Claire Richards

Meet Claire Richards. Claire was the 4th recipient of The ‘Kel Strong’ Scholarship awarded in May 2021. Like Kel, but different sport, Claire was a standout athlete in high school and college as a soccer player. On August 3, 2016, life-altering tragedy struck when Claire was in a serious car accident, requiring life flight and intense rescue measures to save her life. She suffered a traumatic brain injury from the accident, and doctors did not think that she would ever be able to walk or speak again. Today, Claire is not only speaking but she is doing so many other things that once seemed impossible for her to do again. One day at TIRR Memorial Hermann Outpatient Rehabilitation, her physical therapist recommended a device called the Bioness, that helps one walk again and helps with foot drop (the inability to lift your ankle up) which Claire sufferers from due to her traumatic brain injury.

They submitted the request to Claire’s insurance, but her insurance denied their request for the device (it cost a lot of money-over $5,500). That’s when Claire’s physical therapist recommended that she apply for The ‘Kel Strong’ Scholarship. She was awarded our scholarship earlier in 2021 and we were able to purchase the device she needed to help reach her goals in her recovery. According to Claire’s physical therapist, “the Bioness will allow Claire to go on longer walks, and with more physical therapy will allow her to achieve her goal of running again. “Since I have the Bioness now, I take it on walks around the park in my neighborhood and now that I have a Bioness device, I can actually learn to run,” says Claire. The ‘Kel Strong’ Mabatah Foundation couldn’t be more happier about aiding Claire in her recovery journey when her insurance denied her the device that she needed to take that next step in her recovery. We hope to see Claire achieve her goal of being able to run again and do whatever else she puts her mind to do in the near future.