Meningitis Survivor Returns Home to Assist with 100-Mile Paddle

“Nick has changed my life forever,” said Greg Porteus, captain of the Ossining-based Launch 5 boat that provided support to this weekend's 100-mile Hudson River paddle.

Nick Springer, 28, from Croton, caught meningitis at summer sleepaway camp in Massachusetts when he was fourteen. He soon lost all four of his limbs to the disease, but this doesn’t seem to have slowed him down much.

He’s been profiled along his journey, such as in this feature in the New York Times in 2003, when he was 18 and adjusting to a “new normal”:

NICK SPRINGER lives a full and typical teenager's life, playing sports, hanging out with friends in his hometown of Croton-on-Hudson and catching his younger sister in chokeholds and hugs. And yet it is not a normal life. Most teenagers who are going to the local diner, for example, don't have to slide out of their wheelchairs and scramble up the 12 steps at the entrance on their knees and elbows.

''If I sit around and mope about why I lost my hands and legs, it's not going to make them come back magically,'' said Nick, who is 18. ''They're gone and I have to learn to live without them.''

Friends with Porteus’ daughter, Amanda, since grade school – they were in drama club together – the two keep in touch. Springer had expressed to her his desire to help on the boat so he flew in from Arizona and spent three days, sleeping in the wheelhouse, and wowing everyone with his inspiring story.

“Nick made his way with no help all over L5 with no assistance; he never complained once. During the event there were 20-plus people on L5 with non-stop activity. There were moments I wanted to just sit down and cry about Nick’s situation," Porteus said. “Being on the Launch for all those hours with Nick was the best hours I ever spent on the Launch; it was an emotional roller-coaster."

Porteus said he was inspired by this smart man’s take on the world and there are plans to ask Nick to speak to professional basketball players.

''I love to be competitive,'' Springer told the New York Times years ago. ''A lot of people look at me like I'm fragile. Sports gives me a chance to get out there and bang myself up.''

His competitive spirit lead him from there to being a national wheelchair rugby gold medalist.

He’s also hoping to – get this – swim the Hudson next June during the annual 8 Bridges for the Water Quality Program for Riverkeeper for which swimmers come from all over the world. Porteus says he is a “GREAT swimmer with out any life-jacket.” Of course!

The National Meningitis Association can be reached at (866)366-3662 or www.nmaus.org. From their website:

Meningococcal disease is a serious, potentially fatal bacterial infection that strikes an average of 1,500 Americans annually. In particular, adolescents and young adults are at increased risk of contracting meningococcal disease.

Among those who survive meningococcal disease, approximately 20 percent suffer long-term consequences, such as brain damage, kidney disease, hearing loss or limb amputations.