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MAJOR BOWEN:a story of courage and determinationby Betsey NorgardAs Jean Housh (left) coped withsurgery to remove a brain tumor,her strength and inspiration camefrom “Major” Bowen (right),whose brain tumor left him neardeath and in a coma. She helpeddirect his path to Augsburg.People are brought together inunpredictable ways. The friendshipbetween Augsburg freshmanEdward “Major” Bowen and Jean Housh,wife of Augsburg regent emeritus AllenHoush, began one day in physicaltherapy at the Sister Kenny®Rehabilitation Institute, where both wererecovering from brain surgery.Because of the friendship thatdeveloped from that day in the hospital,the Houshes are largely responsible forMajor Bowen enrolling at Augsburg.Three years ago last January, Bowenwas an All-State junior goalie on TheBlake School’s hockey team. The night heand the team shut out Stillwater HighSchool, he felt sick with what he thoughtwas the flu. By the next evening he wasfighting for his life as a tumor blockedthe flow of cerebrospinal fluid throughhis brain. Emergency surgery to relievethe pressure, followed by another surgerya week later to remove the cyst, left himin a coma for six weeks.“The nurses told us his brain wasinjured like in a 60-mph crash through awindshield,” recalls Bill Bowen,Major’s father.Miraculously, on Major’sgrandmother’s birthday, he began toawaken. Weighing only 95 lbs., he wasunable to walk, talk, or eat. Thus began along rehabilitation at the Sister KennyInstitute, at a clinic in Florida, atCourage Center, and at other out-patientfacilities.At Sister Kenny, as he worked to takea few steps, then a few steps more, JeanHoush was also recovering from electivesurgery to remove the same kind of cystbefore it became the emergency thatMajor faced. She was undergoing therapyto regain balance, strength, and memory.Excerpts from her story about getting toknow Major are on p. 20.By the fall, Bowen was able to returnhome, but was plagued by short-termmemory loss, facial droop, and somebalance difficulty. His father tells of howRod Anderson, a former Blake teacherand hockey coach “unretired” anddevoted his time to tutoring Major in theBowens’ home. During winter semester,Bowen returned to Blake, with Andersoncontinuing to tutor him at the school.Bowen also began practicing TaeKwan Do as part of his therapy, and hasachieved a second degree purple belt. Heis now in training to test for his red belt.Major Bowen graduated with hisBlake class in June 2002, but his realachievement came earlier, during Blake’sfinal hockey game of the year. Afterweeks of incredible determination andhard work to get back on the ice, heskated out to tend the goal for the last 53seconds as his team beat MinnehahaAcademy. For this, City Pages in their2002 Best of the Twin Cities, named himthe Best High School Athlete.The following year the Bowens beganexploring options for college. Sara Kyle,associate director of college counseling atBlake, suggested Augsburg. “[Augsburg]18Spring/Summer 2004