Fierce resolve aids student's swift recovery

Except for the gold tassel signifying membership in the National Honor Society, Eddie Martin looked like all the other high school senior boys who suited up in scarlet caps and gowns for graduation Saturday. An ear-to-ear scar - the only remaining evidence of a harrowing injury and a miraculous recovery - was hidden underneath his mortarboard.

"It's not only a miracle that he's graduating," said Richard Kelly, principal of Martin's school, Silver Lake Regional High. "It's a miracle that he's alive."

A year and a half ago, Martin's parents were told that their overachieving son might never walk or talk again. But he tackled rehabilitation with the drive that had made him a top athlete and student.

"Graduating with my class was one of my goals," said Martin, a Kingston resident who recently turned 18. "I feel really lucky, just really happy, to be here today."

The accident that changed Martin's life came in December 2006, as he was leaving the Silver Lake football field, heading to hockey practice. He decided to hitch a ride by sprawling across the back of a friend's car. The stunt ended when he tumbled from the moving car, his head crashing to the pavement.

He was flown from the football field to Massachusetts General Hospital, where doctors induced a 17-day coma so they could perform a number of surgeries. They removed two sections of his skull to control the swelling in his brain. (Those sections were embedded in his stomach for safekeeping, and reattached during a later surgery.)

While Martin was unconscious, doctors warned his parents that there was no way of knowing how much brain function would remain until he awoke.

But when he first came out of the coma, he recognized his mother and even "croaked the word 'Mama,' " Karin Martin said. He also recognized his longtime girlfriend, Rachel Cox, a constant presence at the hospital. (Nurses believed her voice had a calming effect on the comatose Martin.)

Soon after her son regained consciousness, Karin Martin said, he vowed to make a full recovery.

"What was amazing was that as he started to regain his memory, he also gained a determination," she said. "He set all kinds of goals for himself, and he set out to achieve them."

First, Martin wanted to go home, which happened after only five weeks. (Doctors predicted he'd be in rehab for at least three months.) Next, he wanted to return to school, which he did, part-time, in April. He was determined to escort Rachel to their junior prom, and checked that off his list in May. Finally, he promised to make up the school work he'd missed and graduate with his class.

With the help of therapists, his mother said, Martin "re-learned" how to do everything from reading to dressing and feeding himself. By last summer, he was exercising regularly, driving a car, and working at Duxbury Beach Park.

The doctors, she said, couldn't explain her son's unusually speedy recovery. But they agreed that the support of the Silver Lake community probably made a big difference.

"Everyone just got him through it," she said.

Soon after the accident, Silver Lake's football coach named Martin as one of the team's captains for last fall. The honor was bittersweet, since one consequence of Martin's accident is that he's no longer allowed to play contact sports - a tough blow for the football and hockey jock.

But the coach told Martin that he was still a member of the team, albeit an injured one. And injured players are allowed to be captains. So all season long, Martin led his teammates by offering advice and encouragement from the sidelines.

"I practiced with them every day," he said. "I did all the drills, all the workouts, but I sat on the bench during the games. It worked out fine. It was great, actually."

Now he's looking forward to attending Merrimack College in the fall. He hopes to become a physical therapist.

"He wants to be a part of other people's recoveries," Karin Martin said.

His girlfriend, Rachel, aims to study nursing at Regis College.

Before Martin's accident, she said, she wasn't sure whether she wanted to be a teacher or a nurse. But his experience convinced her.

"All the nurses at Eddie's bedside were so awesome," she said. "You could tell it wasn't just a job to them."

Silver Lake faculty members said that Martin's accident and recovery galvanized the student body.

"All the kids were so scared when it first happened," said one of the regional school's house masters, James Mulcahy. "When he came back to school so much sooner than expected, we were all so happy. There was a really big buzz."

As for Martin, he said he's not inclined to spend any time looking backward, reflecting on the accident or how it changed his life.

"I don't think about it much these days," he said. "It's in the past, and I'm ready to move forward."

Kathleen McKenna can be reached at kmck66@comcast.net.