Saratoga News

Boy Scout Doug Benson

Disabled Scout earns Order of the Arrow

By Torre Peña

Doug Benson is 14, likes science and computers and is a first-class Scout in the Boy Scouts of America. He is also in a wheelchair, and has come a long way since doctors told his mother that he wouldn't wake from a coma after a near-drowning when he was 15 months old.

Doug was the only handicapped Scout to recently complete the Order of the Arrow Ordeal in the Santa Cruz Mountains with 90 other Scouts. The Order of the Arrow is an organization that is based on service to others, and Doug didn't let his handicap interfere.

"Here's a family that said nothing is going to stop them. They didn't ask for anything special," said Doug McDonald, Scout executive for Santa Clara County.

The most noticeable thing about Doug is his cheerful smile and spirit, McDonald said. He demonstrated his willingness to serve by pruning shrubs for trail maintenance and camping out for the Order of the Arrow.

After the accident, doctors told his mother, Jo-Ann Benson, that those kinds of tasks would be impossible. They said if her son did live, he would never regain the use of his arms or legs.

His mother, a registered nurse, wasn't ready to accept the prognosis.

"When I first brought him home, he was in a coma, and I worked with him doing physical therapy every day," she said. Doug first recovered his vision and then considerable use of his limbs.

Now Doug, attending eighth grade at Rogers Middle School, continues therapy every Wednesday. Along with his brother Greg, Doug is an active member of Troop 325 in Saratoga and hasn't let spastic quadriplegia prevent him from pursuing his Eagle Scout rank, the highest in the Boy Scouts.