Car and truck accidents, even minor ones, have the potential to be devastating, life-altering events. Many victims who survive a crash are left with a brain injury that can require intensive rehabilitation and lifelong care. Recently, one victim’s progress in rehabilitation made headlines here in California, highlighting the complications that can accompany this condition.
The victim was a surfer who took up the sport at the age of eight and, within a few years, was winning national recognition. He soon picked up snowboarding as well. But, an accident while snowboarding left him with a serious brain injury in an area of his brain that often proves fatal.
Defying all expectations, the boy emerged from a coma after a few weeks and was able to make some basic signs and type with one hand. However, he and his family soon learned that this type of brain injury would mean that he’d have to learn skills all over again from eating to walking and even talking. The family spent four months together at a hospital obtaining specialized care before returning to California.
The injured boy continues to show incredible signs of progress, but any brain injury victim will find that the costs of therapy and medical care can be the “other side of the coin.” Funds have been raised online and from within the surfing community for this particular young patient, but victims who suffer a brain injury in a motor vehicle accident have another course of action available to them: a personal injury lawsuit. Compensation obtained in this manner from a negligent driver can help ensure that family members can pursue all of the treatment options and long-term rehabilitation that will be needed to help the patient recover.