MADERA, Calif. – Brent Poppen knows firsthand what it feels like to be a teenager facing a life-altering injury in a hospital bed. Decades later, that experience shapes his work as a peer counselor in the rehabilitation unit at Valley Children’s Hospital.
Poppen, who uses a wheelchair, was injured at age 16 in a wrestling accident at Hume Lake that bent his spine at the high cervical level, leaving him initially paralyzed from the neck down. The injury, he said, created a sense of isolation that stayed with him long after the accident itself.
“I remember being 16, and I didn’t feel like anybody understood what I was going through,” Poppen said.
Now, Poppen works with children and families navigating similar challenges, offering perspective rooted not in textbooks but in lived experience.
“I’m always trying to set the bar higher so that the kids come in behind me, realize what’s possible,” he said. “I roll in as a little bit of hope to these families in their dark time, just being someone who’s been through what they’ve been through and had the surgeries, had to be in the hospital, but then come out the other side in a very positive way.”
Poppen grew up in Long Beach and said his injury forced him to confront fears and uncertainties most teenagers never face. He recalls lying in a hospital bed, surrounded by support, yet feeling deeply alone.
“I appreciate everybody, but you guys get to go home and nobody understands my dreams, nobody understands my nightmares, nobody understands how I’m feeling,” he said.
Even before leaving the hospital, Poppen said he began imagining a future shaped by that experience.
“I remember being in the rehab unit, still not even discharged yet. Thinking I need to get my degrees. I need to get my life experience so that I could come back to a children’s hospital and be the person I wish I would have had for me and my family,” he said.
Before coming to Valley Children’s, Poppen became widely known as an athlete. He’s competed in the Paralympics in 2004 and 2008 and earned a bronze medal in wheelchair rugby in 2004, and he’s a six-time National Quad Rugby Champion. Those skills have led to a deep involvement with the adaptive sports program at Valley Children’s.
In the rehabilitation unit at the hospital, Poppen works alongside therapists and clinical staff, offering insight that comes from having navigated rehabilitation himself.
“I think I bring a unique perspective to our rehab program,” he said. “It just hits home with the kids more when you’ve gone through what what they’ve gone through.”
Part of that work includes helping children return to school after serious injuries. Poppen said the rehab team places a strong emphasis on preparing students, families and school communities for that transition. He’ll even accompany patients during their first trip back to school, working with staff and the student body to ensure the patient is supported by their peers.
“Getting the kids back on the campus is a big priority,” he said. “We get to support the kids going back to their school and educate their peers and how they can best support him or her when they’re back on campus.”
Looking back, Poppen views his injury not just as a hardship, but as a turning point that led him to his current role.
“I tell families, if I didn’t get hurt 35 years ago, I wouldn’t be here doing what I’m doing here,” he said.
While he said it is painful to see children facing similar struggles, Poppen believes their journeys hold endless meaning and potential.
“This has been a gift, and I don’t want anybody to go through what I went through,” he said. “It breaks my heart to see what our kids are going through. But I also know down the road that they’re going to find some way to make it a positive in their life, and this is just part of that journey.”
To learn more about the rehabilitation unit at Valley Children’s, click here.
