Manhattan, KS : Boy injured in car wreck returns to school on April, Friday 14th 2017

A Manhattan teenager who suffered a traumatic brain injury car wreck recently returned to school.

Devin Busick, originally a Eisenhower Middle School student, was severely injured in a car accident on his way to school.

Busick, who is now 15, was flown by helicopter to Stormont-Vail Hospital in Topeka and eventually became a patient at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital, a traumatic brain injury medical center in Lincoln, Nebraska.

After spending about 10 weeks at the rehab hospital, Busick left the hospital March 9 and returned to school, now at Anthony Middle School, the following week. Vickie Kline, the school’s principal, said Devin switched schools because AMS has certain programs for him to continue his education at his skill level.

Tiarra Harris, Busick’s mother, said he initially started going to school for half days but is now going back to full time. He also works on his speech and therapy at Via Christi Hospital.

“He’s doing amazing,” Harris said. “I would say he’s about 80 percent (from where he was).”

During his time at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital, Devin worked on physical therapy to allow his brain relearn to control the movements of his body. Sarah Economides, a physical therapist for the rehab hospital, said when he was first admitted he couldn’t hold his head up or follow commands.

He worked through several programs and therapy machines, such as a machine the held him up as he relearned how to stand under his own power. He made quick progress and was able to walk with some minor assistance and feed himself when he left the hospital. He was even able to begin shooting hoops again.

“Devin made amazing progress while he was here,” she said.

Along with his physical therapy, Devin also worked in educational programs. Nova Adams, an educational liaison for the rehab hospital, said he wasn’t able to work on any academics when he first arrived. But once he was able to understand and follow directions, he entered the rehab hospital’s education program. He worked one on one with a teacher on basically everything, she said.

One of the first activities was asking him to spell his name. As he improved, the hospital gradually upped the difficulty until he was working reading, solving math problems and other academic practices.

“We basically started at the beginning and went up from there,” she said.

Adams said Devin will continue to recover through his educational programs in school. He has made a lot of progress, but they don’t know how long it may take for him to make a full recovery.

“When we talk about recovery from a brain injury, we just start where they are at and build from there,” she said. “It varies for each individual… You just work at the point you’re at and keep going from there.”

Economides said Devin made such good progress at the rehab hospital because he was motivated to work hard and he has a great support system.

“He attitude was always positive, and he was hard working,” she said. “His mom was here every step of the way… No matter how challenging a thing was we were asking her to do, she was up for it and so supportive of Devin.”

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Boy injured in car wreck returns to school