KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Alex Fraser left Kansas City in a stretcher and came home Wednesday in a wheelchair, able to move his arms; improvements for a Blue Valley teen who suffered an injury over spring break that left him paralyzed and sent him to Denver for treatment. Wednesday, Fraser came home to Kansas City.
Airport terminals are often a sight of homecomings and reunions but for the Fraser family, the return of their son means the beginning of a new chapter.
“It is going to be a life-changing event for not just him, but everyone around him,” said Fraser’s mother, Chris Fraser.
Fraser, 19, was the first person on the plane in Denver and the last one off Wednesday morning at KCI. Friends and family members warmly welcomed the teen home V.I.P. style, following months of treatment at a center in Colorado. Fraser suffered a spinal cord injury during a spring break trip to Mexico, which left him paralyzed.
RELATED: Area swimmer suffers paralyzing accident on Spring Break, community rallies around him
“I feel good. Glad to be home,” said Fraser after getting off the plane with his father and brother.
He says he’s felt the love and support for months, including moments like his high school graduation, made possible through Skype.
RELATED: High school senior uses technology to attend graduation
RELATED: Blue Valley H.S. senior paralyzed in Spring break accident participates in grad events from rehab
“I keep telling everybody I’m excited, but I’m anxious and I’m nervous and I’m kind of scared all at the same time. Because it is going to be a life-changing event for not just him, but everyone around him,” said Fraser’s mother.
His mom gave Fraser a big hug; his girlfriend a kiss.
“I’m just excited to see him like be home permanently instead of going to Colorado and having to say goodbye and then coming back and having to say goodbye again. It means the world to him that he has this kind of stability with people supporting him back at home, so he knows when he comes home it’s not going to be just him. He’s going to have all of these people there for him,” said Fraser’s girlfriend, Emily Todd.
Todd also said she put a calendar countdown on her phone.
“I’m setting my calendar, like a countdown and everything so I know the exact day, the hours, the minutes, the seconds. I’m really excited,” said Todd.
His mother says her son has become a teacher and leader to her.
“Alex was always my kind of wild child, kid all over the place, has to be constantly running and busy, always involved in everything, and just in and out so fast, that I never thought he would teach me these types of lessons. His spirits are great and they have been the whole time. Every day I’m just amazed at how strong he is, how positive he is,” said Chris Fraser.
Alex said he has good and bad days.
“You have down days, really down days, when you’re lying in bed at night just by yourself. When you’re in front of people, you’re all happy and cheerful like this, but it really helps me get through the rough times,” said Fraser.
He also described his progress.
“I feel a thousand times better than when I left Kansas City. I left in a stretcher couldn’t move neck down, and now I’m moving my arms partly normal,” he said.
His mother says treatment will continue here at home, in a new house the family moved into, modified to meet Fraser’s needs.
“We will just continue focusing on getting him stronger and more therapy and see where we go from there,” said Fraser’s mother.
Meanwhile, Fraser had his mind set on one thing that certainly reminded him he was home: some good ‘ole Kansas City BBQ!
“I need Arthur Bryant’s. That’s where I’m going first to get food. Some Arthur Bryant’s,” he said.
Click here for Alex’s Angel’s Facebook page.
