Natural athlete. Great footwork. Fluid movement. That's what reporters would say about Dain Dillingham in high school. The two-sport star could fly. Some colleges wanted him for basketball, others for football. But they wanted him.
Now that seems like a lifetime ago.
That was long before those sure feet went the wrong direction. In 2013, he was on Capitol Hill with friends, and a beautiful August night beckoned them to the rooftop.
Seattle was glistening. Then, one wrong step. Backwards.
The eight foot fall ended with a snap. His C-5 vertebra shattered.
His life was not over, but it was different than he planned.
Dain was about to start a new job in Walla Walla. He was following the path of his brother Dreux. That was a surprise to no one. The Dillingham brothers--six years separate them, but that's about all. Where there was one, there was the other. Dain says, "Mom said from the minute I was born, it seemed I was more his child than hers."
They were raised in Lawrence, Kansas, but Dreux eventually chased a girl out to Washington. He lost her, but he found his dream: making wine. And Dain saw how passionate his big brother was about working outside, about learning the craft and creating something people could enjoy. He was hooked too. He had just landed a job as an assistant wine maker. Then, he was paralyzed.
"It was tough," Dain says. "I was such an independent person. I had just taken that job. Then, to be dependent and vulnerable and have to ask for help from people -- was hard."
He never had to ask his brother. Dreux immediately dropped everything to become his caregiver. For years he had watched his brother run circles around opponents. Now he puts socks on those feet. "It's tough, " Dreux admits. "Sometimes you feel exhausted and maxed out. But you just do what you do. You do the right thing. You try to do your best."
They got that from their mom. She's the executive director for a non-profit assisting and counseling sexual assault survivors. As Dain says, "We learned a lot of our spirit and life lessons from her."
That spirit does more than love. It fights. And now it's bottled. The Dillingham brothers have produced their first wine together: Carter Lamour Chardonnay.
It is a product of their love, and a weapon in their fight. The goal is to reach independence for Dain, physical and financial. Dain's no longer following Dreux. They are side by side.
Vintage Dillingham.
Cox Media Group
