Sandy Hagen Dance: Articles

On this page:
-Article published 01/07 on the Website eons.com
-Article published 12/02 in the Canton Citizen
-Article published 10/13/02 in the Boston Globe
-Article published 9/19/02 in the Wellesley Townsman
-Article published 4/11/2002 in the Canton Citizen.
-Article published 11/22/2001 in the Boston Globe.

Article from the Website www.eons.com January 2007
http://www.eons.com/body/feature/fitness/12230

SANDY HAGEN

by Beth Fredricks

Sandy Hagen
Sandy Hagen brings her whole portfolio to work. She has been a professional dancer all her adult life with a Masters degree in theatre and dance. What's so special? Today, Sandy looks exactly the same as she does in professional photos taken 20 years ago. She has the same energy and enthusiasm that was talked about in a pile of articles and interviews dating back to the late 70s. And most impressive of all, she is still teaching the same special conditioning class that she designed way back in the day! Despite the growth in the exercise industry over the last 25 years, Sandy has stayed deeply committed to her mission: muscular-skeletal health - keeping your muscles strong to support your bones and joints. In other words, doing basic body maintenance through strength and stretch.

In a recent interview, Eons staff writer, Beth Fredericks asked Sandy what is so special about her recipe and why has it stood the test of time?

How Long Have You Been Teaching Classes?

For eons! I've always loved teaching and I have always performed, choreographed and taught from a perspective of promoting good health. I have always looked at the therapeutic aspect of it. When in college, I saw my colleagues and fellow students were always getting injured, and I came to the conclusion that, we couldn't just dance, we needed to be strong all the time to stay injury free and to have dance longevity. So, I started teaching a conditioning class, to complement the dance technique classes. I called it jazz-barre-stretch, a conditioning program that would balance strength and stretch in the body so that my friends who were dancing in professional productions at night could use this program to maintain flexibility and strength in all muscle groups during their off hours. At the time this was considered VERY odd; dancers thought of themselves as artists only. But, I listened to my own body and continued moving forward on the development of my philosophy. Dance in itself is not a balanced activity. Performing the same routine over and over in a Broadway show does not use muscles in a balanced way. Neither does being solely committed to only one sport such as biking or running, to mention a few. Dancers seem to be more aware of this today. They are better conditioned as dancer/athletes. You have to be in condition to begin to train, for example you have to be in shape to pursue the activity; like skiing, running, or dancing. These are the activities, not the training. I've been teaching that forever!

What Percentage Of Your Clientele Today Is Over 50?

I would say at least half, probably more. Many of those people have been with me for 20 or more years. Today, my younger students are already having knee and back pain issues. They are referred to me because no exercise program seems to relieve their pain. But what I notice is that they want a quick fix! There is no quick fix, believe me. The mentality has to be that training is an on-going process. I am training for life, not just because dancing is my passion, and not because being fit is WHO I am, but because being fit is what I do every day on a regular basis. I don't really think about how old my students are. I think about it as an age range and how fit people are.

What Are You Considering When You Talk About Age Range?

Age range means how fit you are, how you look and how you feel; really more how you feel than how you look. It's not how old you are it's HOW you are old. If you act old and you're not physically fit you're old. If you can't run for a bus, or if someone's going to run into you and you can't get out of the way quickly then you're old! In my class a teenager can be right next to an adult, and doing all the same strength and stretch exercises to prevent knee problems, etc. This is basic body maintenance for everybody, at all stages of life.

How Fit Do You Feel? How Old Do You Feel?

I feel the same as I always have. I don't even think about my age. What I maintain is a commitment to stay well conditioned in both strength and stretch, or as I call it, "basic body maintenance" which I think of as brushing your teeth every day. I mean every day, all the time. Then you can be a tri-athlete or swimmer or runner or whatever else you want to do, but you need balance. People tend to only want to do what they like to do. But if you aren't paying attention to all the basic body requirements - stretch and strengthen - then you may neglect some muscle groups and your body alignment may be adversely affected, causing stress on body parts You should be conditioned well enough to maintain good alignment, which is the key to good health.

Say More About The Balance The Body Needs.

There are four important areas; balance between the right and left sides of the body, balance between the upper and lower portions of the body, balance of strength and stretch throughout the body, and balance of skill level and conditioning level. Everyone knows their own body best, but for 50 plus folks certain areas deserve more attention. Strength and stretch in the muscles that support your knees and the front and back of your legs are important. You also have to pay attention to your feet. If you need orthotics (inserts for your shoes) to make sure your body is aligned from the bottom up, like the roots of a tree, that's important. Your scapula area (across your upper back) needs to be strong to support your head and shoulders. Today we sit in chairs for hours at a time. A prime example would be sitting at the computer - have you noticed how people let their head hang forward? People often develop sore necks. You can see that it's been coming for a long time from overstretching the neck ligaments and letting the shoulders internally rotate, in that slouch position.
Core strength, your abs, the natural girdle area are additional muscles we need to keep conditioned for healthy bodies. After all these muscles hold us up all day!

People Say They Don't Have Time To Exercise. What Do You Say To That?
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Never have time to do this? Make time! I have some very prominent clients who are working so hard and traveling all over the world and yet they make time for this. You can't just do this on the weekend. You have to do something everyday. Maybe it means getting up earlier, or after work. One example would be, squeezing your shoulder blades while you are sitting at your computer. Sometimes when I am waiting in line I'll do some duck walks by squeezing my glutes and waddling back and forth in place. We can all find time to fit simple exercises into our regular activities of the day. It's a mind set. You know, park your car over there and walk into the building or always take the stairs every day. You have to change it up, change some habits.

Any Final Thoughts?

Yes. No doctor has yet offered an injection of muscle toner. I just don't see this coming yet. Don't forget, it's not about who you are, it's about what you do every day on a regular basis to keep yourself fit. Think of conditioning as eating plenty of fruits and vegetables - it's good for you! It makes us feel good about our selves when we take better care of our bodies. And hey y'all (with her New Orleans drawl) have some fun while you're doin' it!

Article from the Canton Citizen, December 2002:

FORMER CHS TEACHER, RECOVERING FROM CAR ACCIDENT, OFFERS ADVICE TO STUDENTS

By Beth Erickson, Citizen staff

In December 2000, permanent substitie teacher Halvor Hagen walked out of Canton High School on a Friday afternoon.

But before he left, he probably played basketball in the school gym with some of his students--something he often did. The kids liked him, and he liked them.

And before he drove away from the school, Halvor probably shouted "See you next week" to the kids who were still in the parking lot.

It didn't happen that way.

Shortly after 5 a.m. on Saturday, December 16, while he was on his way to weekend duty with the Marines, Halvor's car veered off the road on Green Lodge Street--most likely after skidding on black ice--and stuck a telephone pole. He was critically injured, sustaining multiple internal injuries, skull fractures and severe head trauma.

Last week, nearly two years after he left, 26-year-old Halvor Hagen returned to Canton High School, this time as a speaker in the school's wellness classes.

"I've taken a detour--but not by choice," he told the students. "I'm a different person in so many ways. But in many ways, I'm a better person."

Halvor was accompanied by his father, Halvor Sr., who told the students that the numerous injuries his son sustained in the accident had left him "almost clinically dead." He told them how the doctors had given the family little hope that Halvor would survive. And if he did survive, they painted a bleak picture about his future prognosis.

Father and son were candid with the students about the extent of Halvor's injuries. Halvor Sr. said the right side of his son's head struck the telephone pole with such force it slammed his brain against the other side of his head, badly injuring the left side of his brain in the process.

Halvor told them about the machines that breathed for him and the tubes that handled his normal bodily functions when he was in a deep coma for five weeks.

And unlike what you see in movies, Halvor said, coma patients don't miraculously "wake up." It's a long, slow process, he said, a process that begins with simply being able to "track" with your eyes. He told them about the day--several weeks after the accident-- his mother was getting ready to leave the hospital and leaned over his bed to kiss him goodbye when he spoke his first word: "Stay," he whispered.

But Halvor's most important message to the students regarded the preciousness of life. "Life was good," he said. "I was close to accepting a position with either local or state police. But your life can change in an instant."

He cautioned the students about the dangerousness of drinking and driving, about the price of carelessness and aggressive behavior in cars. He told them to have respect for automobiles and to drive defensively.

He told them to be careful. "I don't know what caused my accident," he said, "but I have to assume it could possibly have been avoided."

He also told them about the importance of his family and friends in his recovery. "They told me about my life--who I was, who I am, what I had done but couldn't remember." It's a process, he said, that still goes on today.

And though she's good at changing with the times, longtime rock star Madonna, Halvor said, really has "no idea" what it's like to re-invent yourself. "I do," he said, "and I started from scratch."

He told the students about his long-term and short-term memory loss--about how he still can't remember most of what he learned in school. He told them that when he joined the Marines it was the "toughest thing" he had ever done--until the accident. He told them about the uphill battle he has been fighting every day for nearly two years--how he has had to re-learn how to walk and talk, even how to swallow and to squeeze someone's hand.

It's a battle, however, that Halvor said he is winning. He does physical therapy five or six days a week, swims, exercises with his mother and walks with his father. "Check out this bicep," he said to the students with a wide grin, challenging them to arm wrestle.

He told them how he wants to get his teacher certification and finish his master's degree--he was five credits short of his degree at the time of his accident--and have a career some day, perhaps in education. "I know I enjoyed teaching," he said, "and I'm optimistic that my memory of the time will improve."

He told them his hopes and dreams are no different than theirs are. "I want to do all the things that all of you expect to do in the future," he said, adding that those dreams include having a good job, getting married and having children. "Check me out in another year or two," he said with a twinkle in his eye, "when I'm waling down Washington Street with some cute babe."

And Halvor also proudly told the students that he had proved the pessimistic predictions regarding his prognosis wrong. "My objective," he said, "is 100 percent recovery. And it is possible."

And what did the students think?

"It was so cool to see that someone like him could be so strong to turn around and recover so fast," said freshman Katie Burr. "Especially when he was given such a small chance of living. He acts as if nothing had happened. He was the same old happy person."

"He turned a negative thing into a positive," said Melissa Eleuteri, also a freshman. "And he taught me to really appreciate the small things in life because they can be taken away from you in the blink of an eye."

Article from the Boston Globe, October 13, 2002:

FAMILY KEEPS MARKING MILESTONES
CANTON MAN SEES GAINS AFTER INJURY

By Judith Forman, Globe Staff

CANTON - The entryway to Sandy Hagen's house is crowded. The makeshift physical therapy table she created for her son, Halvor, out of two old cafeteria tables and padding uses a lot space. The floor is covered with mats, weights, a large exercise ball, and an abdominal exercise machine. "Everything's chaos in here," Hagen said in a New Orleans drawl. "Welcome to my living room. [But] I don't care."

Keeping an uncluttered house is not a priority for Hagen, who spends three or four hours a day doing physical and occupational therapy with her first born, Halvor, who turns 26 tomorrow. It's been nearly two years since his car slid on a patch of black ice and hit a Greenlodge Street telephone pole. He cracked open the right side of his skull.

Doctors did not know if Halvor would survive. He was in a coma for a month, and when he woke up he couldn't eat, swallow, or move most of his right side. His long-term memory was nearly erased. But he was determined to make a comeback.

Last year, Halvor spent time at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston and Lakeview Neurorehabilitation Center in Effingham Falls, N.H. In March, he moved home to Canton with his mother, a professional dancer and choreographer, and his father, Halvor Hagen Sr., a former pro football player.

With his mother's help, Halvor is able to stand up and sit in his wheelchair. Earlier this month, he walked 10 laps in a pool by himself. He's had Botox injections to help straighten his right hand and calf. Words and short-term memory are coming easier, and he can read again (books stacked on the kitchen table include the Bible and "Lucky Man" by Michael J. Fox).

The 1995 Xaverian High School graduate also can write and send e-mail. The difference between now and last fall "seems like night and day," Sandy Hagen said.

There was another milestone in January. After his mother refused to believe doctors could do nothing more to repair optical nerve damage to her son's right eye, she took him to a specialist in Connecticut. He was given glasses with Coke-bottle-thick lenses to help him regain balance. Immediately, Halvor was able to straighten his body, which used to bend to his left. "My mouth just dropped," Sandy Hagen recalled. "That was a miracle there."

She's hoping to acquire another device to help Halvor. About 300 people turned out at a surprise party in Wellesley last weekend and raised $30,000 for an iBot wheelchair, which can go up and down stairs, over curbs, and navigate rough terrain. Sandy Hagen's friends and dance students organized the party, which included a silent auction, salsa dancing lessons, and live entertainment. The party invitations were designed by a South Shore resident who contacted Sandy Hagen after reading about Halvor in the Globe last year. The woman's husband, a police officer, suffered a brain injury while on duty.

Halvor also is making a spiritual turnaround. At times last year, he was depressed and angry. Now, he said, "I'm happy most every day. I'm happy to be alive."

And he's changed his plans for the future. Instead of becoming a police officer, Halvor said he wants to finish his master's degree in criminal justice (he has six hours of class time to complete) and enroll at Bridgewater State College to earn a teaching degree. He wants to teach history at Canton High School.

"He's much more introspective now ," Sandy Hagen said. "He's found a new path . . . He's not angry now. He's celebrating what he's got."

Judith Forman can be reached by e-mail at jforman@globe.com.

Article from the Wellesley Townsman, September 19, 2002:

FRIENDS OF DANCE INSTRUCTOR WILL PARTY FOR A GOOD CAUSE
Group hopes to buy high-tech wheelchair for teacher's injured son

By Gail Osgood, Townsman Staff

Sandy Hagen, a professional dancer and choreographer from Canton, didn't want to relocate from her spacious studio in Boston to a private living room in Wellesley to teach her therapeutic style of fitness, body conditioning and dance. But an opportunity came her way to offer private lessons, the living room had plenty of space, and Hagen decided these home visits were a great way to extend her career.

Twelve years later, she instructs the same group in the same home, they have forged lasting friendships, and are now preparing their most significant performance for a very special cause. Sandy's son, 25-year-old Halvor Hagen Jr., a Marine reservist who was about to receive his master's degree in criminal justice, was driving to Marine drills in December 2000 when his car hit a patch of black ice and wrapped around a telephone pole. The impact left him with brain injuries so severe that he couldn't talk or move the entire right side of his body.

Since Sandy had given so much of herself to her class, everyone just wanted to do something to help, according to her friend and student Lise Olney of Wellesley. Sandy had talked a lot about the benefits of a new wheelchair called an iBOT, so Olney, her husband, Tim Fulham, together with Nancy Sosa of Wellesley, Beth Lewis of Watertown and others from the group, decided to plan a fundraiser in order to help pay for the $30,000 wheelchair. According to its inventor, Dean Kamen, who also invented the Segway human transporter), the wheelchair mimics the brain's sense of balance.

The fundraiser, which has since evolved into a major party, will be like a taste of Sandy's hometown, New Orleans, right here in Wellesley, according to her friends and supporters, past and present, who have united for Halvor's cause. The event will include a silent auction. Among the items up for bid will be a stay on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, a golf-getaway, tickets and a backstage tour of "Mamma Mia!" in New York City. Donations are still rolling in.

The event will include live music and entertainment. Sandy, who has appeared in and choreographed a variety of productions, in addition to teaching all types of dance and fitness throughout the Boston area, will perform with celebrity dance partners like Joe Tremaine, Bradley Wise Walthall and Earl LaMartiniere. She will also teach the entire crowd how to salsa.

Olney said people have been "coming out of the woodwork" to help Sandy during the recovery process of her popular son, a 6-foot-2-inch football player who Sandy said is so well-liked that when he was growing up, it was like "kids in Canton couldn't make a plan without calling him first."

Sandy is just as popular, if what her Wellesley students and friends are planning for Halvor is any indication. "She does such wonderful things for people," said Janet Shane of Wellesley, a friend and student of Hagen's for almost 17 years. "We just want to give back."

Olney said the desire to do something significant became much stronger after Sept. 11. This was a chance to help someone who was in need, at a time when there was so much uncertainty in the country. "Everyone wanted to do something," said Olney. "[In the Wellesley class] we're [all interconnected...I'll do anything for [Sandy]!"

After spending five weeks in a coma, a year undergoing intensive speech, and occupational and physical therapy at two separate hospitals in New Hampshire, Halvor returned home to Canton in March of this year. According to his mother, his rehabilitation has been a true "rebirth." He can talk again, his movement improves daily, and he is learning to write with his left hand for the first time. But most of all, said his mother, his spirit is intact.

"I never would have dreamed he's been able to handle this as he has," she said. "And he's dealing with it in such a positive way." Sandy said her son is intent on going back to graduate school for his criminal justice degree, that he was five credits shy of completing before the accident, at the end of October because he "joyously looks forward to his future," she said. "He tries not to get himself down, he's never angry, and he's the same sociable person who is always happy when others accomplish something," she said. In addition, "he's always known you have to work hard to get something, and he still knows," she said. "He has matured spiritually through this whole thing."

The committee for Halvor hopes the event in his honor will be a celebration, pure fun, and a time to start "dancing into the future."
"This is a family that needs a good time," Olney said. "We want people to come not just for Halvor, but to have a good time because it's going to be a good party."

The event for Halvor will be held on Oct. 4, [2002] 7:30 p.m., at Elm Bank, 900 Washington St., Route 16. For more information, to order tickets, or to provide a donation, call 617-926-1370, or visit www.hagendance.com.

Article from the Canton Citizen, April 11, 2002:

COURAGEOUS ACCIDENT VICTIM TRAVELS LONG ROAD TO RECOVERY

By Suzanne Doherty Hegland
Citizen Staff

April 11, 2002 - Nine days before Christmas, six months from earning his sergeant stripes, five credits short of a master's degree, Halvor Hagen's world was turned upside-down.

Looking back on life before the morning of December 16, 2000, Halvor says that he had "the world in my hands."

Twenty-four years old, he had returned home to Canton after graduating with a double major in history and Spanish from Troy State in Alabama. He was teaching nearly every day as a "permanent substitute" at his alma mater, Canton High School. One semester short of graduating with a master's degree in criminal justice from Anna Maria College in Milton, Halvor had already been contacted by police departments in California, New Hampshire and Connecticut.

Career on track, surrounded by family and friends who affectionately referred to him as the "mayor of Canton," life was indeed good for Halvor Hagen.

The Saturday morning that drastically changed Halvor's life began like so many others since he had graduated high school. After nearly six years as a Marine Reservist, he was accustomed to rising at 5 o?clock in the morning one weekend per month to participate in drills. He made himself a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios and set out for the one-hour drive to Fort Devens.

His feet crunching on the gravel of the family driveway, Halvor scraped the ice off his windshield his breath hanging like mist in the frigid morning air. Navigating the winding streets of the Algonquin neighborhood he had grown up in, he saw what looked like a patch of black ice on Green Lodge Road. That vision was the last thing Halvor would remember for the next several months.

His father, Halvor Hagen, Sr. fills in the blanks. His son's car hit that black ice, careened through the air and smashed directly into a telephone pole. Halvor hit the pole with such impact that it went straight through his windshield and penetrated his skull.

That morning would also change Mr. Hagen's life forever. He was awakened at dawn by a knock on the door. Two Canton police officers delivered the news that every parent dreads. Rushing to the Boston Medical Center, Halvor's father had to drive past his son's twisted car on Green Lodge Street. At the hospital he was told that his son was going to die.

Making matters more difficult was the fact that Halvor's mother and brother were 3,000 miles away in California. Gerrit Hagen was an actor, performing Shakespeare at the Pasadena Theatre. His mother, Sandy, was visiting him there when she received the phone call telling her the awful news. All her husband could tell her about their son was, "Well, he's still alive. You'd better come home fast."

Halvor's family was devastated by what awaited them at Boston Medical Center. Halvor lay battered and motionless in a hospital bed, hooked up to innumerable tubes and sensors. The doctors told them that the impact of the telephone pole had shattered his skull on the right side, causing his brain to crash against the left side of his head. He did not have a good prognosis for recover. Halvor scored a 3 on the Glasgow Coma Scale, based on his performance on the three main tests of eye opening and verbal and motor response. Given that the scale went from a low of 3 to a high of 15, this was the worst news possible.

During the five weeks that he was in a coma, Halvor had an endless stream of visitors and well-wishers. Students and staff at Canton High School visited the hospital in shifts, 24 hours a day. Only two people at a time were allowed to enter the hospital room. Often there were 30 or 40 kids in the hallway, keeping vigil. All of the doctors and nurses on the unit knew whom they were there to see.

Sandy constantly massaged her son's right arm and leg, which had begun pronating inwards, a sign of "posturing" indicating brain damage. To compensate, she put the mint condition Air Jordan basketball sneakers Halvor had intended to keep as "collectibles" on his feet. To this day, she remembers the strange sight of those bright red size 11 shoes floating incongruously on a sea of sterile white hospital sheets.

It would take five weeks for Halvor to slowly emerge from his coma. One afternoon, as Sandy was getting ready to leave for the day, her son suddenly reached up to her with his left arm, pulled her head close to his, and whispered, "stay." It was the beginning of a very long journey.

Halvor's rehabilitation became a full-time job. Shortly after being transferred to the Spaulding Rehabilitation Center, he began a routine of nearly around-the-clock therapy. His team of specialists included speech, occupational and physical therapists. The work was, and still is, both physically and emotionally taxing.

The rehab process has been nearly as tough on his parents who have advocated tirelessly for high quality therapy over simple maintenance. All of their reading on brain injuries told them that the first 18 months after the injury is crucial in "re-wiring" the brain circuitry.

Sandy Hagen was born and raised in New Orleans and still has a trace of Louisiana drawl when she speaks. With an irresistible combination of Southern charm and Cajun grit she has made sure that her son is pushed to reach his potential. Both of Halvor's parents have personal knowledge of the importance of physical conditioning. Sandy is a private dance instructor and personal trainer, and Halvor Hagen, Sr. was a professional football player. Their advocacy and research brought them to Lakeview NeuroRehabilitation in NH, one of the best such centers on the east coast.

Halvor's gradual awakening has been marked by bittersweet triumphs. Never a fan of low fat food, he begain complaining about his hospital diet as soon as he could talk. Sandy winks at him as she recalls what the doctors referred to as "Halvor's cheeseburger problem." Halvor's dad and brother join in laughing when she says, "I knew he was starting to wake up when he threw a tray of food at me!"

Yet there is pain in these memories. Although Havlor's physical condition had improved by the time he was transferred to the rehab center in New Hampshire, the emotional and psychological trauma had become even more difficult. His mother would visit every Wednesday and Thursday, and his father and brother would drive up every Saturday to bring him back to Canton for the weekend.

Halvor is not ashamed to admit, "I hadn't cried since I was 10 years old, but every Sunday I would cry to leave my parents." - At one point, the frustration at his limitations nearly drove him to suicide. "I was looking at the way life was before; I had the world and it was taken from me so drastically." He credits a mental health therapist at Lakeview for helping him to realize how lucky he was to be alive.

The Hagens are thankful that the enormity of their tragedy has not been compounded by financial worries. Since Halvor was en route to Reserve drills when his accident occurred, the Marines considered him on active duty, and have paid all his medical bills to date. The costs have been astronomical, totaling over a million dollars.

Halvor is overwhelmed not only by the financial support from the Marines, but by the friendship and loyalty they have shown in keeping in touch with him since the accident occurred. In fact, he knows that he could not have made this journey on his own. While he credits the Marines for giving him the physical strength to endure endless grueling hours of rehab, Halvor is even more deeply moved by the love and support he has received from his parents and brother.

Halvor began the next mile on his journey to recovery when he moved back to the family home in Canton last month. Now, he struggles with everyday problems like tackling the stairs to the second floor. It's true that his home does not have the high tech gadgets found in the rehab center, but he laughs as he explains that he has an extremely loud air horn that he blows whenever he needs help.

Even though he worries that he's not getting enough physical therapy as an outpatient, Halvor feels that he's back where he belongs. Wearing his Marine Corps T-shirt, he looks fit and happy, petting Rocky, the little Chihuahua he gave his parents just two weeks before the accident. Halvor's neighborhood friends come by to see him, and he's even gone back to one of his favorite old haunts, Rosarios, for a cheeseburger and beer.

Halvor Hagen may have lost some of his physical strength, but his winning personality and positive outlook have remained intact . He?s learned a lot from his ordeal, and has these words of advice that would make the Marines proud: "If you are ever presented with what seems like an impossible challenge, do your best - deal with it!"

Article from the Boston Globe, November 22, 2001:

FIGHTING SPIRIT AIDS RECOVERY
MARINE IN CRASH MAKES GAINS AFTER SUFFERING COMA, BRAIN INJURY

By Judith Forman, Globe Staff Correspondent

CANTON It was 6 a.m. on a cold Saturday last December and Halvor Hagen was running late for his Marine Reserves drill. As he scrambled out the door to Fort Devens in Ayer, his father, Halvor Hagen Sr., reminded him to be careful.

Fifteen minutes later, two police officers were at the Hagens' doorstep.

Less than a mile from his Canton home, the younger Hagen - then 24 - slid on a patch of black ice and wrapped his car around a telephone pole.

The officers were honest: it didn't look good for the Marine who himself dreamed of joining a police force. Hagen had cracked open the right side of his skull.

Halvor Hagen Sr. showered, shaved, and drove past the Greenlodge Street telephone pole to get to his son at Boston Medical Center. At the hospital, he was told to collect his family; Halvor's mother, Sandy, was in Los Angeles on vacation and his brother, Gerrit, was an actor living in Pasadena, Calif.

"Seeing him wasn't any relief because he was completely out and hooked up to every damn machine you could think of," recalled Halvor Hagen Sr., a former pro football player. "It was devastating."

For the next month, the son popular enough to be kiddingly called "the mayor of Canton" by his mother lay in a coma. When he woke up, Sandy Hagen said, her son couldn't swallow, eat, or remember anything about life before Dec. 16.

"I didn't even know my name or my parents or my brother, I didn't know anything," Halvor said in an interview last week at his Canton home.

He moved to Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston, where Sandy Hagen said "it took us months to solicit what we thought was a real response." It was at Spaulding that Halvor spoke his first words since coming out of the coma.

Sandy Hagen, a professional dancer and choreographer, was getting ready to leave her son one Friday afternoon late in April.

"He pulled me down with his left arm and hugged me and you could barely hear him and he said `Stay,' " she remembered. "And then all of a sudden he started talking and he could talk."

Of course, Sandy Hagen joked, when she called the doctor in to witness Halvor speak, her son would not say a word. She said the doctor told her, in so many words, that she was "nuts."

But the words continued to come and in July, Halvor moved to Lakeview Neurorehabilitation Center in Effingham Falls, N.H. He now spends weekdays there working with therapists - physical, occupational, and speech - to regain the skills he lost. Because he has little movement in the right side of his body, Halvor is also learning to write with his left hand. He practices walking, but mostly gets around in a red and black wheelchair.

"It's a full-time job - his eight-hour job a day is to come back," Sandy Hagen said. "We're always adjusting to losses in our lives. Hal's got one that hit him well before the sense of loss should really happen. But I think he's coping really well."

At Lakeview, all of his care is coordinated by program case manager Louis Laplante.

"He's very motivated to make improvements in his life," Laplante said, describing Halvor as friendly, cooperative, gentle, and soft-spoken. "He's just such a nice guy. You feel for him."

That doesn't mean the 1995 Xaverian High School graduate doesn't get fed up every now and then. All of his brain's "equipment" is there, Laplante explained, but the circuit paths that tell the brain what to do are damaged.

"It's really frustrating when I can't remember stuff I did when I was 2 years old," Halvor said.

Sandy Hagen drives nearly three hours each way to New Hampshire weekly to spend two days with Halvor. Every Saturday afternoon, his father or brother make the trip to Lakeview to bring him to Canton for the weekend.

Even when he's home, he's still working. Sandy Hagen makes sure Halvor rides an exercise bike on Saturdays. She also takes him swimming every Sunday.

"He really doesn't have a day off," she said.

There is some time for fun, though. Halvor spends his weekends watching football on television (he played ball at Troy State University in Alabama), going out to eat (he swears by the cheeseburgers at Rosario's in Canton), and seeing friends.

Last month, 150 friends and relatives celebrated Halvor's 25th birthday at a giant party in a Stoughton function hall. As Halvor slowly walked into the party without any help, his parents had "We are the Champions" blaring from the sound system.

He got a standing ovation.

"Even my dad was crying," Halvor said. "It was really good. It's as far as I ever walked."

The guests chipped in and gave Halvor money to buy something for his rehab. When he felt depressed recently, he and his mother re-read his birthday cards and looked at the party pictures.

Jen Mann, 23, of Canton, was at the party. She and Halvor have been friends since they were juniors in high school.

"It was just awesome," she said of the celebration. "You could see he had a smile on his face. He was so proud of himself."

Mann has watched Halvor's progress over the months. She spent many days visiting him in the hospital, sitting with him, reading to him, and making him watch her soap operas.

"Without fail, every time you walk out of there, you feel like a million dollars," she said. "He's given me more than I could ever give him."

Another regular visitor has been Michael Gring of Abington, the medical officer for the 1st Battallion 25th Marines, based at Fort Devens. Because Hagen was en route to a reserves drill when he crashed, his expenses are fully covered by the Marines. According to Gring, who handles all of Hagen's bills and expenses, the Marines have spent well over $500,000 on his recovery.

Gring - a medical officer of 29 years - was by Halvor's side three hours after the accident.

"He was knocking on death's door," Gring said "It was spooky. But this kid has crawled and pulled his way through. At any step along this way, Halvor could have given up. He's really got a fighting chance."

Both Gring, and his wife, Shirley, a nurse, visit Halvor at Lakeview, bringing him Marine T-shirts and posters. They also attended his birthday party.

"It's a band of brothers," Gring said of the Marines. "I do it because this kid sort of taught me a little bit about life, not to quit on anything, not to give up. He taught me some stuff."

It's been recommended that Halvor be retired from the Marines for medical reasons. By the end of the year, Gring said, the retirement should be official.

Yet, Gerrit Hagen, now 22, is stepping in to take his brother's place. He is set to leave for boot camp in South Carolina on Monday; Halvor's goal is to make it to his brother's boot camp graduation in 12 weeks.

Gerrit said he never would have thought about joining the Marines before Halvor's accident. But six months after the crash, he took Halvor to a Marine Corps family day that changed his mind.

Seeing the close-knit Marines and "the way they've taken care of him . . . that really touched me," Gerrit Hagen said. Right after the accident, he returned to Canton from California and stayed to help care for his brother.

"It's weird for me because [Halvor] has always been the older brother," Gerrit Hagen said. "He was always in charge and now the role has kind of changed a little bit. I worry about him being OK in certain social situations so I sort of hover over him a little bit. It's weird to be helping him."

Laplante said that Halvor is often apologetic about needing help at Lakeview. But eventually, Laplante said, Halvor should be able to hold a job, walk with some kind of cane, and drive a car. He also may be able to live on his own.

"I'm a fighter," Halvor said. "I never lost a fight in my life. I don't plan on losing one now."

Laplante agreed that "it's not going to be the same as before. "His life has changed, there's no doubt about it . . . [but] he has the motivation and the drive and the personality" to succeed, he added.

Sandy Hagen wanted to make sure her son would never have to worry about money. So she sold her Boston dance studio and bought Halvor some property in her native New Orleans, where he can either live himself or eventually rent. It was hard to sell the studio, she said, but because it's for Halvor, "you don't even think about it."

Hal Hagen Sr. echoed the same thoughts. Always an athlete, he has given up his Saturday night hockey games and weekends spent at the golf course to be with his son.

It's not a problem, he said, because "I'd rather be with Halvor."

Judith Forman can be reached by e-mail at jforman@globe.com.