My name is Michael Hancey and I am the second of five children.
On December 31, 1993 I went on a winter outing with my Boy Scout troop. We went tubing on St. Mary’s Glacier. As I and three good friends tubed down the glacier, we hit a divot in the snow that sent us spinning. We ran into a big crop of rocks and I flew off my tube and landed in the rocks head first. I sustained a traumatic brain injury. I was in a coma for seven months. I woke up at home. I did not speak for one and one half years and I did not walk for five years.
This injury hasn’t stopped me. When I graduated from high school my goal was to walk across the stage to accept my diploma. I accomplished this. I was also chosen to be the commencement day speaker. I received three standing ovations. For the past eighteen years I’ve been volunteering as the mailman and honorary assistant CEO at Craig Hospital
I love to attend the Brain Injury Alliance of Colorado camp each summer. Here I am encouraged by “buddies” to give it my all. I also love to encourage other campers. I enjoy the challenge of the ropes course in the trees, going bike riding, and white water rafting down the Colorado River.
I also love to tell jokes, write poetry, go fishing, play with my nieces and nephews, and play the piano with one hand.
My family has been an essential team in my recovery and I love my Mom and Dad!
Nothing can stop me now!!! Nothing can stop me in my recovery!!
I love my life.
I have the BEST life in the world!!
The Brain Injury Alliance of Colorado and survivors like Michael need your support.For as little as $10 a month together we can continue to see that all individuals living with an injury to the brain get the education, support, resources and guidance that they deserve.
We encourage you to share this story with those you love and ask them to join us in our vision to see that every one of the 500,000 Coloradans living with the effects of an injury to the brain thrive within their communities and in their day to day lives.
