By Harriet Ryan
Los Angeles Times
ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. — An Orange County firefighter who suffered spinal cord injuries in a September freeway rollover was released from a Colorado rehabilitation facility Friday.
Firefighter Andrew Brown, who had feared being permanently paralyzed when his crew truck crashed returning from a wildfire, walked off a plane at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana to applause and cheers from family and fellow firefighters.
“I was very concerned if I was ever gonna be able to walk or move my arms again,” Brown told KTLA-TV following nearly two months of treatment at Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colo., which specializes in treating people with brain and spinal injuries.
Brown was one of eight members of the Orange County Fire Authority’s Santiago Hand Crew hurt in the Sept. 18 accident on State Route 241 in Irvine. The firefighters were en route home from a shift fighting the Airport fire, a massive blaze that started in Trabuco Canyon and burned thousands of acres in Orange and Riverside.
With Brown’s release, only one firefighter remains in a medical facility. That man, whose family has asked that he not be identified publicly, is also undergoing treatment at Craig Hospital.
A ladder that fell from another vehicle triggered the accident. The driver of the firetruck swerved around the ladder, resulting in the truck striking a guardrail and flipping over.
Brown told KTLA that he had no memory of events from the time the truck began to tilt until he was outside the vehicle and severely injured.
“I thought I was going to die in the ambulance,” he told the channel, adding, “I was terrified — I was just praying that God would take care of my wife, who’s pregnant, and that was my biggest concern. That was all I could think about during that ambulance ride.”
He said he was told in the intensive care unit to expect to be bedridden for months. But by the beginning of October, doctors felt he was strong enough to travel to Colorado in a gurney for rehab. A contingent of firefighters escorted him to the airport.
In Colorado, he had to relearn to use his arms and legs. He said it was difficult but that he had a strong motivation.
“I just wanna be able to support my wife and hold my daughter and play with her someday, and throw her in the air,” he told KTLA.
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