42 | LEHIGH ALUMNI BULLETIN vous stuff—not super naughty, but he would climb up a 20-foot tree. He was just that kid. He’s special. And, I just knew he was going to make it.” When he was eventually brought out of his coma, Nic remembers being disoriented. “At first I was like, ‘Where am I?’ I was in the hospital room, restricted to the bed. I tried to break out and exhausted myself and passed out. The next time I woke up, they told me what happened. All I could think about was getting out of there and going back to school and normal life.” Brenda said each time Nic woke up while in the ICU, it was like the movie “Groundhog Day.” Unaware of the extent of his injuries, he would swear, scream out in pain and question why he was in the hospital and not being helped back to Lehigh. “When you have that kind of brain injury, you just kind of say whatever you want. Your filter goes away,” Nic says. “I was saying a lot of funny things and making jokes and yelling at the nurses to put my Zoom class on the TV. My mom apologized to the nurses for me being so vulgar, and they were like, ‘That’s normal. We’re just happy he’s talking.’” After two days and Nic’s constant screams of being in pain, the doctors discovered Nic had broken his clavicle. They operated on his shoulder Saturday morning. The day of the surgery, the doctors told Brenda not to rush into the hospital from the Comfort Suites Bethlehem, where she was staying, as Nic would be sedated after his surgery. On her morning walk along the South Bethlehem Greenway, she received a call from a number listed as “St. Luke’s Hospital.” It was Nic calling to ask Brenda where she was—three times from three different nurses’ phones. “I’m thinking, ‘How does he know my number? This is amazing.’” Brenda says. “That day I thought, ‘He’s going to be okay,’ like, he remembers my phone number.” Despite a two-week projection, Nic was out of the ICU two surgeries and five days later. He was moved to the trauma unit, where he was fitted for a helmet that would protect his brain until the doctors were able to reattach the piece of his skull they removed. In the unit, he also practiced his coordination and balance. THE RECOVERY Once again defying odds, Nic was released from the trauma unit in less than a week and moved to inpatient rehabilitation at Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He had two other options—California or Chester, Pennsylvania—but, his mom says, Allentown was the obvious choice because his friends would be nearby. And so would she. After hearing about the accident, Austin Scoggin, of Lehigh Amicus properties, gave Brenda a place to stay on Birkel Avenue for no cost as Nic recovered. When Scoggin asked if she needed anything, Brenda had a minimal list: a blanket, towel and pillow. When she went to the house that evening, Scoggin had made the bed with new, freshly washed sheets and comforter; stocked the bathroom with toiletries and towels; and left disposable plates and cutlery in the kitchen. Support for Nic expanded throughout and beyond the Lehigh community. Brenda posted about Nic’s ordeal CIRCLE OF FRIENDS Clockwise from left, Alex Romanowski, David Rawley and Owen Adlerstein helped rush Nic Altenderfer (center) to the hospital.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTA0OTQ5OA==