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By Bobbie Whitehead

Dressed in white jeans and a shirt to deflect the heat, Edwin Edler fires up his zero-turn lawn mower, driving across a row of grass.

The 45-year-old then circles the mower to head back down the next row at a large church grounds where he maintains the lawn, flower beds and shrubs.

“I never realized how much a job means to a man,” said Edler, who owns and operates Edler’s Lawn Care. “A job helps me mentally not to constantly focus on my problems.”

Several years back, Edler had a successful career as a nuclear electrician for the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Va.

But when a motorcycle accident in 2005 resulted in a spinal cord injury that left the Surry County, Va. native a paraplegic, Edler says his life changed forever.

In the accident off of Route 10 in Smithfield, Edler said he was knocked unconscious and was flown by helicopter to the hospital. When doctors told him of his injury, he said, “I felt like life was basically over. It was a pretty grim picture.”

As the reality of his injury began to take hold, Edler said he didn’t know what he’d do.

“I felt like God didn’t spare my life for me to just sit around and look out the window and feel sorry for myself,” he said.

Then, one day, he picked up a magazine and read an article about another man who had become paralyzed and had started his own lawn-care business.

“Before I read the article and got my business going, I didn’t think I had a reason to go on, except for my kids,” he said.

This article became the inspiration for Edler, who cuts the grass on his jobs and supervises all of the operation pertaining to lawn care. His assistant does the flower bed mulching, trimming and whatever else needs to be done. The business Edler started offers maintenance of lawns and cemeteries and handles both commercial and residential jobs. Edler has a license and is insured.

“God placed before me that article about another guy who was paralyzed and doing a lawn care job, and I thought, ‘If he could do it, I could do it,’” Edler said.

So that’s what Edler set out to do three years ago, and he said after his first lawn job, he felt good. Though Edler has regular customers, he said sometimes people are hesitant to hire him.

“I guess they feel, ‘How can a paralyzed guy do a good job?’” he said. “It’s hard to build confidence in people.”

But Edler has the equipment and another employee to assist with all of the lawn-care tasks. Edler uses a sliding board to get himself from his wheelchair to the lawnmower he uses. For now, Edler said he’s trying to pay for his employee and his equipment. He also has two children who need him. Although he’s doing this lawn care business to supplement his loss of income so he can maintain his standard of life, he also wants to give back to those who helped him.

“That’s one of the reasons I did this,” he said. “I didn’t want a pity party – you can rely on yourself.”

And Edler said maybe his business will grow so that he can meet his own needs as well as those of his children. His family and his church, Mt. Nebo Baptist Church, also in Surry County, have done so much for him that he said he feels he can at least do as much for himself as he can.

Long-time friend Michael Bailey said Edler’s courage has been an inspiration and motivation to his life.

“He’s a good example to all people in that no matter what you go through, you can overcome it with faith,” Bailey said. “I remember when he first got out of the hospital. Within a month or two, he was driving again.”

Bailey said Edler is a motivated person who wasn’t willing to give up.

“He’s just a good person, and if I’d gone through that experience, I don’t know if I could have had that willpower,” Bailey said.

By showing courage in not giving up and opening his own business, the Rev. Daniel Baltimore of Mt. Nebo Baptist Church, too, says that Edler has been “a prime inspiration” to many others.

“His diligence in the business that he has set up shows, and he hires locals to help him on the job,” Baltimore said. “He’s hired some of the older men in his community who didn’t have jobs, and when they see him working, they’ve told me that he inspired them to do better in their own lives.”

Baltimore said that Edler’s progress in the first 12 months after his accident was phenomenal.

“Physically, he lost something, but mentally, emotionally and spiritually, he’s gained a tremendous amount,” Baltimore said. “That’s been the transformation.”

The key to Edler’s recovery and motivation seemed to be not only what he wanted to accomplish but also a result of how much he meant to other people, Baltimore said.

“He does a great job; it’s not that people give him a job because he’s paralyzed but because he just does an excellent job,” Baltimore said. “He’s very meticulous, and he’s very faithful and conscientious about everything he does.”

For more information about Edler’s Lawn Care services, call 757-357-9411 or 757-329-5566.