Teen miraculously recovers from life-threatening electric skateboard accident

Paul Short will never know exactly how he came to be unconscious on a country road on a wintry afternoon in June.

The farmer who found the 19-year-old on Tarata Rd, near Inglewood, initially thought it was a golf bag on the road.

It turned out that Paul had been testing the speed of his electric skateboard over 60 to 70 km / h runs when it crashed near his home.

Rex and Daryn Short were in New Plymouth when they received a call that their son had been found with serious head injuries.

READ MORE:
* The teacher stops accelerating the truck after the driver passes out
* New Staff Join Taranaki Rescue Helicopter Service During Busy Year
* Six year old boy thanks the rescue helicopter for saving his life before Christmas

Paul was lying in an ambulance in his mailbox waiting for the rescue helicopter when they got home.

He was in an induced coma and had a breathing tube down his throat. His ear was bleeding from one of four fractures in his skull and there were dark bruises around both ears.

After Paul was transferred to the helicopter, his parents were given five minutes alone with him before he left.

They later discovered that this was because the crew knew that Paul was likely not going to survive, Rex said.

With Paul’s brothers Elijah and Naomi, the couple followed the helicopter to Waikato Hospital, while the older sister, Josie, drove from Auckland.

They sat around Paul’s bed in the intensive care unit while a machine breathed for him and medications were used to control swelling from the wounds on his head.

For almost a week, the only indication they had that he was still alive was that his pupils dilated when nurses checked them every hour with a flashlight.

“One day I went out for a walk and walked past the morgue and thought, ‘My God, don’t let him go around here.’ At the time we didn’t know if we would get it back or not, ”Rex said.

On the sixth day, Paul woke up. The breathing tube was removed and he was able to speak.

A few days later he was transferred to Auckland to a unit for people with brain injuries, for what was expected to be a long recovery.

They saw other young adults with similar injuries learn to speak, walk, and recognize everyday objects.

But Paul continued to improve, and just a month after the accident, the family was able to return to their home in Inglewood.

The couple credit the care Paul received from the ambulance and rescue helicopter paramedics, as well as hospital staff, for saving his life.

And they believe that their remarkable recovery is due to the fact that the prayers, theirs and those of everyone they knew, were answered.

Their friends, church and community joined in with financial and practical help, caring for their animals at home and providing a home for them to use while in Auckland.

“We were very lucky and very grateful for the people on deck,” said Daryn.

Paul said he did not remember the accident or the days that followed.

“It was fun looking at photos of people who had visited me and not remembering they were there.”

In addition to being operated on for a throat obstruction, his recovery has continued without problems.

“A big part of that was that the whole family was there and the amazing people who were taking care of me,” she said.

He and Rex spoke at a fundraising event on November 3 in support of the Taranaki rescue helicopter.

Paul is back at work designing, building and piloting drones, and has even been able to drive again, after passing a strict test.

“A big part of my rehabilitation was getting back to what I enjoy,” he said.

The teenager has returned to the skateboard, but very slowly, and now wears a helmet. He was warned not to risk another blow to the head.

“I’m a person who likes to go fast and jump from high things, but I’m going to have to find other hobbies because they said another concussion could kill me.”