Issue date: 10/25/07 Section: News

Ryan Averett walks the halls of the Sorenson P.E. Building where he continues to work while recovering from a Sept. 11th motorcycle accident.

A motorcycle accident may have shattered his jaw and smashed his knee, but SUU student Ryan Averett isn't letting the slow recovery crush his hopes for graduation.

Averett, a senior athletic training major from Cedar City, said he is continuing his studies this semester in order to graduate next spring, despite being unable get around without crutches or a wheelchair.

"I don't let a whole lot of things stop me from doing what I want to do," he said.

Living with his parents again and not being able to drive are the biggest adjustments in his recovery process, he said.

Averett said on Sept. 11 he was riding his motorcycle south bound on Main Street near 700 South when the driver of a pickup truck, also traveling south, attempted to make a U-turn in front of him.

In order to protect himself, Averett said he laid the bike on its side before he hit the truck going about 20 mph.

As the motorcycle collided with the street and the truck, the end of his femur was crushed at the knee and the handlebars of his bike spun around, smashing his jaw, he said.

Having been dressed only in a T-shirt and gym shorts and not wearing a helmet at the time, Averett said he is lucky to be alive.

He said he remembers the ambulance arriving and taking him to the hospital as well as the trip on a Life Flight aircraft to LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City.

Doctors decided he should be flown to the hospital in northern Utah because there weren't specialists in Cedar City capable of performing the surgery he needed, Averett said.

Averett's mother, Julie, said she felt overwhelmed on the flight.

"I didn't know what to think, I was too worried," she said. "It was a very draining experience."

After four days of recovery in Salt Lake City, Ryan Averett said he returned to Cedar City.

Because of his reduced mobility and special needs, he moved back in with his parents, he said.

Julie Averett said she and her husband Mark help drive Ryan Averett to and from school and the library so he can continue to study.

They also used to help feed Ryan Averett because he can't eat solid foods, she said.

Continued...

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