BEFORE HE COULD DRIVE, HE HAD TO WALK.

Byline: Dave Shelburne Staff Writer

Travis Copeland came into this season not as concerned about getting his scores down as getting himself up.

Perspective and partial paralysis will do that for you.

Copeland, a Paraclete High sophomore who was the Spirits' No. 3 golfer as a freshman, woke up Dec. 7 "with this terrible feeling in my legs."

He thought it was a bad case of cramps and went back to sleep, then woke up again, attempted to walk out of his bedroom and collapsed.

"I was in so much pain," he said. "Then I got to the hospital and realized I couldn't move anything from my waist down, and my back hurt real bad. It came on sudden, within a period of six hours - a good night's sleep turning bad."

Copeland is big enough, at 6-foot-3, 225 pounds, to be mistaken for a football player, but vulnerable enough, it turned out, to be knocked flat by a tiny bug.

Acute transverse myelitis, a viral infection that attacked his immune system, left Copeland bedridden at Antelope Valley Hospital for five days with an inflamed spinal cord.

"It just shut down my nerves and left me with nothing," he said.

It also left the once-long-hitting golfer - he could drive a ball nearly 300 yards last season - determined to return to full mobility and absolutely dedicated to enjoying a normalcy he used to take for granted.

"Like walking two miles on a golf course," Copeland said. "I definitely appreciate that a lot more."

Now that the scary time is past - thanks to anti-inflammatory medication and ongoing physical therapy - his family also can appreciate the value of a good attitude.

"That is one of the most positive things," said Valerie Copeland, Travis' mother. "He came home with a walker. Can you imagine a 15-year-old using a walker? But he never once complained. His attitude has been the most positive aspect of this - he hasn't felt sorry for himself."

She called the experience a powerful reminder that health can be fragile.

"We're certain we're in control of our life, but we're really not, because at any given moment something can happen," she said.

Copeland, who shot in the low 80s last season, has made slow but steady progress since December, culminating in a nonscoring practice round in an Alpha League match last week.

"I'm giving him every break I can," said Paraclete coach Tom O'Haver, who has watched Copeland gradually regain his golfing ability as his motor skills improved.

The swing looks awkward and the distance is lacking, but Copeland and his coach are happy with the progress.

"He hits a beautiful straight ball but just can't get power," O'Haver said. "He still has the short game and putting, but it makes you hurt for him - one day he's practicing with us. and the next day he calls and says, `I can't come to practice. I can't walk. I'm paralyzed."

Now Copeland is enjoying every bit of a progress that comes only in baby steps - a process he says started when he was stretched out on his hospital bed, realizing walking again would be possible and wondering what would be possible beyond that.

"It really started to hit me, wondering if I ever could play again," he said last week at Antelope Valley Country Club. "So when I got home and could stand on my own without the walker, I tried to swing a golf club. I could only get a quarter swing, but I was just happy to see that I could still remember how to do it.

"It's hard for me to put it all together right now, but every week I'm out here helps me feel a whole lot better."

Dave Shelburne, [phone]

dave.shelburne(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

Paraclete High golfer Travis Copeland is back on course.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer