Most competitors think of their “wrestling family” as their coach, their teammates and maybe a few fans.

But after Sherwood Fendryk lost part of a leg and Lance Hougdahl became paralyzed in devastating summer accidents, each discovered that this family spreads throughout the world.

They also learned that being a wrestler would be a boon to their recovery.

 With a background as a New York state champion in folkstyle, freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling and three Empire State Games titles, Fendryk became a team captain and a 2006 NCAA Division I qualifier at 165 pounds for Sacred Heart University. After graduating in May with a degree in criminal justice, the 23-year-old started his fifth year working with a construction company and set sights on competing on the international scene.

On July 25, however, Fendryk, his twin brother Jesse and a friend climbed on their motorcycles and headed out to a county fair demolition derby outside their hometown of Greene, N.Y. “We grew up on dirt bikes and motor bikes,” Fendryk said.

But this time, his bike hit a slick spot. “The corner back end started to kick out, and I tried to correct it,” he recalled. “I went off the road onto gravel and then into a large ditch. I jumped the down part, but coming back up, I came off the bike.”

The bike smashed into trees that somehow Fendryk avoided. He also just missed some guardrails.

 Still, he suffered a collapsed lung, a ruptured spleen, broken ribs (every one on his left side) and a shattered left heel that pushed his tibia and fibula through his left knee.

“I remember everything but the initial impact,” he said.

 He spent 10 days in a Binghamton Hospital before being transferred to another hospital specializing in his type of injuries.

 Lack of proper blood flow in his left leg led Fendryk’s doctors to offer a choice: end up with a clubfoot or become an amputee.

“I told them, ‘Take it,’” he said. “I’m too active, and I couldn’t see myself just throwing dead weight around.”

The amputation took place about 8 inches below his knee, but he didn’t leave the hospital until Sept. 7.

“I got so bored just sitting there, I was doing pushups and sit-ups in bed,” Fendryk said. Once he started walking in physical therapy, he so exceeded expectations that he was allowed to work out in the outgoing patients’ gym.

“It was tough, but wrestling gave me the mindset that it’s not THAT tough,” he said. “I’m pretty stubborn. (I told myself), ‘You’ve been in tough situations before; it’s just changed a little bit.’”

  Now getting used to his prosthesis, Fendryk lives with his older brother Stan, can once again drive and has played 18 holes of golf. However, the man who began wrestling at age 4 pointed out, “My next goal is to get back working and to get back wrestling.
“I need to get back on the mat,” he said. It’s always been part of my life, and I think people expect me to.”

A fund drive, spearheaded by Mike Fusilli, an Ithaca College national champion, former Binghamton coach and father of Fendryk’s girlfriend, has raised more than $10,000 through pledges to a 50-mile walk to help cover Fendryk’s medical bills and living expenses.

“He’s a great man,” Fendryk said. “He and his family, their friends and my friends and the local wrestling community really worked hard for this.”

“I had visitors day in and day out and letters and cards,” he added. “The hospital said I was their most popular patient.”

He also heard from many local coaches. “Ryan Hluschak of Drexel, who I used to wrestle, wrote a really nice letter,” Fendryk said. “As much as we hate each other on the mat, we still care.

“I got unbelievable support from a lot of people I didn’t even know. A soldier in Iraq wrote to say he was a former wrestler and a supporter of wrestling and that he had heard about the accident.

“I just want to say thanks to everybody – my family, my friends and everybody else in the wrestling community,” Fendryk said. “At least mentally, I wouldn’t be where I am without them.”

 When tragedy hit Lance Hougdahl, he was early in his wrestling career. He placed twice in the Wisconsin Division III state championships for Turtle Lake in the northwest part of the state, just 30 minutes from the Minnesota border. The only son of Ed and Carol Hougdahl, he had completed his freshman year as a redshirt at Minnesota State-Mankato.

The end of July found Hougdahl at a cabin owned by a friend’s family in northern Wisconsin. There half a dozen buddies planned to dive off the dock. 

“I swim and dive a lot,” Hougdahl said. “I was the first one, and my friend showed me how shallow the lake was, so I planned to do a shallow dive. I didn’t do it shallow enough, I guess. I didn’t even know I hit the bottom, but I had sand in my ears.”

Rising to the top, he yelled, “Get me out!” One friend jumped in, and rest pulled Hougdahl out. They thought he was kidding when he said, “I can’t move my arms. I can’t move my legs.”

They carried him to the cabin, where his friend’s sister, a nurse, kept talking to Hougdahl until an ambulance arrived and took him to the ninth hole of a nearby golf course. Then a helicopter sped him to the ICU unit of a Duluth, Minn., Hospital.

On Aug. 13, Hougdahl was transferred to Minneapolis’ Sister Kenney rehabilitation center, which specializes in treating those with spinal cord injuries. Therapy sessions ruled Hougdahl’s days for the next nearly two months.

He took his first steps using his right leg on his 20th birthday, Sept. 13.

Since Oct. 8, Hougdahl has continued the drive to regain mobility and strength at Courage Center, also in Minneapolis.

 “My left side is totally functional, just not as strong as it once was,” he said. “My right leg is weak, but it’s starting to fire now. It needs more work, but I have a bit more sensation on that side.”

In fact, by Oct. 25, he was walking so many hundreds of steps at a time with a cane or walker that he expected to be cleared to walk without aid.

Hougdahl considers the wrestling family’s support amazing.

  At least every other day, he tries to get on the Caring Bridge website, where so far he’s received more than 9,100 messages of support. “That’s a real pickup when I’m down or having a rough day, just the nice things that people say,” he said.

Hougdahl had planned to transfer from Mankato to Wisconsin-Oshkosh this fall. “I got a lot of support from both (schools),” he said, “and a lot over Caring Bridge, mental support to keep me going.”

 Some people have sent inspirational books or books about wrestling. “I’ve also had a lot of messages and cards,” he added, “telling me and reminding me to just keep fighting.”

Through his struggles, Hougdahl has also relied on his sport.

  “I had a lot of challenges, and the wrestling background helped me in getting back and getting full strength,” he said.

 Initially, doctors told him, “You could get some movement back, all of it or nothing. You never know.”

  “I’m going to get it all back,” Hougdahl replied, “and I’m not going to stop until I do.”

At first, he could wiggle only a toe on his left foot and move his left arm a tiny bit. “That was all I needed,” he said to himself. “Soon I’ll be doing pushups and crunches.”

When he was able to sit up or stand on his own, therapists would say, “Smile! You’re doing great. This is huge.”

“Oh, I know,” he’d reply, “but I can do better.”

“Having been a wrestler brings out the fight that I always want to get better, to never give up and to say, ‘I’m going to get better,’” he said. “When the therapists ask if I’m tired, I say, ‘If I can keep going, I’m not tired enough.

“When I can walk,” Hougdahl said, “I can start working on my (wrestling) stance. I’m determined to always get better than I am.”