Wayne Beachy Story

Glen, You asked for my story of my disability and how I started mentoring in prison.

When I started my teen years I started to have a hunch back and so started many years of going to a chiropractor but all they could do was give me temporary relief from my pain. In 1984 I woke up one morning with my left arm paralyzed and in pain. This happened while my wife and I were in voluntary service in Alice Texas. It was discovered that a disc in my neck had completely disappeared and all the xray showed was a black hole where the disc belonged. They took bone from my hip and replaced the disc. Then it was not until 1993 a chiropractor refused to adjust my back after seeing my x rays and the pain in my back got so bad I could not work anymore. It was by God's grace we made contact with a neurosurgeon in Chicago who said he could take the curve out of my back. I actually had three curves in my back and I had shrunk about 2 and a half inches because of the curveture. They also said I had spinal strenosis and a rare disease called Von Hippel Lindau which was a deteriati!
on of my
discs. The doctor replaced 9 discs and literally stretched out my back 2 and half inches and coompletely removed the 3 curves in my back. This was just the beginning of many back surgeries because the rest of the discs in my back continued to deteriate. My back is fused solid all the way to the top 2 discs in my neck. So in 2001 I became permanently disabled because of all the surgeries. I became very depressed and angry at God and was always asking God "Why did you put me on the shelf?" What purpose do I have in life if I cannot work and how can I serve you(God) if I cannot do anything?
In 2004 a friend of mine was having Monday night services at the local county jail for the inmates and invited me to attend those services. Soon after I started going he told me of a young man that was looking for a mentor. I went to the visiting room to talk to a man I had never met before and I had no idea what to say to him. As far as I knew he was dangerous and not to be trusted. The inmate(Tim) had no idea who I was and also had no idea if he could trust me. After meeting for about 2 months Tim was moved to the Indiana State Prison and so I wondered what do I do now with Tim. Well, the Lord told me the prison is only about an hour and a half from my house and I do have plenty of free time. So I wrote a letter to Tim asking what the visiting hours and how do i get into the prison to visit him. Tim was shocked that I would follow him to prison and later told me that I was the first true friend that he ever had. I said what do you mean? You were a drug dealer and you had a!
lot of
friends. Tim said no they were not friends because they all just wanted one of 3 things from me: money, drugs or my girlfriend. He said, "Wayne, you don't want anything from me. You are here for me and are giving of your time and money to me. This tatooed, Biker, former gang leader, drug dealer inmate broke down and cried. Tim had accepted Christ while in the county Jail. I started Mentoring Tim in 2004 and gradually started mentoring 2 other men from my county. I finally felt like I had something to do in service for my Heavenly Father.
On February 7, 2005 I was on my way to the prison in very heravy fog. The worst fog I haver ever been in in my whole life but I kept going because I felt I had made a committment to be there and I could not go back on my word. I was driving a little Mitsubishi Mirage which I had bought just a month before for my daughter. The fog soon made my eyes tired and all of a sudden I saw a stopped semi truck in front of me and I crashed into the back end of the truck. I was smasherd under the truck up to my windsheild and all the glass shattered all around me. I should of been killed instantly because of the whiplash because my doctor had just told me that any kind of whiplash will kill me. By this time I had been fused all the way up to my shoulders and I had a curve in my neck now and was planning surgery on my neck in the near fujture. When the paramedics saw my car they said the driver is dead because we have seen accidents like this before. A bystander was beside my car about in!
stantly
after my accident and he kept me calm and called my wife for me to tell her what happened. I ended up having only one cut on top of my left hand and a broken foot. I was taken to a local hospital and was told after xrays were taken that nothing was wrong with my neck except for a whiplash but they will keep me for the night. I had horrendous pain but received very little pain medicine. After a week by God's grace I was taken to Chicago to my doctors hospital and they ran tersts for a week and then was sent home for 2 weeks. I then returned to my doctor's office for a follow up and it was then that the xray showed very obviously that I had broken my neck. So in 2 days I had surgery done on my neck. I woke up from my surgery experiencing the worst pain in my life. I had 7 surgeries before this and never experienced this kind of pain. To make matters worse I woke up with both arms and hands PARALYZED. I cried out to God "Why did you not just let me die in the accident? What go!
od am I
now? God, if you do not go through this with me I will NOT MAKE IT!!! What good can come out of all this??? Even though I was paralyzed they started physical therapy with me on my right arm. After over 2 months of therapy I could pick up my right arm just enough to feed myself. We did not even attempt to do anything with my left arm because there was no response at all.
During this time in the hospital the men in prison soon found out what happened to me when I did not arrive at the prison. They started blaming themselves sayinf if Wayne would not of been coming to see us this would never of happened. My wife wrote to them for me because the pain was so great I could not even dictate a letter to her to send to the guys and told them not to blame themselves. The guys said Wayne has always been there for us and now it is our turn to be there for him. This accident completely turned around my ministry at the ministry. This story is a lot longer then what Glen was asking from me, sorry.
As I said earlier I went home with just a little use in my right arm. A miracle happened but not in the ujsual way. I continued therapy at home 2 hours a day 5 days a week. With time I was able to move my right arm a more and more but still could not move the left arm.
A new doctor was making plans to do surgery on my left arm He wanted to put a muscle from my chest into the left elbow and fused my arm to my shoulder. The result would be that when I lifted my shoulder the left arm would go up as well and the elbow would bend with the new muscle BUT GOD had another idea. We asked if we could try passive therapy which means somebody else would stretch my arm for me ujntil the pain was too great. By the time for my appointment with the doctor I could bend my lift my left hand to my mouth. You should of seen the look on the doctor's face when he saw me lift my arm. He kept on saying "Do that again, Do that again" We are not doing surgery. You just keep on doing what you are doing."

My minstry has grown tremendously at the prison. In the last 3 years I have mentored over 20 men and have actually trained 7 inmates to become mentors themselves. I am told that I am the first mentor to train inmates to be mentors in the United States

I am also Director of Mentoring for a ministry called Crossing's Fresh Start, a minstry to x offenders being released back into our community.

If you want to contact me you can call me at 574-238-4635 or email me at wayne@lifechangementoring.org or write to at Box 545, Goshen, Indiana 46527