LACEY – Trucks and vintage cars lined up along areas of Gille Park recently for an auto show that served to raise funds for a township man who was severely injured in 2019.
The young resident was involved in an accident that changed his life. It was an off-road vehicle roll-over. The 29-year-old driver, Matthew Muckelston, sustained a broken neck and a spinal cord injury that left him a quadriplegic.
Fundraisers have been held to raise money for the procedures and therapy that will repair his spinal cord and restore mobility. This latest event featured vendors and a lineup of customized and restored cars and trucks. Children enjoyed a trunk and treating activity as well and pumpkins that were donated by Argo’s farm.
Lindsey Makee of Gold Rush in Bayville was involved with the organization of the benefit and added a great deal of local business contributions. Custom trophies were provided by Zack Taylor of Exit 74 Fabrications.
Muckelston has lived in Lacey his entire life as did his parents, grandparents, and great grandparents. He graduated from Lacey High School and later became a welder-fabricator-mechanic at Ultra Irrigation, based in the township.
At the time of the accident, he had just started his business, Muck Fabrication, and bought his first home from his mentor.
His mother Camille Muckelston, said “a spinal cord injury is the most devastating and horrible type of injury that any being can sustain and still be alive. Any time this was brought to my attention, like when (actor) Christopher Reeves was thrown from a horse, I quickly dismissed thoughts of my family or I sustaining such injury and convinced myself the individual will be okay because it is so scary.”
She added that, “this type of injury, although catastrophic and traumatic, to say the least, needs public awareness. America needs to push for a cure and for FDA approval of the procedures that have been heavily researched by Rutger’s University, Dr. Wise Young, the Mayo Clinic, and others like the Miami Project, John Hopkins, Kessler Foundation and so much more. The U.S. is lagging behind on the availability of medical treatments for SCI that our smart doctors and scientists developed.”
The event drew a large crowd made up of families, many of whom came in costume for the trunk or treat activity. Many members of Muckelston’s family as well as friends and co-workers attended.
“I had just bought a house and got hurt two or three months after. As far as coping with it, I have my ups and downs. I try to push for victory to get back on my feet which is my whole goal. I do research 24/7. I found the stem cells information from the spinal cord websites. I located the best one and jumped on it,” Muckelston said.
“I’m on a whole vegan diet now which is not me. I was always meat. I’m on a crazy diet for it and every three months I got a hundred million stem cells injected into my spinal cord. I go into a barometric chamber for an hour and it is a whole week’s process,” he added.
Muckelston added that he is trying to raise money for an epidermal stimulator. “What they will do is drill a little hole into my spine and feed a wire through it and that wire will lay on my spinal cord. I’ll be there for a month and they’ll do what is called mapping. I’ll have a computer hooked up to me and they will tell me to move my arms and legs until my body is in peak functioning in the settings that they find.”
After that he will go for extensive therapy and he intends to “keep pushing forward to get stronger and stronger. I try to stay as positive as I can. Everyone has ups and downs and has their worst day but I try to understand that.”
Muckelston has a strong support system between his family, friends and his boss Jason Weisenberger who he continued to work for even as he was starting his business. “He helped a lot in helping me raise money and making me shirts to sell. He’s done an incredible amount of help. He was there from the second I got hurt. My boss is my best friend. I put him in charge of everything.”
“I’d like to do more community events and even after I get back on my feet, I’d like to organize events like this to help people and bring events to the town,” Muckelston added.
To help Muckelston, go to the GoFundMe Page.
