SPRING 2023 | 43 on Facebook, and one of Nic’s friends from home started and circulated a GoFundMe for his recovery. The response was significant. The GoFundMe garnered more than $45,000 in donations, concerned Lehigh parents reached out to Brenda offering their consolations and Nic’s fraternity brothers sent Nic video messages wishing him well. With restrictions in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Good Shepherd had a no visitors policy. To help make the distance easier to manage, Brenda drove to the center after some of Nic’s long days of therapy. She’d stand in the parking lot while Nic stood at the window of his room, helmet on, and talk on the phone. Motivated to return to Lehigh, Nic cooperated at therapy and was released after a little over a week to stay with his mom in the house on Birkel Avenue. But he would not be returning to Lehigh for the Fall 2021 semester—news that was hard for Nic to accept. A couple days after being released from Good Shepherd, Nic went to see a few of his fraternity brothers at the same Pierce Street home he had visited before his accident. His fraternity brothers were watching a presentation projected onto a wall, and just after a few minutes, Nic’s head started to hurt. “I thought, ‘I see what they mean,’” Nic recalled. “I wouldn’t be able to do school, and this is going to take more recovery than I thought to get back to normal.” He withdrew from his classes that week. Nic was to be very careful as he recovered. He was instructed to wear his helmet—which now boasts signatures and get-well messages from his friends and family members—for six weeks, only taking it off to sleep. Each day, Nic went to outpatient therapy, played cards and read books with his mom—they finished Nic’s childhood favorite, the Percy Jackson series—completed vision and memory therapy, and went on walks. Nic’s days were brightened by the quirky graphic T-shirts and cards people sent in support, and visits from his fraternity brothers and other friends. During this time, Nic’s fraternity brothers held a meal drive, in which they each took turns making meals for Nic and his mom. “We just wanted to make sure Nic’s family had as many resources available to them,” Romanowski says. Brenda says she knew having Nic close to the Lehigh campus would make a big difference in his recovery. “It was that love and camaraderie from his fellow students that was keeping him going,” she says. “He had so many people praying and rooting for him everywhere. There’s power in community.” Nic says not only did the community help him heal, but his fraternity brothers are the reason he’s alive. “They were incredible,” Nic says. “I love them all for that. They saved my life. They got me to the hospital, checked up on me the whole time, they were always there. And, the overall support from the community was incredible.” A RETURN TO LEHIGH Nic returned to his classes with a full course load spring 2022, and has picked up extra classes in subsequent semesters. He hopes to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in spring 2023 with the rest of his class. Barring a scar on the side of his head, he and his life have largely returned to normal. “Despite the odds, he beat those completely, and he’s the same person as he was before,” Rawley says. “Just as functioning, just as capable, just as intelligent, funny, smart. It was a miracle that all of that happened, and we’re really grateful.” In summer 2022, Nic studied abroad in Germany, as part of the Engineers Made in Germany program, during which he had a “blast.” He reserves the most gratitude, however, for “just the typical college highlights, hanging out with friends.” A WORD OF ADVICE Nic is contemplative about the accident. “It was preventable,” Nic says. “Wear a helmet. I could have just waited for the car to pass and not have tried to go around it, but hindsight is 20/20.” His friends Romanowski and Rawley urge the community to take care of one another and be smart. “We need to look out for each other,” Rawley says. “You have the autonomy and the power to make decisions when decisions need to be made. Act quickly and intelligently, and ask for help.” L WORDS OF COMFORT The helmet Nic wore during recovery boasts signatures and messages from family and friends.
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