EUGENE, Ore. (KMTR) – Nearly three months after a being hit by a speeding car, a Eugene man is thriving in his road to recovery.
Around 9:36 PM on June 12, 2012, 29-year-old Tucker Bowman was hit near his home on Minda Drive as he was watering plants.
The crash left Bowman in critical condition with life-threatening injuries including head trauma, a broken leg, broken ribs and severe bruises and scratches.
Since June, Bowman has slowly been getting better, transitioning from the intensive care unit, to in-patient treatment and rehab and finally going home with out-patient rehab.
“It's a very remarkable recovery. That I am here at all really is a miracle,” says Bowman.
After a near death experience, by all accounts Tucker is now thriving.
“I feel like I'm doing really well; it's just not going as fast as I want it to,” Bowman told NewsSource 16 in an interview on Wednesday, September 5th.
While much of his lifestyle has changed, Bowman has kept his sense of humor.
“My wife and I were joking around earlier. She said I probably used seven lives just coming back from this accident. So I'm on my eighth now,” says Bowman.
For many, his rehabilitation has been inspiring. Bowman invited NewsSource 16 to one of his three weekly rehab sessions on Wednesday. For the last month, Bowman has been undergoing three types of rehabilitation: physical, speech and occupational.
Along with regaining the strength to balance, walk and handle objects again, Bowman has had to bounce back mentally as well. Bowman was left with three skull fractures from the accident.
“(He had) a lot of problems with what we call reality orientation . . . problems with sustained attention,” says Lisa Love-Weise, a speech therapist at Sacred Heart Outpatient Rehab who has helped lead Tucker back to normalcy.
"To go from that ICU stay to where he's at today and talking about going back to work - a successful return to family life - it's really amazing and I think it speaks to his motivation,” says Love-Weise.
That motivation continues as Tucker Bowman gets back to a normal life.
"I'd say stay on the optimistic side. You know, things are always going to get better as long as you work hard to make it happen. Then anything can be done. That and a good support group of people around you - that makes a huge difference,” says Bowman.
Bowman hopes to get back to work in the next couple months and says his employer has held a position for him. Several friends and businesses have helped pay for his medical bills and renovations to his home as well.
Bowman provided this statement to NewsSource 16, to thank the local community:“I would like to thank my family, friends and Minda Drive neighbors for their continued love and support. I would like to thank CH2MHill, Intel, Apollo Mechanical, Papa's Pizza, everyone at NeuroSpine Institute, Comstock and Associates and Siuslaw Bank for their generous donations and support. And finally I would like to thank our local Eugene and Corvallis Home Depot Stores and Gardner Flooring for donating all the materials needed to complete the construction on my family's home.
The outpouring of love, support, and prayers from the community is overwhelming and I am forever grateful to you all.”
--Tucker Bowman
The 16-year-old accused of hitting Bowman has been charged in the case.
