SPRING 2023 | 41 AT THE HOSPITAL His fraternity brothers carried Nic into the St. Luke’s emergency room. The hospital staff immediately realized the urgency of Nic’s injuries and began tending to him. Rawley recalled seeing more and more medical staff rushing down the hallway, pulling on pairs of gloves and masks. He said their behavior underscored the seriousness of the situation. One of the doctors let out an expletive upon checking Nic’s pupils, as one was dilated and one was not. “I don't know exactly what that means, but that was something that scared the doctors, so that really scared me,” Rawley said. “I really wish I had gotten further away before I heard that.” The three fraternity brothers sat in the waiting room not knowing if Nic would be alive the next time someone walked through the hospital doors. When they saw the hospital chaplain come out to talk to them, they assumed the worst. Nic was in critical condition and had been rushed into emergency surgery, the chaplain said. He didn’t know what Nic’s chances of survival were, but he told the fraternity brothers if they had waited a few minutes longer to get Nic to a hospital, he likely wouldn’t have survived. Rawley said they knew all they could do was hope and pray—and get in contact with Nic’s parents, who live a little under two hours away in central Pennsylvania. Jonah Gibson ’24, a friend of Nic’s sister, Gionna Altenderfer, and his fraternity “little,” called Nic’s mom, Brenda Altenderfer, and told her Nic had been taken to the hospital after a fall. Brenda didn’t think much of it. “Nic’s fallen off his skateboard a million times without a helmet,” she says. “We figured just another fall.” Half an hour later Brenda received another call, this time from a doctor who asked her how far away she was from St. Luke’s hospital. Nic waves to his mom from his window at Good Shepherd. To pass the time after inpatient rehab, Nic went on daily walks with his mom and spent time reading. Nic with his dad, mom and sister Gionna “Isn’t he going to make it?” Brenda asked jokingly. “I don’t know if he is,” the doctor responded. “The chaplain will meet you at the front door.” Brenda’s instinct was to pray and stay positive, repeating to herself that he was going to be okay. “I just kept thinking, if he’s alive when we get there, everything will be okay,” she says. “God, just give him back to us—no matter how you give him to us, we don’t care, we’ll take him. Just let him be alive.” NIC’S FAMILY ARRIVES Brenda, her husband and Gionna met the chaplain at the door and Nic’s friends in the waiting room. She asked Gibson if Nic was alive, to which he responded, “I can’t tell you.” “My heart just dropped,” Brenda says. “But then, I could tell from their faces, I didn’t think Nic was dead.” The chaplain took the Altenderfers into a small chapel and explained that Nic was alive and coming out of surgery, but the next 48 hours would be crucial. Brenda says Nic had ruptured a vessel inside of his head during his fall and was suffering a brain bleed. He had an epidural hematoma over his right temporal lobe, which required a craniotomy, in which a part of his skull was removed. Nic’s family was finally able to see him around 6 in the morning. Nic was in an induced coma to help stabilize him. “Even though he was all hooked up and in a coma, I just knew he was going to be okay,” Brenda says, choking back tears. “I just kept thinking, when he was a little kid, he was so inquisitive. Every five seconds, ‘Mom, what's that? How does that work?’ Every single thing. He would build stuff, and he would do mischie- “ I LOVE THEM ALL. ... THEY SAVED MY LIFE.” —Nic Altenderfer ’23
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