, and we all can talk together, which brings us closer to one another,” Juarez said.

Brandon Johnson is one of the drivers that made the event possible. He said Bryan has personally helped him with his cars and drivers and when he heard Bryan wouldn’t be around this racing season, he wanted to do something to brighten his recovery.

“These guys, they can’t get out,” Johnson said. “They can’t go do what we want to do. So why not bring it to them? Let these people have fun, let them enjoy it and, you know, it lets us show our stuff off too.”

About 20 drivers and racecars came out to Madonna.

Johnson said once Bryan recovers they plan to get him to the races as soon as possible.

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