A Bright Light at Craig

On April 22, 2025, Aman Deshmukh flew via air ambulance to Craig Hospital from a children’s hospital in Oakland, California.

“I felt very lucky to be going to Craig,” explains 15-year-old Aman. “Since mid-March, my family had been battling with our insurance company, pleading with them to send me to Colorado—instead of a rehab hospital in California. My doctors believed that Craig was the best place for me to recover because the Adolescent Program at Craig could provide me with peer support, as well as age-specific education and programming.”

Yogini Joglekar, Aman’s mother, adds, “We completely agreed with Aman’s medical team and thought that Craig’s teen-focused rehab program, which promotes camaraderie and support, would help Aman gain the strength and confidence he needed to recover.”

To persuade their insurance company to send Aman to Craig, they created a petition that received more than 5,200 signatures from individuals in California and around the world.

“In the end, our insurance company reversed their decision and approved Aman for rehab at Craig,” Yogini says. “We felt extremely grateful for the tremendous support from our community and beyond, and we were excited to finally get Aman to Colorado to begin his recovery journey.”

An Unexpected Landing

On the afternoon of Thursday, March 6, Aman finished his classes and headed to the Foothill High School track in Pleasanton, California, where he is the pole vault captain.

During practice, Aman—who was working towards his goal of clearing 11 feet—ran down the runway, planted his pole, and launched himself in the air toward the bar.

“He had a clean jump, cleared the bar and landed on the mat,” Yogini explains. “Unfortunately, Aman suffered an accident and injured his C4 and C5.”

Aman was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he had three surgeries to stabilize his spine. “After recovering from surgery, we began focusing on the next hurdle: getting me to Craig,” he says. “Luckily, all of our efforts paid off.”

Hitting the Books

When Aman, a sophomore in high school, first arrived at Craig, he was determined to keep up with his schoolwork.

“He immediately began talking about taking the Advanced Placement (AP) World History exam while he was at Craig,” Hannah Pederson, a teacher in the hospital’s donor-supported School Program, recalls. “After taking the year-long class, he knew all of the content and didn’t want to postpone the AP exam. I was impressed with his determination and focus. He was dealing with so many challenges at that time but still wanted to concentrate on his studies.”

Aman adds, “I knew I could take the exam at a later date, but I did not want to wait and possibly forget the material I had studied all year. Plus, I thought it would be a good challenge and a great way to focus on something other than my injury and hospital life.”

So Hannah and Laura Magnuson, Craig’s School Coordinator, quickly got to work helping Aman meet his goal.

The first step was coordinating with his high school team and the College Board–the organization that develops and administers AP exams–to establish accommodations that would enable Aman to successfully take the test. These accommodations included extended time and a scribe to write out answers to the questions, which included multiple choice, short answer and essays.

Hannah was designated as Aman’s scribe and quickly began practicing with him each day. At the same time, Aman’s speech pathologist, Jenna Messier, worked on helping him strengthen his respiratory muscles so he could dictate the test answers to Hannah.

“Due to Aman’s injury level and time spent in a hospital bed, he experienced shortness of breath and exhaustion, so he needed to improve his endurance in order to take the test,” she says. “We worked on increasing his utterance length and practiced dictating his essay using breath support strategies, such as pacing and pausing.”

She adds, “While Aman felt confident in his knowledge of world history, he, at first, felt less confident in his strength and endurance when it came to speaking for a long period of time. But he was very motivated and worked hard to improve his vocal stamina.”

According to Aman, it was a true team effort: “My entire care team helped me prepare, even the nurses who took turns quizzing me.”

To take the exam, Hannah and Laura connected Aman’s school computer to an external monitor in the Craig classroom. Aman then read the questions and communicated his answers via voice to Hannah, who wrote out the answers.

While the test typically takes 3 hours and 15 minutes, Aman used his extended time and completed the test in 8 hours, with a short break in the middle.

“It was definitely a challenge, but I felt well prepared,” he recalls. “I ended up scoring a 5 on the exam—the highest score you can get—which made me so happy. All of the hard work was worth it.”

Laura adds, “Students like Aman remind us why we have the School Program at Craig. He has such strength and determination. Aman has endured so much and has become an amazing light in our community here at the hospital.”

Tools for Success

In addition to studying for the AP exam and working on strengthening his speech, Aman took part in a rigorous physical and occupational therapy schedule, as well as spending time in the PEAK Center and recreational therapy. In fact, he tried as many recreational therapy offerings as possible, including swimming and snorkeling, using adaptive off-roading and hiking equipment, and adaptive rock climbing—encouraging other patients and grads to join in as well.

“I also worked with the Assistive Technology Lab to experiment with the equipment I will need to return to school, such as voice-recognition software and other adaptive devices,” Aman says.

Sarah Sanderman, an occupational therapist in Craig’s Assistive Technology Lab, adds, “Aman will be using different setups for home and school, including a RollerMouse Go, an adjustable Universal Cuff, Echo smart speaker, iPad Air, and a Stylus Pen. In addition, he will rely on a center mount tray and a cell phone mount for his power wheelchair made in-house by Craig’s rehab engineers.”

The SCI Scholars Fund will support Aman’s adaptive equipment. Established by a former Craig Hospital patient, Austin Brotman, the SCI Scholars Fund provides financial assistance for students with spinal cord injuries to purchase assistive technology, such as specialized computer equipment, that enables students to access educational materials and participate in their studies.

“This program helps students to reintegrate into their communities, return to school, and live more independent lives,” Laura says.

Back to School

When classes begin in the fall, Aman plans to start as a part-time student, taking some classes in person and some online.

“We are in the process of creating a school transition plan that will provide Aman with access to the curriculum and the campus,” Laura explains. Additionally, the plan includes a health component, so Aman can be supported physically, educationally and medically.

“While I am excited to go back to school, it will be a challenge because so much has changed in my life since the injury,” Aman explains. “But I know I would not be where I am today without Craig. My experience has been absolutely amazing.”

Yogini adds, “Everything at Craig—from Aman’s therapies, the School Program, family housing and the Foundation to the staff, patients and alumni—has blown us away. I feel like everyone at Craig has been rooting for Aman’s success. There is no question that we plan to stay involved as alumni. While we look forward to getting back to our life in California, we will forever be connected to our new community in Colorado.”

To learn more or donate to help Craig patients like Aman, please visit craighospital.org/foundation/help-patients.