Class of 2020:
Jonathan Bomar
Meet Jonathan Bomar. Jonathan was the 1st ever recipient of The ‘Kel Strong' Scholarship awarded in December 2019. He is a young individual who sustained a traumatic brain injury after a tragic car accident on April 26, 2018. Jonathan applied for the scholarship at a time when he was losing therapy services and would not have access to continuing physical therapy. At the end of his scholarship visits, Jonathan was able to walk safely in his home and community without any assistance. The ‘Kel Strong’ Mabatah Foundation couldn’t be more happy and proud to play a small part in helping Jonathan with his recovery journey, helping him to be one step closer to returning to his passion, which is being a mechanic.
According to his physical therapist, Margaret McKinney, at TIRR Memorial Hermann, “When Jonathan did not have insurance to keep going with his progress in his walking, the scholarship allowed him to do so. Jonathan is able to walk today without a walker and that is in part due to the scholarship which allowed him to continue to make progress. That was an absolutely huge accomplishment.” Upon finishing his scholarship and therapy, Jonathan knew he couldn't get lazy and get bigger so he decided to start walking every day. Jonathan started out by walking a half-mile then in about a week he was walking a mile a day and stopped eating all that junk he was eating. He would walk 1 to 3 miles every day and eventually he would walk a mile outside then run a mile on his elliptical. Doing all that, he eventually lost 95lbs now! He goes to West Grey once a week, which is an adaptive sports and recreation facility that offers a variety of recreational, sporting, and quality of life programming for people with disabilities, and works out but he does push-ups and sit-ups every day.
