BONUS: "Bodybuilding brought me back to life."

"This one time in Kankakee... bodybuilding brought me back to life."

In this gripping bonus episode of This One Time in Kankakee, Kaelin Patterson shares the most harrowing chapter of his life. On August 28, 2008, at the intersection of Theodore and Larkin in Joliet, Kaelin was struck and run over by a drunk driver. For five minutes, his heart stopped. He was clinically dead.

What followed was a "resurrection" that defied every medical prognosis. From waking up as a "John Doe" with no memory of his own name to being told he would never be "normal" again, Kaelin recounts the grueling two-year journey of relearning how to walk and breathe. He details the pivotal role of physical therapist JoJo Sayson and the moment he realized that "normal" wasn't enough—he wanted to be a champion.

This episode is a masterclass in resilience, forgiveness, and the "you versus you" mindset. We conclude with a special, heartfelt dedication to the memory of Missi Prosser, a beloved member of the Fit Body U family who recently passed away, as Kaelin reflects on her legacy of transformation and love.

This bonus episode is solely sponsored by the 2026 Juneteenth Jamboree. Celebrate strength and freedom on Saturday, June 20, 2026, at the Lisieux Pastoral Center in Kankakee. Join us for The Natural Physique Showcase, a premier, drug-tested fitness event.

• Spectator Admission: $10
• Athletes: $50 initial registration / $20 additional category
• Location: 381 St. Joseph Ave, Kankakee, IL
• Inquiries: kaelinpatterson@gmail.com

Special Thanks to Our Sponsors: Revolt Boxing Club, Noodles and Company, Stacked Nutrition, Po Boys, Maxwell & Brady Schumer, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, Netherton’s Bodyshop, and Jensen’s Funeral Home.

Want more from the WVLI Podcast Network? Listen to the WVLI News Update with Rob West every weekday morning! Get the days local news from the greater Kankakee County, IL area in 10 minutes or less. 

Subscribe now on your preferred podcast platform: https://wvlinewsupdate.buzzsprout.com

The Voices You Trust, Beyond The Dial.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Support for this special bonus episode of this one time in Kankiki comes from the Juneteenth Jamboree. On Saturday, June 20th, 2026, the Lazou Pastoral Center in Kankiki will host a celebration of strength and freedom. The day features the Natural Physique Showcase, a premier fitness event for all ages. If you aren't competing, come out and support the athletes. Admission is just $10 for spectators. We'll have more details on our sponsors later on in the episode. Before the trophies and gym sessions, Caitlin Patterson's life was defined by a simpler kind of movement. Growing up in Sun River Terrace and attending school in Moment, his world was Pioneer Park.

SPEAKER_01 1:11

Well, we'd ride seven miles on bicycles, play basketball. If you got a twisted ankle, you still rode home and you were still bragging the whole ride. And there was five or six of us, so there was no chance of anybody getting hurt or harmed. But it was a lot of fun. So growing up in this area, I just loved the atmosphere we had. Growing up in a Christian background, I grew up with the family understanding, basically the love, the genuine people that really care and concern for you. So basically, when you did an outreach, everyone was involved with each other. So growing up in here, I mean it was a very tight-knit family dynamic. I'm not saying everyone was close, but I'm saying the people you were close to were close to you as well. So it wasn't just a one-sided thing. So, you know, and then when I went into the service, I took that into the service. So basically, everybody was a team.

SPEAKER_00 2:11

That team mindset followed Kalen back home after his service. He became a fixture at the YMCA and local Gold's gyms, eventually leading physical fitness classes. By 2008, Kalen was an instructor in high demand, traveling between Bradley and Joliet on his Triumph 955i motorcycle.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

And I'd never had a British bike, so I thought that was so cool. And I would always talk so eloquently when I was riding. And it was just so much fun. So the motorcycle riding, like I said, I wasn't a risk taker because I had to buy my own tires, so obviously I don't want to go through those because they're not cheap. But I did like being out there with that freedom of riding. Because coming from war, there's something that wants to bring you back to peace. And I wanted that more than anything.

SPEAKER_00 3:11

August 28th, 2008. Kalen was in Joliet, having just finished up a class. He was heading back home, riding south toward the intersection of Theodore and Larkin. He was being extra careful, but he couldn't account for the driver coming the other way. A woman on her second DUI strike who was about to change his life forever.

SPEAKER_01 3:34

When she hit me, it was the craziest thing. And I'm I'm I don't know what anybody else goes through when they're in an accident, but mine was kind of weird. Because the one thing that hit me is what song is playing in her car. It sounds familiar. As I'm flipping over the car. Because I was riding my motorcycle and she hit me, and the bike careened into a ditch, but I obviously had been hit, so I rolled over the car. And she stopped, and I was like, Well, good, you know, she's gonna give me a ride to the hospital.

SPEAKER_00 4:18

She didn't give him a ride. Fearing a third DUI strike, she panicked.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

And so when I saw the reverse lights, I was thinking, well, I don't think she's gonna be able to get me into the car. That's the one thing I was thinking. And then the car just kept coming. And I was like, whoa, you know, you're getting pretty close. And I wanted to yell, but at at I didn't know uh the damage that had been done to me, but when she backed up over me, you know, obviously there's a lot of pain, and I wanted to yell, but there's no way to yell because the w wind's been knocked out of me. And then she pulled and ran over me again, and that's when my rib broke and it punctured my lung, and then that shot stopped my heart.

SPEAKER_00 5:15

For five minutes, Kaelin Patterson was clinically dead. When Kaelin was resuscitated at the scene, he wasn't Kaelin Patterson. His wallet and ID had been lost in a ditch. To the paramedics and the staff at the hospital, he was a John Doe.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

And I saw that my arm wasn't there. And I was like, oh man, I gotta learn to live the rest of my life with just one arm. And I was like, Well, get yourself mentally prepared now. And then I was like, Well, who am I? And I thought that was so weird that I'm thinking about an arm that I don't have, and then realizing I don't even know who I am. And they said, Well, he's back. And I thought that was crazy, because I didn't know I was deceased, I just knew I obviously I had been unconscious.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

Back in Kankakee, his family was in agony. They knew he was gone, but they didn't know where. It took two weeks in the hospital for Kalen's memory to spark.

SPEAKER_01 6:27

And it was two weeks before I remembered my pastor's cell phone number, and they called him my pastor to come up, and when he came in the door, when he saw me, he had to go back out because he was crying, because he couldn't look at me, because I was so misshapened. And that was one of those moments where you realize, man, maybe I'm not as recovered as I thought. It was just an odd moment because, like, he was not just my pastor, but he was also my godfather. So when he couldn't look at me, I was thinking, man, it's this is pretty bad. This is a bad situation.

SPEAKER_00 7:19

We'll return to Kalen's story in a moment. This bonus episode of this one time in Kankakee is made possible by the Juneteenth Jamboree. Join us Saturday, June 20th, 2026, at the Lazoo Pastoral Center, 381 St. Joseph Avenue in Kankakee from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The highlight of the day is the Natural Physique Showcase featuring male and female entries in masters and teenager categories. Registration is $50 for the initial category and $20 for the additional ones. If you're coming to watch the competition and enjoy the celebration, there is a $10 admission fee. We would like to thank the sponsors who made this event possible: Revolt Boxing, Noodles and Company, Stacked Nutrition, Pole Boys, Maxwell and Brady Schumer, Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, Netherton's Body Shop, and Jensen Funeral Home. For more info, you can email Kalen Patterson at gmail.com. Now, back to Kalen's story, Kaelin's body was broken, both legs, both arms, and several ribs. He recalls a scary moment in the basement of the hospital that he referred to as the dungeon, where he experienced a comedy of errors during a power outage.

SPEAKER_01 9:01

The power went out. And so it slammed up, and the straps were across my chest. And I said, Wow, can you guys take it easy? I feel real bad. And it slammed back down when it got the power back. And I by then I'm just crying because I didn't know what to say. And the guy said, Well, I know you go to church because you would have been using much better language than that. And I was like, And I was like, wow, if if I live through this, I'm good. This is gonna be a great moment to look back on because with broken ribs and having a strap on it, that was a lot of pressure. And and it was so different for me because I've been taking care of my body all my life. And I thought the hard part was over. It was just beginning because recovery and rehab takes a lot, and I was relearning the body I thought I already knew I lived in.

SPEAKER_00 10:18

The medical prognosis was bleak. They told him he'd hit a ceiling of 45% recovery and suggested he apply for a permanent handicapped sticker. But then Kalen was introduced to Jojo Saysen.

SPEAKER_01 10:33

When I got to him, he said the one thing that just changed my whole life. He said, What do we got to do to get you back to normal? And I was like, man, I've been praying for somebody that wants to look at me like I want to be seen later on in life. I mean, because right now I'm obviously damaged, but later on, I can be back to a whole me. And I wanted to be whole again, not limited, unlimited. I mean, because potential is unlimited. And that's what I've always known. Growing up in sports, being active, engaging with everything. And he was basically there. I mean, he was sent by God, I'm telling you, because he said, let's get you back to normal. The one thing I've been seeking and hoping and praying for. And that's what he said. Let's get you back to normal. And when that normality started again, there was a lot of pain. There was a lot of ups and downs. But we're going forward.

SPEAKER_00 11:42

But the climb back was literal. Kaelin recalls trying to enter the home of his godfather and pastor.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

I had to take one step up. Forty minutes, I couldn't take one step up. And my pastor's wife came outside and she said, Well, I see you can't reach the doorbell, and I know you can't knock. So I'll come out here, and if you don't mind, I'll help you get up that one step. And I said, in this life, in a nutshell, where we think we've got everything figured out, and you still need that one person to make that one step.

SPEAKER_00 12:25

In 2010, Kalen stepped onto a bodybuilding stage for the first time. He was no longer a John Doe or a handicapped patient. He was an athlete.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

And it was the craziest moment when I got first, and the lady had to tell me, you won. Come get your trophy. Because I was standing there like, oh, they they must have called me out for no reason. It's gotta be the wrong person. And they were saying my number and not my name, so I couldn't even think of that. So I was just standing there looking at her. She's looking at me, I'm looking at her. And I mean, I felt like a million dollars. But when you think about where you came from, the culmination of that made it mean so much more than just first place. I'm walking to get this trophy. I can raise my arm and hold it in my own hands. I can turn my head and take a deep breath. When the lungs were broken. All of that was hitting at that moment, and I did not expect it. So it was an overwhelming experience, but not one I didn't want, but it was just one I wasn't ready to accept.

SPEAKER_00 13:44

Kalen has now participated in over 30 shows, but he never forgot the woman who ran over him. Despite her blaming him in court for the first time she was losing with her own daughter, Kaelin chose a different path.

SPEAKER_01 14:07

Because hating her doesn't change my life for the better in any way. I wanted to be a better example of everything my dad taught, everything my mom taught, everything JoJo had said, everything my pastor had taught me. I don't get better by doing less. And when I was watching the healing, I said, you know, if he's doing that for me, I gotta pay it forward. I don't want him to basically say he was a success in healing, but the progression of healing doesn't heal someone else. We're supposed to basically open our hand so somebody else can go grab it and be lifted up too. We're not moving forward if we're holding on to hate, negative, downward thinking, stress, worry, all those things keep us from improving. Everyone the guy that surrounded me with was showing me how to get better.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

Kalen's story is about personal resurrection, but it's also about the lives he touched along the way. This episode is dedicated to the memory of Missy Prosser, a member of the front desk team at Fitbody U who passed away in a car accident this past April. Kain remembers the moment Missy watched the Jim family and decided to change her own life.

SPEAKER_01 15:40

This is for the process because it it means much, so much to me, because they're a family that I just grew to love. And I just love everything about 'em. You know, the mom, the dad, uh Patrick, the her brother. And Missy was that rebel. She was the one that wanted to set herself apart, not realizing she wasn't doing it in a way that progressed herself. And she became one of the front desk ladies at Fitbody You. And so we interacted with each other quite a bit. And she would start opening up about certain things, and she was one of those young ladies that got it. Life was making much more sense than it did to others her age. And so she was always ahead of the game. And I think because of that, she could actually take things for granted without intending to do so. But in her rebellious nature, she wasn't hearing what her parents were saying and what her brother was saying to basically help her improve. And it was just that one day, it's always that one day. That one place that one day. And we were at the gym, she was running the front desk, and there were Fobbie and Mika when we were doing legs on the leg press, and she was just watching us. And it would it's enough watching to where it gets your attention. And so I looked over and saw she was looking directly at us, not one person, the interaction of us. And she was just so amazed by that. And you could see where she was really going deep in thought. And so after Bobby and Mika were getting changed and getting ready to leave, I asked her, I said, Hey what had you looking at us like you did? And she said, I'm not close like that to my family because of me being so rebellious and so different or trying to stand out and she had the understanding that she was basically limiting the love that the family dynamic could have been. And I just this is a teenager telling me this though, and I marveled at how she got it. That light had just gone on, just watching us and how much we were being f friends, being family, and she wasn't doing that with her own family, and that realization just awakened her to where she said, I'm going to do better. And when she said that, I mean, I I don't know if anybody's been in church, but there's a a physical way of talking and there's a spiritual way of talking, and that reached my soul, and I was so overjoyed for her because I knew right then and there she wasn't kidding. She was dead set. I'm going to be a better human being, I'm going to love my mom, I'm going to love my dad, I'm going to love my brother, I'm going to love myself. And when she said that, I was so I mean, I felt like I could have jumped over that gym because that kind of energy, you know, they're good they mean it. She wasn't doing it just to say, I need to do better. She was actually going to be a better human being. And every day after that, she when she would come in and get on the treadmill, we would have conversations of her improvement. And each and every time she had a better way of doing the life that she knew she could do better. And when when I found out she had passed away, it I mean, I was so hurt because I said, This is the person that got it. They're doing better. I mean, like they mean to do better, but they're also doing better with that meaning of doing better. I wish so many more could realize they're getting in the way of their own improvement, their own success, when they say, I'm getting in the way of me. GNC used to have a shirt and a slogan that really just kicked me in the butt one time when it said, It's you versus you. And I said, How many of us suffer from improving by not realizing we're getting in our own way of doing better?

SPEAKER_00 20:52

We keep the memory of Missy Prosser alive by continuing the work she started. Choosing to be better, to love more, and to never let an obstacle stay in our way. This special bonus episode was produced by me, Jake Lamore, and the W VLI Podcast Network, and was made possible solely by the Juneteenth Jamboree. Join us June 20th for the Natural Physique Showcase. Special thanks to our sponsors for making the event possible. If you have a story you'd like to share, send me an email at Jake at Milner MediaPartners dot com and finish the sentence for me. This one time in Kank Key.