INDIVIDUAL BRONZE

Kevin O’Shea, Akron

You can slow down Kevin O’Shea but not
for long.

A longtime advocate for healthy living,
O’Shea had a rollerblading accident in July
2007 that left him hospitalized with serious
injuries. During that time, he lost 40 pounds,
was unable to get out of bed and spent
weeks in intensive care.

His recovery was painful. He was eventually moved to Edwin Shaw for rehabilitation, but he immediately took to the intense
therapy, and one year later, he was back to
his busy lifestyle. Today, he’s back to working as a tutor in the Akron Public School system, working as a creative arts instructor for
the Barberton Magical Theater and is in constant demand as a tree surgeon.

Not only has O’Shea used his new lease on
life to further his interest in sharing health
and wellness ideas with his students, but
he’s also made himself a living life lesson. In
fact, upon his return to teaching, one of the
first things he did was make a public
address announcement about the importance of helmet safety. By February 2008,
O’Shea had recovered enough to enroll in
and pass the Red Cross Lifeguarding, First
Aid/Rescuer Class. His amazing recovery
sets an example for everyone in his life,
most notably his students.

Beyond caring about personal physical
health, O’Shea also care about the environment. He knows that part of the enjoyment
of physical fitness is the world around us, so
he’s made an effort to plant trees wherever
possible. In fact, he and his ESL students
wrote a play last April that was based on the
deforestation of the rainforests. The ending
point to the play was a logger who turned
his back on his profession and planted trees
instead of cutting them down. In conjunction with that play, O’Shea and his students
went out and planted new trees.