From a Coma to an Honors Student

From WSAZ News Channel 3  in Huntington, WV:

“Thirteen years ago, doctors didn’t think Nathaniel Cheek would still be alive. Four years ago, he didn’t know how to read.

But Thursday, he walked across the stage to be inducted into the National Technical Honor Society.

‘Nathaniel Cheek. Rock Hill High School. Forensic Science,’ were words no one thought possible 13 years ago after Cheek and his family were involved in a car crash on March 10, 2005 in Hillsboro, Ohio.

Nathaniel was just a boy.

‘He’s amazing. He fought,’ said his mother Marsha Sly who was in the car, as well.

Sly shared with us a picture of his brain which she said shows the whole right side is dead.

In the hospital, she remembers telling him, “Nathaniel, let me know you’re in there.”

That’s when he raised his arm for her twice, in the sign language his sister had been teaching him.

Doctors couldn’t believe it.

‘I said ‘do it again,’ ‘ Sly said. ‘He brought it up a little stronger. (The doctor) says ‘He’s in there. He’s in there.’ ‘

It’s been a long hard road. The traumatic brain injury or TBI made him like an infant, unable to even sit up.”

To read more of Nathaniel’s amazing story, and how he went from being illiterate to being a National Technical Honor Society inductee, click here.