When Nathaniel was just twenty three years old he experienced a life changing car accident sending him into a coma for more than 6 days.  Nate was in college at purdue university where he was currently studying to get his masters degree in aerospace engineering.  On his was home one night just a few weeks after his twenty third birthday Nate was involved in a head on collision with a semi truck after having a few drinks at the bar just a few miles from home.  The semi truck was going slightly under the speed limit with nate doing about the same speed in his little Ford Focus, there was not much left of Nate's compact little car for it had been ripped to pieces by the overpowering force of the semi truck at speed. Knocked unconscious from the airbag and thrashed around from the sudden change of motion. Nates body went limp after all had stopped moving. Other cars started to slow and come to a stop after they realized what had just happened and how serious of a situation that had just been created.  The truck driver stumbled down the step and out of his truck which was up in smoke to collapse to his knees due to a knee injury sustained during the crash.  “Are you okay?!” Bystanders screamed as they ran towards the middle aged slightly overweight man cringing from the pain on the middle of the road.  “Someone call 911 now!” one man ordered as he ran to Nate's smashed up Focus.  He could tell Nate was in serious trouble when he failed to reply to his voice and had a very weak pulse as well as bruises and cuts everywhere from the broken glass windows in his car.  Minutes felt like hours as the citizens waited for the emergency services to arrive.  Just thirteen minutes after the phone call ambulances had started arriving on the scene of the accident. Nathaniel was removed from his car and put onto a stretcher by the paramedics he was then loaded onto the ambulance and rushed to the hospital.
By the time the ambulance got to the hospital Nate had been unconscious for more than 40 minutes and was completely unresponsive to any of the medical staff. Nate laid in a hospital bed lifeless for the rest of the night undergoing numerous tests and procedures to help get him back to normal.  The next afternoon his parents had been contacted and were already on their way to the hospital to see their beloved son.  Doctors concluded that he had suffered a blow to the head and other blunt force trauma from the crash and has been sent into a coma.  The doctors chose to continue on waiting for Nate to wake up, partly because his mother would not let them discuss other options like pulling the plug on Nathan's life.  Sitting for days his mother would not leave his side and Nate's dad had to go out and bring food back for his wife who was stuck in denial.  After days of constant grief and no sleep Nate's hand started twitching, exited as the day he was born his mother screamed for the nurse to come running in to see if this was a hopeful sign that Nate would soon recover. The Doctors ran more tests on nates brain to discover increased brain activity since his admittance to the emergency room days ago.  This discovery was an amazing sign of home for Nates life and his entire family.  His parents knew that they should not get their hopes raised too much for they knew the worst could always happen and the odds weren't necessarily in their favor. Just less than thirty six hours later Nate opened his eyes and was able to respond to the commands of the doctors and other medical professionals. Both his mother and father were finally able to go back to their hotel together and sleep for the first time in days for Nate's mother who had been running on 4 hours of sleep in an uncomfortable non-reclining chair.  Rest assured his mother slept in the next morning and felt like a new woman when she heard the news that Nathan was able to speak again. Neither of them could wait to get to the hospital so they skipped breakfast and rushed to talk to their son once again. Tears of joy fountained from both of Nate's parents eyes as his father brought his mother in tight for a hug and finally brought Nathan in for a group hug.  For the next few days Nathan was in an extreme rehab program for accident victims just like him where he would begin to learn his words and motor skills again.  After he was released from the hospital his parents took him back home where he would be able to rest and recover as well as attend all of his rehab sessions. Nate was in a wheelchair for this part of his rehab so he was not able to drive himself to his physical therapy. Nate was driven to therapy three times a week by either his mother or his father. He completed multiple exercises every time he had a session but his favorite by far was walking on a treadmill in a pool because he was quite excited to be able to feel himself walk again. For weeks he completed these sessions but the healing process took so long that Nathan started to get discouraged and thought that he'd never be the same again. Depression started kicking in and Nate refused to go to his rehab and didn't talk or come out of his room for hours at a time. Finally his parents were able to convince him to give it another shot and that they truly believed he would be able to fully recover if he kept putting his effort towards his therapy. Nathan kept active and going to his therapy sessions three times a week and soon two and then once a week he would see a physical therapist.  Nathan was so incredibly happy with the recovery he had made and results that came from all of his hard work, he was forever grateful to his parents for making him help himself. All in all Nathan learned a huge life lesion about never giving up and became much closer with his family.