{"id":40050,"date":"2013-06-24T07:05:16","date_gmt":"2013-06-24T12:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/?p=40050"},"modified":"2013-06-25T07:05:05","modified_gmt":"2013-06-25T12:05:05","slug":"tyler-priests-journey-back-from-tragic-2008-accident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2013\/06\/24\/tyler-priests-journey-back-from-tragic-2008-accident\/","title":{"rendered":"Tyler Priest’s journey back from accident"},"content":{"rendered":"

CINDY WOOD\/<\/strong>independent feature writer<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Van Wert High School student Tyler Priest receives a medal for his sixth-place finish in the OHSAA State Track and Field Meet in Columbus. (photo submitted)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tyler Priest is your typical 18-year-old.\u00a0He\u2019s pretty stoked that school\u2019s out for summer. He\u2019s overprotective of his two kid sisters, and he\u2019s looking forward to his senior year of high school. What isn\u2019t so typical, though, is the journey he has taken to get him where he is today.<\/p>\n

That journey for Priest, son of Bob Priest and Kara Kreger, began July 6, 2008. The sun was beating down on that Fourth of July weekend and the countryside in rural Van Wert County was lined with tractors as farmers busily tended their crops. Priest had grown up appreciating the country life and was more than happy to help his friends as they baled hay in a field south of Van Wert.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had actually wanted to bale hay for quite a while, but we had told him he had to wait until he was twelve,\u201d said Tyler\u2019s father, Bob. \u201cThe wagon had gotten full, and Ty was off the wagon because there was only room for a couple of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a seat open beside his friend, Tyler attempted to jump up on the tractor. \u201cI\u2019ve done it. A lot of people do it,\u201d Priest said. \u201cThe tractor wasn\u2019t going very fast, so Ty thought he could just jump up on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

But when he lost his footing and fell to the ground, the tractor\u2019s back tire ran over his body and head, ultimately causing a bleed on Tyler\u2019s brain stem. Clinging to life, he was flown to Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne, Ind., where doctors didn\u2019t have good news for the family.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe neurosurgeon told us he was already gone and it was just a matter of his body catching up with him,\u201d Bob said, adding, \u201cthe ER doctor told us we had twenty-four to forty-eight hours. The biggest issue we were facing was whether or not he would survive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doctors knew the extent of Tyler\u2019s injuries. What they didn\u2019t know was the amount of fight Tyler still had in him. Comatose and battling a myriad of complications from his injuries, Tyler began showing small, but steady, signs of progress. The family celebrated each and every small milestone with a blog that kept the community updated on Tyler\u2019s progress.<\/p>\n

\u201cDay 21 \u2026 three weeks in. The steps are small but miraculous nonetheless. He has been off the vent for over 24 hours and has been doing very well with an oxygen mask. The chest tube is still in. He still remains in a coma, but is following simple commands.\u201d<\/p>\n

The improvements, and setbacks, kept coming. Throughout those critical first few months, Bob said he learned to never say never.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the most important thing I\u2019ve learned from Ty over the last five years is that you never count him out,\u201d Priest said, adding, \u201cbecause this was most definitely a situation where he wasn\u2019t even supposed to make it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of things that Ty is not supposed to do that he has done,\u201d Priest added. \u201cHe wasn\u2019t supposed to wrestle, and he\u2019s wrestled. He wasn\u2019t supposed to win, and he\u2019s won. He continues to find ways to achieve his goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of those goals Ty has set for himself is going to college. It\u2019s a lofty goal, Priest said, but one that is not out of the realm of possibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, it would be pretty tough for him to take care of himself, but I just can never say no to him because he\u2019s proven us wrong too many times,\u201d Priest noted. \u201cMy guess is if he wants to go, he\u2019ll find a way to become independent, take care of himself and do it. He just may not be on the same time schedule as everybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is on schedule is his graduation in 2014 from Van Wert High School. \u201cHe will graduate with his class next year and we\u2019re pretty proud of that,\u201d Priest said, adding that Tyler\u2019s teachers and aides at the school have been tremendous throughout his recovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are so good at working with him and pushing him to do his best,\u201d Priest said. \u201cWe just couldn\u2019t ask for any better.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a long list of accomplishments, Tyler\u2019s most recent might be his most memorable. The Van Wert High School administration is currently clearing another spot on \u201cthe wall\u201d for Ty\u2019s picture after a sixth-place finish in the state at the Ohio High School Athletic Association\u2019s state track and field meet.<\/p>\n

Participating in the first-ever state meet for wheelchair competitors, Priest needed to throw 9 feet to qualify for the meet. He did that at the 11th hour with a qualifying throw of 9 feet, 10 inches at the Western Buckeye League meet.<\/p>\n

Getting there, though, was not easy. \u201cI think he started around six or six-and-a-half feet at the beginning of the season,\u201d Priest said. \u201cBut each meet he would get a little better and he actually ended up setting a personal record in every meet but one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even still, his personal best was still 12 inches away from a qualifying throw. \u201cOn Monday of the last week for him to qualify, he PR\u2019d at eight feet. We still needed him to get that extra foot and he had come close at practice, but he hadn\u2019t gotten there yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

In typical \u201cTy\u201d fashion, he got there \u2013 big time \u2013 with his best ever throw at the WBL meet, earning him a chance to compete at the state meet. Ty needed to place sixth or better to earn a spot on the wall at the school.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew it was going to be tough. But as it happened, Ty finished sixth and set another PR,\u201d Priest said, adding, \u201cin fairness to Ty, he was the only competitor with a traumatic brain injury and most of the kids there have had their situation their entire lives and adapted.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Ty also had an advantage that he is able to use his legs,\u201d Priest said. \u201cWe\u2019re just happy that these kids that normally don\u2019t get a chance to compete had the opportunity to do that. It was just a really neat atmosphere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Competing isn\u2019t enough, though, and Tyler is focused on improving his throw enough to eventually earn him a state championship. \u201cBefore the accident, he had always had a goal to be a four-time state champion in wrestling, and obviously that opportunity was taken from him,\u201d Priest said. \u201cI told him he\u2019s placed at state and he should be proud of that. It\u2019s a different event and it\u2019s not exactly how he had envisioned it, but he still has the opportunity to be a state champion, so it\u2019s something he\u2019s definitely shooting for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tyler\u2019s drive to be the best he can be has kept him focused during his recovery from another major brain surgery in November 2012. After developing tremors similar to those associated with Parkinson\u2019s disease, doctors inserted two rods into his brain to serve as a deep brain stimulator. After the initial surgery to insert the rods in November, Tyler underwent another surgery in December and doctors turned the stimulator on in January.<\/p>\n

Adverse effects from his medication forced another hospital stay for five weeks in March and April, but Tyler was determined to come back and compete. \u201cThe fact that he had something to go to was big for him,\u201d Priest said, adding that Tyler had asked to postpone the surgery until after his high-school graduation so he could continue to compete.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was just a decision that he wasn\u2019t allowed to make,\u201d Priest said. \u201cWe were talking about quality of life and it just wasn\u2019t in his best interest to postpone it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Priest is grateful for the progress Ty has made with the stimulator, although he admits he always would like to see more. \u201cWe would still like for the shaking to get better, but we are definitely so much further ahead than we were before the surgery,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the last five years, Priest said it\u2019s been a roller coaster of ups and downs, but he is encouraged every day by Tyler\u2019s progress and fortitude.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know that I was a person that believed in miracles before, but I\u2019m pretty confident I\u2019ve seen one,\u201d Priest said. \u201cThere is a purpose for everything. I don\u2019t know what that is yet, but I know that I get to witness a miracle every day, and I\u2019m pretty thankful for that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CINDY WOOD\/independent feature writer Tyler Priest is your typical 18-year-old.\u00a0He\u2019s pretty stoked that school\u2019s out for summer. He\u2019s overprotective of his two kid sisters, and he\u2019s looking forward to his senior year of high school. What isn\u2019t so typical, though, is the journey he has taken to get him where he is today. That journey […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-31 23:18:46","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40050\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}