Mico Morin is determined to survive.
The 24-year-old Turner man lived through duty in Iraq and then a devastating car crash, one which leaves him confined to a hospital after more than a year of recovery.
Morin doesn’t know how he stays so positive – persevering to walk after breaking bones in his neck and back.
He simply keeps going, he said, contacted by telephone Monday at the Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center in Richmond, Va.
“I’m doing good,” he said, his voice shaky but bright.
He’s walking a bit, with the help of a cane. And he’s looking forward to returning to Maine.
He was on his way home – to his family in North Turner – when the accident happened.
Morin, an Army specialist, had returned from Iraq and was stationed in Fort Carson, south of Colorado Springs, Colo., when he caught a ride with two friends to Denver’s airport.
It was Nov. 22, 2004.
On the highway outside Castle Rock, the car swerved and rolled. Morin and two other soldiers were thrown. A woman died. And the driver, a friend, was also hurt, the Associated Press reported at the time.
Morin suffered horribly. A lung collapsed. He broke his neck in three places and his back in 12. To keep him still, doctors paralyzed his body, which swelled from injuries.
“His eyes were huge,” said his twin sister, Nancy Morin. Along with other family members, she spent days at her brother’s side.
And he endured a brain injury.
Sometime during his early care, his respirator stopped for 30 or 40 minutes, Nancy said. Lack of oxygen starved his brain.
“Doctors said he might not wake up,” Nancy said. “I have no idea how he survived.”
As he began reviving from the paralysis, he would recall time in Iraq with the 3rd Armored Cavalry.
“Get away from the windows!” he’d warn visitors to his hotel room. “Duck down!”
“He hardly even knew where he was,” Nancy said.
That has changed. Mico’s coming back.
Though his speech and memory continue to be affected, he has recovered a lot.
Though doctors had said he’d never walk, Mico has been walking short distances with a cane, before surrendering to his wheelchair.
On Monday, he said he’d gone 40 steps.
He calls his sister with updates, with conversations that begin with, “Guess what?” In one call, he told her he’d bowled a score of 199, better than she ever had.
“He just wants to come home,” Nancy said.
Mico spent several months at the VA hospital in Togus, but moved to Richmond on Nov. 1 of last year for more therapy. Nancy visited just before Christmas. They celebrated their birthday on Jan. 6, Mico’s second in a hospital.
Nancy hopes he can come home soon, but it may be expensive. He’ll need help and more therapy.
To that end, friends in North Turner hope to raise as much as $2,500 this Saturday with a benefit dance at the Boofy Quimby Memorial Center.
Mico would like to be with them, he said.
His wishes for the attendees?
“Have a good time,” Mico said.
Benefit dance for Mico Morin
Featuring the band Landslide
7 p.m. to midnight, Saturday, Jan. 21
Boofy Quimby Memorial Center, North Turner
$10 per person admission
Phone 225-2372 or 224-7842 for more information
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