Eric Petersen’s Remarkable Recovery from a Motorcycle Accident

Eric Petersen of Mentor, Ohio, served our country as a Marine. He was deployed to Iraq in 2005 and served in Afghanistan in 2008. Eric came back home and was a reservist and trained as an EMT, paramedic, and firefighter. While working as a firefighter in Akron, Eric experienced a life-changing event during his off-hours: he had a near-fatal motorcycle accident that resulted in a traumatic brain injury. 

Through years of physical, occupational, and speech-language therapies, Eric learned how to walk again and so much more. “Both the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities (OOD) worked with Eric for years to help him reenter the workforce. He came such a long way,” explained Sunny Gilmore, OOD Senior Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor.

Eric joins the podcast to talk about his experience with some assistance from his dad, Tom Petersen. 

Transcripts and MP3 files are available at ood.ohio.gov/podcast.

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Have a disability? Want to work? Visit OODWorks.com!