A teenager who was paralyzed after a tornado leveled his home in December, has recovered enough to walk out of the hospital just three months after the incident. On December 10th of last year, Kyle Koehn’s home in Dresden, Tennessee, was completely leveled by a devastating tornado. The 14-year-old fractured nearly every vertebrae in his back and lost feeling in the lower half of his body.
When Kyle was admitted to Ranken-Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, his physician, Dr Connie Simmons, knew his recovery would be difficult, but she also “knew this was a kid that was going to fight hard." The teen soon realized that learning to walk again was going to be difficult, but his team at Ranken-Jordan was pushing him. “They’ll make you do stuff that you think is really hard," Kyle recalls. "But they’ll make you do it."
After three months of intense physical therapy and lots of hard work, he was finally able to walk out of the hospital. Kyle’s school chartered a bus and more than two dozen of his friends and family were there when he was discharged. The teen is grateful for his team of doctors and therapists, who’ve become like family. “They’ve been wonderful,” he says. “Couldn’t ask for better.” And while his recovery is far from over, his doctor is hopeful he’ll be able to "return to some fun teenage activities" soon.
Source: Today
Photo: Getty Images