HC student ‘good to go’ after accident

reprinted from the Hastings Tribune TONY HERRMAN therrman@hastingstribune.com BLUE HILL — Jason Kort was little more than two weeks removed — and just out of a coma — from a near-fatal car accident this time last year. At 12:15 a.m., Feb. 1, 2009, he was driving a black 2002 four-door Oldsmobile when he lost control of the vehicle and drove off the left side of Showboat Road. The vehicle rolled and Jason was ejected. He wasn’t wearing a seat belt. He suffered six broken ribs, a severe head injury, collapsed lungs and deep abrasions through the muscle of his hip. He was also in a coma for 10 days. An ambulance took Jason to Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital where he was air lifted to BryanLGH in Lincoln. He was in the BryanWest ICU for three weeks, then spent three weeks as a patient at Madonna Rehabilitation Center, followed by months of physical therapy at Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital. “(It was the) toughest year of my life,” he said during an interview last week. “To be honest, I don’t really remember a lot of it.” Jason, now 22, had just begun his final semester at Hastings College when his accident occurred. He resumed classes this last fall. His mother, Nancy, said the last year almost doesn’t feel real. “Right now, I look back and it almost seems like a dream, but it’s not — it’s reality,” she said. “Gosh, how’d we do it? We had a tremendous amount of support.” Now, the only physical sign of Jason’s accident is that the last joint on his left thumb is missing. Jason knocked his thumb against table, which sounded like wood striking the table. “I can’t feel that,” he said. Skin was grafted from the index finger on that hand to give the thumb some cushion. That index finger in turn received a skin graft from his groin. He sill is experiencing problems with short-term memory loss and is undergoing vision therapy. “I didn’t notice my vision, but I guess I’m not a doctor,” he said. “I think what (Dr. Steven) Nicholson has been saying is that I’m pretty much done. I’ve had pretty good improvement and I’m about done with therapy.” Jason admitted that he is a little surprised at how thoroughly he’s recovered. He’s resumed classes and is in the process of obtaining a degree in exercise science. “With the classes, I’ve found it’s taken a lot more time to study cause I can’t remember much so it’s taken a lot more time when I have a quiz or an exam or something,” he said. Over the January term, Jason took biomechanics and kinesiology against the advice of his therapists. He said it was the toughest class he’s taken at the college. Nancy said it wound up being a good decision. “I was a little skeptical, when you have therapists saying that for him,” she said. “But he worked really hard and he spent a lot of time studying. He put his mind to it.” During that class he took an online five-question quiz each day. “I used to be able to read through it once, write certain stuff down and take the quiz and do fine,” he said. “I found myself reading four or five times to make sure. It’s just something you have to deal with. It hasn’t been easy, but I expected that.” Jason is taking six hours in this his final semester at HC. When he’s not studying, Jason spends a handful of evenings each week refereeing junior varsity or middle school basketball games and then covering varsity basketball games for the Blue Hill Leader newspaper. For the last six months or so Jason also has worked at Thramer’s Food Center in downtown Blue Hill. Tim Thramer, who owns the grocery store, said Jason is conscientious, thoughtful, fun to be around and exceptional as an employee. Thramer said how quickly and completely Jason recovered is a little surprising, but taking his personality into account it also makes sense. “Once you get to know him just a little bit it becomes clear that that’s what going to happen,” Thramer said. “He’s a very determined person I believe. It is a little bit (surprising), but if he approached that scenario after his accident like most situations I see him approach — then, not really.” Jason is also obtaining a sports writing minor. He’s preparing to send out his finished résumé to potential employers. “I’d like to find a personal training job, wherever I’m at and then maybe a stringer for some newspaper and cover some sports stories is what I’d like,” he said. “But who knows what will happen.” Whatever Jason chooses to do, Thramer said, he is going to be successful. “He’s obviously a bright young man who, for whatever reason, has had challenges placed in his way,” he said. “He is extremely resourceful and the future looks very bright for him.” Jason learned a lesson from his experience. “Oh yes, you won’t see me without my seat belt on,” he said. Both Jason and Nancy credited the love and prayers of family and friends across country for his recovery. Nancy said the family is thankful Jason is where he is today. On Feb. 1, one year after the accident, Jason and his mother spent most of the day together. It was the first day of the spring semester at HC, but she took it off from work. That evening they went to the basketball games between Blue Hill and Lawrence-Nelson, which he covered for the Leader. “It was nice just to spend the day together,” Nancy said. One of her daughters had made a video to commemorate Jason’s journey toward recovery. “Parts of it were pretty tough,” Nancy said. “It was good. A lot of people said they looked back and forgot how bad it really was.” Assessing her son’s current status, Nancy said he’s not 100 percent “but he’s very close.” “I’m happy with where we’re at,” she said. “A year ago today, things were looking better, but they were still pretty grim.” Jason said he wouldn’t change anything about his recovery. “I wouldn’t want it to happen, but I think since it’s happened I wouldn’t change anything about it,” he said. “I’m good to go. I’m just like I used to be, I’d say.”