His body, once imbued with the vigor and stamina of the triathlete he is, starts to find its way again.
Just as importantly, something else clicks in his mind, becomes familiar again, becomes an actual memory instead of something somebody just told him.
“He's progressed so much faster than anyone thought he could,” his wife, Leanne, said recently. “But that's Leif. He's a pretty determined sort of guy.”
Leif Griffin, 44, cuts a pretty high profile in Missoula. He's director of environmental affairs at Smurfit-Stone Container Corp., and he's served as a member of Missoula's Air Quality Council. He's been chairman of the Missoula Chamber of Commerce's Leadership Missoula program. And he's been an active participant in Missoula's triathlon and swimming communities.
It was in the pool where a handful of Missoula swimmers, members of the YMCA's masters swim team, met Griffin. And it was in that same pool where a plan was hatched to help Griffin and his family overcome the huge medical bills that stemmed from his accident.
On that second day of June, Griffin was riding his road bike when he collided with a car going 55 mph on Mullan Road. He was wearing a helmet, but suffered serious physical injuries as well as a head injury.
“There's a group of us that swims at the Y three days a week, and some of us had just done the Alcatraz swim and we were talking about what could we do next,” said Jim Kuffel, who works for Bolt and Anchor Supply in Missoula. “And we hit on the idea of Flathead Lake.”
Not long after, they heard about Leif's accident.
“We just felt like we could do something for Leif that would involve us swimming across the lake, and the idea of a fundraiser was just a natural,” Kuffel said. “We figured with nine of us, we ought to be able to raise a reasonable amount of money, and I know that anything would help out.”
That's a fact, said Leanne Griffin.
Leif's treatment, which started in Seattle and continues in Missoula, is mostly covered by insurance, but there are all sorts of collateral expenses. But more important than the money, Leanne said, is the thought behind the fundraiser.
“People in Missoula have been incredibly giving to us,” she said. “It's awesome to see the way the community has rallied together to help Leif. I think the swimmers are particularly touching, though, because that's something Leif would do himself.”
What the swimmers are is a hoot. With a sense of fellowship built up over years of swimming and fraternizing together, they are like a loose band of brothers, calling one another by nicknames and constantly pointing out one another's perceived or invented failings.
Kuffel is the Whale. Bob Struckman is Wimpy, as in the old Popeye character. He wanted to be Bob, not because it's his name, but because he, you know, bobs in the water. There's Shark Bait, the Captain and then there's 62-year-old Chris Siegler, the group's oldest member. He's Old'n'Slow.
“We have a good time, and I think over the years we've really developed a friendship that goes beyond the swimming,” said Mark Comfort, the group's acknowledged swim leader. “For us, Leif is somebody doing the same things we are, so we wanted to be able to reach out to him.”
At first, the swimmers wanted to swim the length of Flathead Lake, some 26 miles. But given the dwindling daylight hours, they decided they didn't have enough time to go that far, Kuffel said. Instead the opted to swim across the lake, from Elmo to Blue Bay, a trip of about 17 miles.
Next came logistics. Because they wanted to give all the money they raise to Griffin, they quickly opted to cover all their own costs. But they still needed a support boat, and Kuffel said it soon became clear it was going to be tough to rent the pontoon boat needed to carry nine swimmers.
“We'd been asking around trying to find a boat, and one day I realized that I drove by a boat every day on the corner of Gharrett and Briggs,” Kuffel said. “I was pretty nervous about it, but I just decided to go up and ask the people about the boat.”
The boat owners were Larry and Karen Sims. They listened to Kuffel's impassioned explanation of the plan and quickly agreed to take part. In fact, they'd drive the boat.
“I told them we'd cover all the transportation and fuel costs, but after thinking about it for a little while, they said they wanted to cover all that stuff,” Kuffel said. “That would be their way of contributing. It just blew me away. There are really just some neat people out there.”
The swim will take place on Saturday, Sept 8. Kuffel said the swimmers will swim as a relay team, with each man taking 15- to 30-minute pulls before being replaced. Struckman said he'd consider swimming the whole way, and others indicated they'll swim more than their allotted legs.
“I imagine we'll all be in the water a lot of the time,” Kuffel said.
In part, that's because in addition to raising money for Griffin, the swimmers are also thinking ahead to their next challenge - swimming the English Channel.
“That's something we've been talking about for a long time, so it will be nice to get out in the open water,” said Comfort.
The swimmers aren't the only folks pitching in to help Griffin. His colleagues at the mill have been very active, selling “LeifStrong” wristbands modeled after the Lance Armstrong cancer bands. The Missoula Chamber of Commerce has also been working on his behalf. And lots of people have chimed in with words of support on Leif's page on the Web site caringbridge.org.
All that help has left Leif and Leanne Griffin feeling more than a little grateful.
“It's been an awesome response,” Leanne said. “I know it's made it easier for Leif to keep working on his therapy. He knows how many people there are pulling from him.”
Leif spent time at the Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, then did inpatient therapy at the Rehabilitation Institute of Montana, located at Community Medical Center. He's still doing outpatient therapy, and Leanne said he has a long way to go. But he's come so far, anything seems possible for his recovery.
“There are things about the brain where doctors just don't know,” Leanne said. “But he's come so far so fast, much more so than anyone could have predicted, that they're thinking he's got a lot more improvement to go. It's hard work, but he's always been a determined, can-do sort of man.”
And so are his friends, not that they want any credit.
“We could act like we're doing something great and pat ourselves on the back, but what we want this to be about is Leif and to remind people about bike safety,” Kuffel said. “So many of us are out there on the roads, doing our thing, and we've absolutely got to pay attention to what we're up to.”
Reporter Michael Moore can be reached at 523-5252 or at mmoore@missoulian.com
You can help
To contribute to the Leif Griffin benefit, send a check to the Leif Griffin Medical Fund, c/o of First National Bank, P.O. Box 7489, Missoula, MT 59802.
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