Inspiring Lives

REINVENTION AND INSPIRATION

Kort Natterstad ’09 optimistically battles paralysis with the help of Saint John’s friends and family

By Dave DeLand

Four friends were bouncing along on an off-road adventure Feb. 20 at rugged Joshua Tree National Park in Southeastern California when their Jeep hit a rock and rolled. Three of them suffered minor scrapes and bruises. They brushed themselves off and walked away.

Kort Natterstad – who went flying out of the back seat – did not.

“I remember getting launched. I hit the ground and blacked out. I came to and I was on my stomach,” said Natterstad, a 2009 Saint

John’s University graduate.

“I’m lying there feeling my body. I can’t feel my stomach. I can’t move anything below my chest.

“It was very traumatic. I thought, ‘Just breathe.’ ”

Natterstad, 34, had shattered his T5 thoracic vertebrae. Compression on his spinal cord left him paralyzed from the chest down. His medical prognosis: less than a 5 percent chance of regaining the use of his legs.

Kort Natterstad (center) is rehabilitating from his injuries with the help of SJU roommate Peter LaNova ’09 (right) and his wife Anne LaNova.

“The doctors basically said, ‘You’re not going to walk again,’ ” said Natterstad, who wasn’t having it. “I’m not listening to you. This is not the way it’s going down. There are miracles out there. There are people that one day just get up and walk.” Kort Natterstad is focused on being that miracle. And with relentless positivity – along with the resolute support of his mother and his best friend from Saint John’s – he has turned an injury that some would see as an epitaph into a challenge to be met and an inspiration to be followed.

“His attitude is just amazing. He inspires me. He’s just like ‘Challenge accepted – let’s flip the script. I’m going to beat this’,” said Kim Natterstad, Kort’s mother.

“It’s not only his attitude, but his willingness to go out there and conquer it,” said Peter LaNova ’09, whose friendship with Natterstad began when they randomly were paired as Saint John’s roommates in the fall of 2005. “It’s a lot easier to fight for a guy who’s fighting for himself as well.” Whether that means attacking his physical rehabilitation exercises or projecting positivity about his situation, Natterstad definitely is fighting. “Ever since this happened, it’s a new reinvention of Kort Natterstad,” he said. “I’ve got a new outlook on everything.” Part of that strength and determination comes from his Saint John’s roots, and from a chance connection with a dedicated friend.

FORMING A BOND

A self-described “social butterfly,” Natterstad found a roommate with an entirely different personality when he moved into SJU’s Tommy Hall in 2005. “I’m sociable, likeable, wanted to go out and have a good work/life balance. (LaNova) was all work-work-workwork,” Natterstad said. “I was already reading out of textbooks for class and he walked in,” LaNova said with a laugh. “It’s interesting that even though we had those different personalities how complementary they were.

“He was just a very positive, inviting guy from day one.” Natterstad was certified as an emergency medical technician at age 18, and he served as a trainer for the Saint John’s football, wrestling and rugby teams while working his way toward his psychology degree. That background helped steer Natterstad to his professional career as a medical device sales representative. LaNova graduated with an accounting degree, then segued into a career as a healthcare, IT strategy and finance consultant.

Their lives took them on varying paths across the United States, but they never lost track of their friendship at Saint John’s. “When I’m around him, I always tell him that he makes me a better person. It’s something that’s hard to explain. I love the guy to death. It’s a bond that I’ll never lose,” Natterstad said. “There’s one thing that I can definitely look back at and appreciate about my time at Saint John’s, and it’s the fact that I walked away with family,” LaNova said. “Kort is one of those guys, and I have a couple other best friends that I consider brothers.

“That’s only possible because of the experience we had together there.” That friendship deepened in the wake of the February accident in the California desert.

Top: A battered Natterstad flashes the “victory” sign shortly after his Feb. 20 accident. Above: Natterstad with his mother, Kim Natterstad. TAPPING SOURCES OF STRENGTH

The initial news of Natterstad’s injury was devastating. “We were up ahead, figuring they would catch up to us at some point,” said LaNova, who along with Natterstad was part of a group that was camping and off-roading together. “That phone call changed our life, instantly,” Kim Natterstad said. “It was all so chaotic. Where do we go for rehab? What do we do?”

Natterstad was airlifted from Joshua Tree to a nearby hospital and had his first of two spinal surgeries the next day. He subsequently was admitted to Denver’s renowned Craig Hospital & Medical Center, which specializes in

Natterstad goes through a grueling array of rehabilitation exercises at Denver’s renowned Craig Hospital & Medical Center, which specializes in spinal cord injuries.

rehabilitation for spinal cord and brain injuries. “You should see all the contraptions they put me on to help stimulate those nerves and create new pathways,” said Natterstad, who plunged into his long days of physical therapy with inspired determination. “You don’t really know the long-term prognosis until after 1218 months. In that time, it’s extremely critical to start rehabilitation, try to continue working those muscles and that brain function to your limbs.” Rehabilitating a severe spinal injury is a challenge beyond anything most people will ever face, and some simply give up. Natterstad pushed even harder. “Folks can break in different ways – it can either destroy you or it can make you stronger. It feels like he’s electing to make it a positive and make him stronger going forward,” LaNova said. “I’m just amazed at his attitude. You could go the other way,” Kim said. “Somebody sent me a card that said, ‘He has inspired me every day with how his attitude is.’ That’s so cool to hear.”

“Keeping that mental positivity is huge,” Kort added. “That’s just the way I’m going about it and putting it out there on all of my platforms. And it seems to be contagious because I’m getting a lot of letters from people about how inspiring it is.” Some of that determination was modeled by Kim, who raised Kort as a single parent. “I always tell her I wouldn’t be who I am today without her,” he said. “She did everything for me. I stepped outside my boundaries.” LaNova’s presence also was an incentive. He spent weeks in Denver during Natterstad’s rehabilitation stay at Craig Hospital, where the two former Saint John’s roommates provided inspiration to each other. “When this happened and Kort said, ‘Hey, if you’re able to, are you willing to come out to Colorado?’ it wasn’t really even a question for me. He’s family to me,” LaNova said. “A lot of that friendship and brotherhood was formed when we were there. I’m definitely thankful for it.”

ENVISIONING THE FUTURE

Natterstad was discharged from Craig Hospital May 6 and transitioned to outpatient rehabilitation while also receiving stem cell treatments at the Mayo Clinic. Science is working in his favor. Elon Musk’s company Neuralink is getting closer to starting human trials on a system that implants electrodes into the brain and areas of paralysis of paraplegics, forming new paths of connection and re-enabling physical mobility. That technology has already had successful trials with primates, who literally can play video games entirely with brain signals operating a joystick. “There’s so much happening out there right now with SCI (spinal cord injury),” Natterstad said. “I’m going to be walking by the time I’m 40. That’s my mentality in general: I’m always going to be a glass half-full type of guy.” It will be a long road, but Natterstad sees good things ahead. “I’ve had dreams about it,” he said. “I swear I’ve woken up and my legs were moving. I don’t think they were – it was still a dream.

“That’s something I need to add to the back of my brain: The day that I step up off that wheelchair and roam around. That’s a very good picture that I need to paint, and I want it to be extremely vivid.”

In the meantime, Natterstad is focusing on that vision of hope – for himself and for others.

“I’m excited to get out there and spread that word of continually challenging yourself,” he said. “Bring yourself to uncomfortable situations that are challenging, because I’m doing that every day. Then spread positivity.” That’s his message, his quest, his power. That’s his inspiration. Kort Natterstad is one himself.

Contribute to Kort Natterstad’s GoFundMe page at gofund.me/75f51eab

LEAVE YOUR LEGACY

Continuing the Mission

When looking for worthy causes and institutions to lend his support, Paul Winter ’61 falls back on the values instilled in him growing up in Glenwood, Minnesota during the 1940s and ’50s. Values, he said, that were reinforced during his time as a student in Collegeville. “I come from a good family with good Christian values, and all those things that taught me continued to increase at Saint John’s,” said Winter, a business major who spent almost 40 years with the EMC Corporation in St. Paul, serving as the company’s president from 1987 until his retirement with the sale of the company in 2005. “It was a continuation of what I grew up with. It amplified all those values – love, respect for others and treating people the way you want to be treated. Those are values we need so much of in our society.” Assuring there will always be a place for those values was a big part of why Winter decided several decades ago to include a gift to Saint John’s in his will. “Saint John’s has always lived up to my trust over the years, so I trust them to find to find the best use for the money I donate,” he said. “I just want to see the mission at Saint John’s continue.” Winter has also found other ways to support SJU through the years, most notably a donation that helped return outdoor tennis courts to campus after a fiveyear absence. The Chang Tennis Complex opened in the spring of 2017 and was named in honor of Winter’s wife Dr. Lian Chang, a geriatric psychiatrist. Winter spent much of his life as a bachelor until he met Chang 12 years ago, when he was 70. They met through an online dating site. “I thought to myself that if there ever was a girl for me, she was it,” he said. “And we’ve been together ever since.” It’s truly been a happy ending. And through his donations to SJU, he hopes he is able to provide future happiness for others as well.

For more information on ways to LEAVE YOUR LEGACY contact the Planned Giving team at 320-363-2116 or visit sjulegacy.org Read more inspiring donor stories at advancingsaintjohns.org

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