The Red and Black

Issue date: 10/30/07 Section: News

Media Credit: JOSH D. WEISS Jon Clark, a sophomore from Marietta, poses outside of the Phi Gamma Delta house. [Click to enlarge]

In March 2005, Jon Clark, a sophomore from Marietta, left for Spring Break with a headache.

Two and a half years later, that is all Jon said he remembers of the events that landed him on the operating table six times and in months of physical therapy.

Jon collapsed during breakfast at a youth retreat. A CT scan revealed he suffered a Hunt and Hess Grade Five ruptured aneurysm and a stroke.

A blood vessel in his brain weakened and swelled until it exploded.

"The first words out of the doctor's mouth were, 'Your son is dying,'" Jon's mother, Mary Clark, said. His prognosis, according to doctors at the time, was death or life in a vegetative state.

Jon survived, remaining in a medically induced coma for two weeks while he underwent major surgeries.

For two months, he said he had "no idea" what happened.

"All of the sudden, I'm in a hospital room with all my fraternity brothers," he said. "And that's when I was sure the joke was on me. I felt paralyzed on my left side, I had to wear a foam helmet and I was in a wheel chair."

After four weeks, Jon was moved to the Shepherd Center, a nonprofit specialty hospital in Atlanta. He endured daily physical, speech and occupational therapy sessions.

His mother quit her job as a special education teacher to care for Jon full-time.

On the day Jon was able to take a few steps with the aid of a walker, Mary said, "The therapist said 'he's gonna walk again.' He's accomplished a lot of things that he wasn't 'supposed to.'"

After months under his parents' care, Clark resumed classes at the University. In the spring of 2007, he took one class, and this semester, he has seven more credits toward a degree in special education.

Among his supporters are church members who created a Web site, prayersforjon.com, his friends, family and Coach Mark Richt, Mary said.

The transition back to student life has been "a challenge," Jon said, but he enjoys living with his Phi Gamma Delta brothers and returning to classes.

The next milestones for him, he said, include regaining his peripheral vision in his left eye, controlling his left foot and learning to play the guitar again.

His experience, Jon said, has given him a "purpose in life."

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