FOUNTAIN VALLEY : 2nd Chance for Diploma--and Life

For Roger Rodecker, getting a high school diploma had become almost a secondary consideration. On most days, just getting to school was a struggle.

Three years ago, Rodecker, 21, was riding on the back of a motorcycle driven by a co-worker from Knott’s Berry Farm when it slammed into a van, leaving him critically injured and comatose. The severe cuts and head injuries he suffered left him with brain damage.

Now, after two years of relentless re-education in Fountain Valley High School’s multiple handicapped program, Rodecker has passed the school district’s proficiency test in language arts, math and reading, and will receive his high school diploma today.

“It’s about time,” said Rodecker, who lives with his family in Fountain Valley. “It seemed like forever.”

Rodecker doesn’t remember hitting the van or falling onto the street after the crash, which occurred when he was a junior at Fountain Valley High. That year was completely erased by the accident.

But he didn’t lose many memories of happier days at the school, making his return there that much more difficult.

“I miss doing everything I used to do, like driving and water polo,” said Rodecker, who also performed in the school’s choir before the accident. “I see myself doing those things. But I know I can’t do them any more.”

“It’s hard for anyone to come back to school after such head injuries,” said Michelle Schuller, who teaches students with disabilities at the school. “But added to the physical injuries is the fact that all of his other friends have gone on to college and gone on with their lives. He had to stay on and relearn everything.”

The road back to finishing high school has, indeed, been an often difficult one.

Rodecker struggled through physical therapy, where he learned how to speak and walk again. Because of brain damage, he has had a difficult time with short-term memory, requiring constant tutoring in courses that require memorization. His speech remains slurred. His right hand, which was mangled in the crash, is just starting to respond normally. And he can’t sing tenor any more because a tracheotomy injured his vocal cords.

Rodecker still faces threatening seizures. He has to wear a medical bracelet detailing his injuries. This year, he suffered two seizures while he was with his family, including one that lasted 40 minutes, said his mother, Diane Darnbrough.

But Rodecker’s family has seen dramatic improvements as well.

“When I see him laughing or accomplishing something he couldn’t do a year ago, I’m proud,” Darnbrough said. “I think about how he couldn’t even hold a pen. And now he’s working on minute details. He’s going to make it.”