40 | LEHIGH ALUMNI BULLETIN LHe had ridden his skateboard around the Lehigh campus and surrounding neighborhood countless times—making the trip from his friend’s house on Pierce Street to his home on East Fifth Street in South Side Bethlehem regularly—and had collected superficial scratches, bumps and bruises over the years. But nothing would prepare him for what would unfold on that fateful night in 2021. En route, Nic skirted around the side of an oncoming car, but got too close to the curb, which stopped his board under him. He was thrust forward, hitting his head and shoulder on the curb. A person on the sidewalk called out to make sure he was okay. “Yeah, I think I’m alright,” he responded. About a minute later, he stood up and rode the rest of the short way home. When Nic got home, he told Owen Adlerstein ’23, his roommate and Sigma Phi Delta fraternity brother, he had fallen. Not thinking much of it, Adlerstein responded, “Big surprise,” as it was common for Nic to fall off his skateboard. Nic grabbed an ice pack and headed upstairs to his room. Nic was in an induced coma to help stabilize him after emergency surgery. While upstairs, Nic realized he did not feel normal and called Walker Robinson ’22, his “big” from his fraternity. With urgency, Robinson called fellow fraternity brother David Rawley ’23, who drove to Nic’s house with another fraternity brother, Alex Romanowski ’23. “I just remember being really hot and moving to my floor in front of my AC because the air blowing on me felt nice,” Nic says. “That’s all I remember because my brain was being squished by blood.” When his fraternity brothers got there, they found Adlerstein upstairs with Nic trying to figure out what happened. “We were not sure what was going on, but we could tell something wasn’t right,” Rawley said. “Very quickly we started to realize Nic’s rapidly getting worse in terms of his mental perception, ability to respond and his coherence. He said something about hitting his head and his shoulder really hurting. The second I realized this was a head impact injury, I thought, ‘We’re going to St. Luke’s [University] Hospital immediately.’” Rawley’s truck was outside idling, and he didn’t want to risk waiting for an ambulance. The three brothers picked Nic up, who kicked, flailed and grabbed onto door frames, crying out that he just wanted to go to sleep. “The last few flights of stairs, he just went limp,” Rawley said. “He very quickly was deteriorating, and that put a big sense of urgency on the situation.” Romanowski and Adlerstein sat in the bed of the truck while Rawley drove and tried to keep Nic responsive as he sat in the passenger seat. About 30 seconds after pulling away, Nic became unresponsive. Rawley yelled for Romanowski, who climbed through the truck’s back window. “He began to check his pulse, check his pupils, trying to make sure he’s alive at this point,” Rawley said. “(Romanowski) was screaming at Nic, trying to get a response, and we were getting nothing. That’s when we started to panic, and I started laying on the horn and running through red lights to get there as fast as possible.” Nic Altenderfer ’23 underwent a four-month recovery process that included three surgeries and inpatient and outpatient rehab. He wore a helmet for six weeks. ROAD TO RECOVERY Late on a Wednesday night, in the first week of his junior year, Nic Altenderfer ’23 rode his skateboard home after visiting a few friends. Nic was moved into inpatient rehab at Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Center.
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