Comeback Kid

After seven months in a coma, 17-year-old Brant Theurer of Palmdale finally smiled.

It was his first sign of consciousness since a car wreck two years ago on his way home from a summer football tournament.

Beginning the day he smiled, in February 1996, Brant began the long process of relearning everything, from speaking to moving his thumb. His mother, Mary Theurer, said his progress has been remarkable, especially because emergency room physicians had given him only hours to live.

The teenager is not the only one learning, his mother said.

“A lot of times, parents don’t even know their kids until they have a major catastrophe come up,” she said. “I didn’t know what he was made of. He has really pulled himself up by the bootstraps. He is determined to do everything he possibly can.”

Mary Theurer said the same determination that earned him top grades and the position of captain of the Paraclete High School football team now serves him in learning to regain his independence.

“Once we went to Wal-Mart and I parked in the handicapped spot and put up the placard on the dashboard,” she said. “He started shaking his fist and pounding on his knee.”

Pointing to letters on a laminated alphabet chart he carries with him, Brant spelled out: “I’m not handicapped, Mom.”

“He’s got this determination inside of him,” Mary said. “His goal is to be able to give his wheelchair away and to finish college. He wants to be a doctor.”

Apart from his physical challenges, Brant has changed in other ways as well.

One day after returning to school last month, he sat outside the classroom door and wouldn’t budge. When his teacher asked him why, Brant told her that he wanted to greet each classmate.

Brant waited for the last student before entering the classroom.