Teen badly hurt snowboarding awake, talking and headed to rehab
The DeKalb County teenager seriously injured in a snowboarding accident late last month has awakened from a coma and is expected to be moved this week from Grady Memorial Hospital to a rehab center.
Thomas Sowell, 15, was on a "winter sports weekend" with Boy Scout Troop 77 when he took a fall Jan. 30 at Cataloochee Ski resort, according to the troop's website.
Sowell, a student at Lakeside High School, suffered a severe brain injury that left him in a coma for more than a week.
According to a website set up by his troop to keep friends abreast of his condition, the teen's doctors removed his breathing tube on Tuesday and he woke up from the coma.
"The doctors asked him his name. He said, ‘my name is Thomas,' " that website reported on Tuesday. "They asked what year it is. Thomas said, ‘It's 2011.' They asked if he knew where he was. He said, "Atlanta."
A Wednesday update posted on the website said that Thomas was "sitting up in bed and is playing computer games."
"He has recently passed all cognitive and speech tests given to him and he will be transferred tomorrow to Shepherd spinal center for inpatient rehabilitation. Doctors state that they would not be surprised if he is there less than two weeks."
