Friends inspire teen’s recovery

Parents don’t always welcome a gaggle of noisy, gangly teenagers, but Lisa Feitler likes it when her son’s friends come around.

They aren’t a hassle. They’re even therapeutic.

Cade Feitler turned 13 on Feb. 7, 2005. The next day he was in a car accident that left him with a brain injury, unable to move or speak.

A year and a half later, he’s working on learning to walk and talk again, and his mother said Cade’s friends are an important part of his recovery.

“We’re so grateful to everyone — our close friends, the entire community, even strangers who have stepped into our lives to help us with Cade,” Lisa Feitler said.

A Santa Ana jury on Sept. 26 awarded the family $23.5 million in a lawsuit over the crash. The court decided the E. A. Pedersen Co., a Nebraska-based electrical contractor, was liable for the accident because a sales manager for Pedersen was working when he ran a red light and struck the car in which Cade was riding.

It’s not clear whether E. A. Pedersen Co. plans to appeal the decision. Calls to the company and an attorney representing the company were not returned.

For Feitler and her family, it’s a relief that the suit is over, because now the family can focus on Cade’s recovery.

It’s a time-intensive process. Before the accident, Cade was an active kid — his mother said he surfed, enjoyed roller hockey, played basketball at the Boys & Girls’ Club, served as a junior lifeguard for three years, and he even joined the fishing club at Ensign Middle School. His dream was to become a professional snowboarder.

Now he spends his days in physical therapy, working on regaining movement of his arms and legs, and his speech. He communicates with family members by blinking yes and no.

Although Cade can’t talk and joke like he used to, Lisa said his personality still shows.

“Cade was — and I think to some degree continues to be — funny,” she said. “He was very social, had a lot of friends.”

And since the accident, some friends have drawn closer to the family and to Cade.

Lisa Feitler chokes up when she talks about some of them, like Daniel, who had rubber bracelets printed with “Pray 4 Cade,” sold them at school, and had each kid who bought one write a note to Cade.

Then he brought the family a check, along with all the notes.

Friends of Cade’s sister, McKenzie, sold hot chocolate during the Christmas boat parade to raise money for Cade, and her varsity basketball team at Newport Harbor High School held a fundraiser. A group of moms held a dodge ball tournament. People still make meals and bring them over, so the family has one less thing to worry about.

“These aren’t things that we asked people to do. These are things that people did out of their hearts.”

Feitler said the family’s Christian faith has helped sustain them as they work on Cade’s rehabilitation, and another key to his improvement has been the doctors at Children’s Hospital of Orange County, physical therapists and a brain injury support group the family joined.

As her son’s recovery continues, Feitler said, the money from the lawsuit will help — the family’s attorney, Wylie Aitken, has said medical bills have climbed to $4.89 million. But she hopes they don’t need it all and can donate some to organizations like the CHOC Neuroscience Institute.

For now, Feitler is concentrating on the small victories Cade makes in regaining his physical abilities.

“That’s what keeps us going every day — is he better than he was yesterday?” Feitler said. “Yes, he is. Is he a lot better than he was six months ago? Yes, he is.”