Steve Mikita was the first freshman at Duke University to use a wheelchair. He graduated there and from BYU's law school, on his way to a respected legal career.
Diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy as a toddler, Mikita worked 39 years in the Utah attorney general’s office.
“His work in the disability community and expertise in related legal issues was unmatched in both significance and longevity,” Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes wrotelast week. “His life experience allowed him to serve the state of Utah with incredible insight and compassion.” Mikita outlasted those early diagnoses, but his medical struggles continued. Throughout his childhood and adolescence,, he was hospitalized many times — including once, when he was 12, when he had spinal fusion surgery, a risky procedure that had never been done on adolescents or on anyone with disabilities. The surgery was successful, but the recovery was painful. At one point, he was put in a full body cast for six months, house-bound and prostrate, with an 18-inch bar between his knees.
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