UTM student reflects on coma, recovery, the future

Last Friday, the 13th, probably passed without much recognition on the parts of most UTM students. For one UTM student, however, Friday was more than the offhand remark of a superstitious day. For Trey Hamilton, UTM senior and cultural geography major, Nov. 13 marked the day of a life-turning event-an event that brought him back to UTM to complete a second undergraduate degree.Hamilton walks the campus as an undergraduate for the second time in his life. In 2002 he graduated from UTM with a degree in International Studies and a minor in Spanish. However, on Nov. 13, 2005 Hamilton was involved in a boating accident that sent him into a coma for 32 days. He was visiting Reelfoot Lake when he accepted a ride on an airboat with his uncle. The airboat hit a tree, knocking him unconscious.


"I don't even really remember hitting the tree. I do remember going and seeing some friends that were in a duck blind a few moments before, it wasn't a minute, it was more like seconds from it and then, bam, that was it," said Hamilton about his memories of the accident. He crashed into the tree. "The next thing I remember is waking up in Milan and my mom being there."

After the accident, Hamilton was transported by helicopter from Union City Baptist Hospital to Vanderbilt Trauma Center Hospital in Nashville. When he arrived at Vanderbilt Trauma Center he was in a coma. About the third or fourth day a shunt was placed in his head to relieve swelling in his brain. The doctors said that Hamilton had a serious head injury and he had a slim chance of surviving.


"They had stated he had two choices: 1. That he would never make it out of the Trauma Center alive. 2. That if he did he would be in a permanent vegetable state. The reality and shock of it all is a parent's worst nightmare. The only things going for Trey was that he was in excellent physical health being a black belt in karate, a blue belt in Tae Kwon Do and young," Hamilton's father, Jamie Hamilton said.


Not only was Hamilton stranded in a coma but during that time his body suffered from various infections. He developed two bacterial infections and later a staph infection.


"No one will ever know what a parent goes through seeing their son so helpless with nothing they can do," the elder Hamilton said about watching his son battle for his life.


Hamilton had survived the infections and reached a more stable condition when his parents were advised to seek a place of long term care for him. Dec. 6, 2005, Hamilton was transported to National Healthcare in Milan, TN. A week passed as his family continued to watch for his recovery when on Dec. 15, Hamilton woke for the first time from the coma.


Hamilton said, "It was kind of like a dream. You know, you have a dream, and some nights you don't dream about anything. That's what the coma, being in the coma, was like. There's just nothing" Hamilton said when asked what it was like waking up from the coma.


Last friday, four years after the accident, Hamilton doesn't seem like a man who has come through a coma. He has recovered exceptionally, although it took him until 2007 to recover completely.


"I had to relearn everything. Relearn how to walk, talk, swallow because of this trachea tube and I still bear the scars from that and I also have a feeding tube scar from where food would come into my stomach," said Hamilton.


In 2007, Vocational Rehabilitation Services of TN helped Hamilton enroll again at UTM to begin a second degree. Hamilton originally planned to complete a degree in Spanish to build on his previous Spanish minor but eventually decided to pursue a degree in cultural geography. Hamilton is a strong student who has been on the honor roll. He plans to graduate in the spring 2010 semester.


"When I graduate the state is supposed to help me find a job. I very much would enjoy being a passport security specialist or something working for the national parks." Hamilton said when asked about his plans after graduation.


"What I would like to find out: why do some people, that do have comas or that are involved in a serious traumatic brain injury, why do some end up to be like me or why do some end up being vegetables. That's something I want to get to the bottom of," Hamilton said when asked if he had any more long-term goals.


Hamilton is the son of Jamie and Lisa Hamilton and Juanita and Peter Buchanan. He has two sisters: Ashlee Hamilton and Kimberly Buchanan. He is close to each of his families.