Edwardsburg’s Cooper sets sights on Steve’s Run

Published 4:11 am Wednesday, July 27, 2005

By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
EDWARDSBURG - Thanks to surviving a crash with a semi which killed the driver on their way home from the last night of a whitewater rafting class at Southwestern Michigan College, Ashley Cooper learned a lesson usually lost on the invincibility teenagers ooze.
Clearly the cliche what doesn't kill you makes you stronger applies to Ashley, who will take part in Steve's Run in Dowagiac July 30 to earn her final grade more than a year later and erase the incomplete Ron Gunn gave her.
On June 23, 2004, she was returning home after taking her written final in the evening life fitness class and expected to report at 6 the next morning for the ride to West Virginia.
Her final grade depended on completing the trip, which Gunn likened to riding a roller coaster that bucks and veers without sticking to a track.
She was also taking a computer class and finished that final the night before. Classes ran from 6:30 to 8, but she got done early.
In addition to juggling high school and college coursework, Ashley also had a job doing prep work in the kitchen at Spicy's restaurant. The former cheerleader has worked in Lunker's kitchen since mid-April.
Ashley and Rebecca Harris reached the treacherous intersection where Dailey Road stops and crosses M-60.
Sherry tried running through her mind, "Don't be so paranoid, she's a teenager," but it wouldn't compute.
When she was put on hold, a chill rippled through her.
It was actually a fluke that the young woman and the older, non-traditional student with eight children were even traveling together, since Sherry always transported Ashley.
The tragedy fused their lives together in ways they never could have imagined.
When no one could tell her anything concrete on the phone, Sherry departed for Kalamazoo.
Ashley made an amazing crash recovery fired up with determination to get home.
At an orthopedist's for a six-week follow-up on how her broken bones were mending, Ashley was lamenting "the worst summer ever."
He offered some advice.
Her mother, Sherry Bertrand said, "Everybody in town, the towtruck drivers, thought both of them died. They couldn't believe that someone actually came out of that car and then bounced back as quickly as she did to get into school. She's stubborn," which in this case benefited Ashley.
Her first words in that raspy whisper wasn't "hi, Mom" or anything like that, but "I want pink lemonade," which she didn't drink before her accident.
For a long time her face lacked expression. No smile, just a blank look to go with her soft, little girl voice. She stroked her brother Justin's cheek when normally they do nothing but fight. Another brother, standing silently at the foot of her bed, she instructed to "shut up!"
She kept trying to climb out of bed, telling her mother she would bring her sugar for her coffee - except Sherry didn't have any. Then Ashley would doze off some more.
Ashley would eventually recover enough to attend the benefit for the Rebecca Harris's children. "She showed up with her cane," Sherry said, "and everybody was so glad to see her. On the anniversary (of the crash) she went to Becky's mom and asked where she is buried. Ashley and a friend put flowers on her grave near Elkhart Central High School.
They contacted the trucker's family to reassure them that they did not blame him for the crash. "He did everything he could to avoid them," Sherry said.
Ashley had her learner's permit, but her mother had only let her drive home from campus once "and I was a wreck the whole way," she added. "For a long time after that accident it made me leery to go down Dailey Road. I'll sit there for 10 minutes to let everyone pass on both sides," and she will insist that Ashley travel between Edwardsburg and campus on M-62.
Every time Sherry's van approached an intersection, Ashley instinctively clutched at the seat side and the armrest and she would lean forward trying to check for approaching traffic.
Even before she could walk she had been plotting how to go on the next whitewater rafting trip a month later. Each small goal she met led to another. She finished eight months of therapy in April.
The last day of Rebecca's life remains "pretty much a blank" for Ashley.
Ashley's lived in Edwardsburg since second grade, when her family moved north from Georgia. Her mother's boyfriend grew up in Edwardsburg.
Ashley spent a month in the hospital - two weeks in Kalamazoo and two weeks in Grand Rapids for rehabilitation at Mary Free Bed.
Ashley, 17, has been training since July 1 on a 3.1-mile course her mom clocked with her vehicle's odometer to simulate the 5K Steve's Run in Dowagiac July 30.
She began by running around the pond behind her home on Davis Street.
Ashley was attending Southwestern Michigan College's Educational Talent Search (ETS) as well as Edwardsburg High School when she signed up for whitewater rafting.
She will be a senior at EHS this fall. She began earning credits from SMC as a sophomore, trying to get a jump on her career.
Sherry and Ashley were amazed at the extent to which Gunn has gone checking on her progress, including driving to Grand Rapids during her therapy.