b'Thoughts of what ifConnor and his family No experience could implant make their home. this much drive.Hurt and despair createA message from above, deep questions of why? and permanent.Struggles of each day summonNew importance given to the insurmountable feelings. smallest parts.A life altered in aA Passageway, skipping ado-single moment lescences normal route.Connor had to start nearlyWith the help of his rehabili-from scratch. Walking, talking,tation staff and the unwavering reading, writing, eating, andsupport of his family, Connor other common daily tasks hadpressed forward, focusing on to be completely relearned.the things he could do and con-In Connors initial physicaltinuously building on them. A therapy session, it took fiveyear after his injury, Connor re-therapists just to get him upturned to high school. He was on his hands and knees. Connorsstill using a wheelchair and wearing mother recalls the pain expressed ina helmet at the time, but gradually that moment being unlike any she had ever seen from him.progressed from various heights of walkers to using a cane, Then, there was cognitive rehabilitation. In one of his firsteventually walking with no adaptive equipment at all. sessions, Connor was asked to read the alphabet. He couldRegaining my mobility, although my gait was no longer only make it to the letter G.considered normal, was a huge confidence booster that The rest of the alphabet was like a foreign language Ivepropelled me to continue creating goals for my recovery, never seen before, he says. Connors teacher then askedhe remembers.him to tell her what time it was. He looked at the clock,And continue he did. Connor graduated from high school but had no idea how to read it. Many would see this as aand went on to earn his Bachelors Degree in psychology. He discouraging sign, but Connors teacher and his motherhas gone from being unable to walk to completing multiple saw it differently. He couldnt read the clock, but he knew5Ks; from being unable to read or write, to taking up poetry what it was and knew what it did. This was cause for hope. as a hobby and means of self-expression. The preceding lines of poetry interspersed in this article are excerpts of a poem Conner wrote during his recovery. Connor is even riding continued next pageConnors first post-rehab release outing5 The Noggin | 2020vol 5issue 2'