(Kennesaw State University) – When senior Michael Wolcott suffered a traumatic brain injury in a near-fatal car accident, doctors feared he might never wake up.
However, following months of intense physical therapy and with the support of his friends and family, Wolcott returned to Kennesaw State University in May to begin the final six classes needed to earn his management degree from the Michael J. Coles College of Business.
With the summer semester starting less than a week after the one-year anniversary of his accident, Wolcott’s ability to walk back into the classroom on his own is an important personal victory, one that not long ago seemed impossible. “I’m excited about getting to experience the art of going to class again and working with other students,” Wolcott says.
At 1:32 am on May 23, 2017, Wolcott’s life changed forever.
He was riding in the backseat of his friend’s car on Merritt Road in Marietta when the accident occurred. The car slid off the road on a rain-soaked curve and fell down a 20-foot embankment, landing on its roof.
While Wolcott suffered no injuries to his body, he did sustain what doctors diagnosed as a severe diffuse axonal injury, or DAI, characterized by lesions spread over a large portion of the brain. According to research published in 2006, more than 90 percent of patients diagnosed with severe DAIs never emerge from a persistent vegetative state. CONTINUE