Page 9A
nday, August 27, 2001
ay, August 21'.
Campus
THE BATTaJL)N
r\ nki^Continuedfrom Page 1A
^VHij^rnstock was trapped for
fen hours beneath the fallen
5 feet past the Ik Ik Logs lay across his
j 12 teet for :| v j S5 his right bicep and over
ar putt was tni;j|j| ace The only internal
jutt for the vi, an damage he experienced
right lip. H S p[j t liver from the fall,
»th pros ided. j his right wrist and left
par whon yg were crus hed. His right
is tee shot in fy as tw i stet i L1 p a t an angle
mi little chance, ji's head.
11 1 t ’ e ‘ airwa f»i hands and knees near
relief because■jj sarra y ec j pjjg 0 y logs,
, VVJ ^ el T, eer Bgency crews could see
110 a f' Te_ Rtock with a flashlight
beautiful bump-O j wa§ in a gutter ^ he
et and madepariy When he was finally
1 1 " tiled from the stack and
. .. , shed to College Station
iry c tppedoia» ca j (3 enter Comstock
eet on No. 13. ,. u ^
34.- . u- a- ' u l lt sense enough emer-
toot birdie pur,OT t
, r.ct room statt hovering
■id him to know his con-
tiou was serious.
■hey told me, ‘We’re
k to shoot you up,’ and 1
i , k ^ ‘OK- if I don’t make it,
i' hfprhe J t rM n y family I love them,’ ”
les later he retrPJ.j f ,
■id. A whole month and a
l t - .• KB turned into a second. I
. r ‘ oki up before New Year’s.”
t trom the fn» ^. , ,,
•, short, a ndF.l“ mst ° ck recalls
_ | tople who visited him in the
" nq11cino tn *|i ca i Center in the days
, pausing to r f ^ J
; soina in. « :fore he regained con-
)arput'i.andF. :lousne “- B p< f”™ 081 of
ie month-and-a-half he was
up on the 625-1 1 J coma ’ he recalls nothing
; hitting firs’ iCi “crazy morphine dream
k to 8 feet.T 0 -”
d with antic,:: Sar g e nns amputated
.ere even loodei s ,ett le S above the
ived as the unde- nee and removed dying tis-
1 shown all da;
•ad with a ho
i Furyk’s putt-
Zale Lipshy University
Hospital in Dallas, near his
hometown of Richardson.
Therapists at Zale devoted
Comstock to rehabilitation.
He was finally released in
April 2000, but Comstock’s
time at home was yet another
ground for recovery. He con
tinued outpatient therapy five
days a week, learning how to
maneuver in a wheelchair and
how to pull together the
strength to walk, a few steps
at a time, with the assistance
of a walker and prosthetic
leg. His therapy dropped to
44
He wears out, but
he’s not down. A lot
of people would
have been very hit
ter, hut his attitude
throughout all this is
that he’s go to do
what he’s got to do.
Dixie Comstock
John’s mother
the day. wt
ie from his legs and but-
>ed 2 inches • underwent more
peries than can be counted,
’s birdiepunsli; e [ said ' tellin g of a surgery
Wbods'mtirt^ted days, with a break
1 the stage w^l rn, S ht when stiltt wrapped
. w Im in plastic while the sur-
; conclusion, r , ^
|bn slept.
■he log that had been
■—■weighing on Comstock’s
■yWfWfWjpelvis caused nerve damage
that left him with no feeling
hair salon ^j s wa i s t The nerves
Haircuts
Perms
•lor
:es
s/owJy began to regrow and he
i now feel everything above
ankle, he said.
After regaining conscious-
Comstock remained in
intensive care unit at the
ical Center for 40 days
‘ore being transferred to
three times a week, then two,
before being bumped back up
to three. Once right-handed,
he had to learn to write with
his left hand, the hand that
was free during the seven
hours he was under the fallen
stack.
His hopes of coming back
to A&M in Spring 2001 were
delayed when therapists decid
ed he needed more time at the
advanced Dallas facility.
Instead, Comstock attended
Richland Community College
near home and gathered 24
credit hours toward his degree
at A&M.
Comstock’s mother, Dixie,
said her son never gave up.
“He wears out, but he’s not
down,” she said. “A lot of peo
ple would have been very bit
ter, but his attitude throughout
all this is that he’s got to do
what he’s got to do.”
Comstock simply says it
is a waste of energy for him
to be angered by what has
happened.
“I have to spend my energy
towards rehabilitation and
getting back to where I was,
not in being upset about an
accident,” he said. “Besides,
I’m going to light [Bonfire]
2002. It won’t be the same,
but it’ll be something ... one
of those things to help people
get over the collapse.”
Coming back to school for
the fall and “getting away from
me again,” his mother said
laughing, is the greatest step
Comstock has taken in his
recovery. Her son is learning
how to walk again, how to
write again and how to drive
again, and he is “absolutely
elated,” she said.
“I know he loves it down
there,” she said, explaining
that her biggest worries for
him were when he got back
behind the wheel this year. “I
know he has a million numbers
he can call, and a million peo
ple who would come whenev
er he needs them.”
Today, Comstock attends
physical therapy three times a
week at A.R Beutel Health
Center and can only walk in
short bursts of energy. He
tires easily. But his sense of
humor shines when he talks
about being back on campus,
especially in a wheelchair.
“The hardest thing is get
ting around in this chair,” he
said. “You have to take these
flight patterns to get to class. It
can be bad, especially to get
there and realize that now I
have to go all the way around
again to get in.”
“But I just want to get
better, finish my education,”
he added, “and get out into
the world.”
Now a junior, Comstock
bears the scars of something
the Aggie family always will
mourn. But like the energetic
freshman he once was,
Comstock has something
emblazoned on him to show
his pride in his school and
everything he’s gone
through.
A few days before he
moved back to College
Station, Comstock got a tattoo:
over his shoulder blade, if he
will show you, is a 4-inch tall,
3-inch wide Bonfire, with the
words “The 13th Man” written
underneath.
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