{"id":104028,"date":"2020-02-17T07:00:52","date_gmt":"2020-02-17T13:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/?p=104028"},"modified":"2020-02-17T21:17:57","modified_gmt":"2020-02-18T03:17:57","slug":"former-princeton-womens-hockey-captain-laing-facing-down-adversity-has-some-exciting-things-coming-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2020\/02\/17\/former-princeton-womens-hockey-captain-laing-facing-down-adversity-has-some-exciting-things-coming-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Princeton women’s hockey captain Laing facing down adversity, has ‘some exciting things coming up’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Denna Laing proudly displays her driver’s license that she earned back on Feb. 4 (Photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Back on Dec. 31, 2015, Denna Laing took the ice for the 2016 Outdoor Women\u2019s Classic, the first outdoor professional women’s hockey game.<\/p>\n

Denna, a two-time captain at Princeton, would be playing for the Boston Pride of the National Women’s Hockey League, facing off against Les Canadiennes de Montreal of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League.<\/p>\n

It was a historic night for women’s hockey, and Denna was proud to be one of the pioneers.<\/p>\n

Tragically, a night that was supposed to be one of euphoric satisfaction became life-changing in all the wrong ways. Denna crashed into the boards, and suffered a severe spinal cord injury. She was left with no feeling in her legs and limited movement of her arms.<\/p>\n

Now, four years later, Denna has worked hard to gain strength in her upper body and core muscles, but the absence of feeling in her legs remains, as does limited movement in her arms to the point of having essentially no movement in her fingers.<\/p>\n

And yet, on Tuesday, Feb, 4, Denna Laing earned her driver’s license.<\/p>\n

Yes, her driver\u2019s<\/i> license.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was ecstatic, and really relieved,\u201d Denna says. \u201cThere were a lot of bumps in the road during the process. It felt great to get the stamp of approval that I had been working so hard and long for.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the culmination of a nine-month process.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt starts off with an in-office evaluation with an occupational therapist who assesses your strength and your cognitive awareness of different driving rules of the road and things like that,\u201d Denna says. \u201cThey measure and get everything set up from a medical standpoint to what they’re going to suggest for the driving instructor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen you follow up that evaluation with another evaluation with the driving instructor. That\u2019s an in-van evaluation where you go through the different technologies and see what’s really going to work for you and what’s not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although a lot of technology now exists to address these needs, \u201cadaptive drivers\u201d can vary widely in their physical capabilities. Denna\u2019s hard work to gain upper body and core strength helped considerably, but her limited range of mobility still eliminated some solutions. For example, some adaptive drivers can use a hand control, a little knob, right on the steering wheel. Denna\u2019s range of motion, however, precluded the tall steering wheel.<\/p>\n

After the multiple evaluations, however, Denna and her driving instructor finally arrived at a working solution customized to her needs.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Denna takes the wheel in her specially-equipped van (Photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe setup is pretty cool actually,\u201d Denna says. \u201cThey take the driver’s seat out completely so I can pull in my wheelchair right up into where the driver’s seat would be.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a mini steering wheel that takes about five or six revolutions compared to the standard steering wheel. You can put that anywhere, so it really is accessible for a lot of people with a lot of different ranges of motion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have that small wheel on the left side with my left hand. I don’t have any grip strength, so I hold onto it with something called a Tri-Pin. There’s a pin that goes in between my fingers, like if you\u2019re making a fist, and then two pins that go on either side of your wrist.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen for the gas and the brake, I have that on my right side, and there’s also a Tri-Pin for that. You push it forward for gas, pull it back for brake.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor secondary functions like the blinkers or changing the gears from drive to park, I do that all with a button that makes different tones. For example, if I hold down the button for two tones, that’s my right blinker. All of that is customizable.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a working solution determined, it was time to set up driving lessons. Few driving schools, however, can accommodate adaptive drivers. There\u2019s the need for a trained instructor as well as a van for practice that can be interchangeably set up to meet each student\u2019s specific needs.<\/p>\n

In a frustrating irony, Denna found herself being driven almost an hour and a half from her house to get driving instruction. And then when that driving instructor was so heavily booked that few openings for lessons were available, Denna had to switch to another school and instructor, still an hour away.<\/p>\n

The driver\u2019s reeducation process, which typically follows years of grueling rehab, tests the patience of adaptive drivers. Denna relied on lessons learned in her years as an athlete.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The setup on the driver’s side of Denna’s vehicle makes driving part of her daily routine (Photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMental toughness and the kind of patience you learn playing sports and playing hockey has definitely been integral to both my recovery process and the relearning-how-to-drive process,\u201d Denna says. \u201cIt’s definitely not easy, and it’s definitely a long-game type of situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a hockey player and as an athlete, you’re always looking at those big-time, long-term goals. You just have to stay the course and put in the effort all season\u2014or put in the effort for a couple of years\u2014to try to reach those big endgame goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

That effort ultimately led to Denna earning her driver\u2019s license, a wonderful, hard-earned milestone.<\/p>\n

But it was accomplished in an interchangeable rental van like the ones the adaptive driving schools use. Denna won\u2019t be able to put that license to work until she has her own customized van.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I do go through that process, everything will be set up perfectly for me,\u201d Denna says. \u201cBut that\u2019s a pretty lengthy process because everybody has a different setup, and it’s very, very expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n

When that happens, Denna doesn\u2019t have a specific dream destination in mind. There\u2019s no Super Bowl MVP-like trip to Disney World planned.<\/p>\n

No, the dream is more basic.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it\u2019s less about the destination and more about the opportunity to get where I want on my own time,\u201d Denna says. \u201cThe freedom is the dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

Readers looking to help with that dream can donate at www.dennalaing.org.<\/p>\n

The Denna Laing story doesn\u2019t end here. This isn\u2019t the finish line.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have some exciting things coming up, and I’m hoping for some really good results,\u201d Denna says. \u201cI can’t wait to share them with everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

———–
\nThanks to Cherie Hendrickson for her assistance.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back on Dec. 31, 2015, Denna Laing took the ice for the 2016 Outdoor Women\u2019s Classic, the first outdoor professional women’s hockey game. Denna, a two-time captain at Princeton, would be playing for the Boston Pride of the National Women’s Hockey League, facing off against Les Canadiennes de Montreal of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":104029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[812,819],"coauthors":[805],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFormer Princeton women's hockey captain Laing facing down adversity, has 'some exciting things coming up' - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Back on Dec. 31, 2015, Denna Laing took the ice for the 2016 Outdoor Women\u2019s Classic, the first outdoor professional women's hockey game. 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