See Ya In 2

This be my cousin Jordan:

And he leaves this morning for his mission :)

He is twenty-two next month, I believe. He has had to overcome an accident that nearly killed him, but I admire for him still wanting to go out even though all of his friends and family have gone on their missions and returned already. Some guys wouldn't have still wanted to go out. His mission farewell was last month and we all went to his house afterward where he was bombarded by tonz - TONZ - of friends and family. His fam is super proud of him :)

This is the article written on his accident:

Student recovering from accident
Long board crash leaves lacrosse player
withseriousinjuries,lack of taste, andsmell

"Rightnow [lacrosse] is last on the list of things that matter. What matters is
Jordan is getting healthy. He probably shouldn't have survived, but he did. "
Jason Lamb
BYU lacrosse coach
By RYAN MERRIMAN
BYU lacrosse player Jordan McKensie doesn't remember much about what happened to him June 14, but it's a day he's likely never to forget.
Sometime after 10 p.m., the 20-year-old drove his car to the top of Seven Peaks Boulevard and set off down the hill on a friend's long board. After accelerating to an estimated speed of 35 mph, McKensie hit a patch of gravel, lost control and flew almost 20 feet from his board Jordan before skidding to a stop near Belmont Apartments.
BYU student Kristi Dow and her fiance, Blake Jackson, saw the crash on their way to a friend's house and called 911.
"We asked him his name and he couldn't tell us anything," Dow said. "He was bleeding out of his ears and nose and then he started throwing up. He finally told us his name was Jordan."
Emergency personnel rushed McKensie to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center, where surgeons had to remove a large piece of McKensie's skull inorder to relieve pressure and remove blood clots that threatened the young man's life. Even with the procedure, physicians weren't optimistic about McKensie's chances, especially considering two teens died from similar injuries earlier this year.
Despite the grim prognosis, McKensie beat the odds and is now recuperating with his family in Sandy, but it'll take some time before he can pick up a lacrosse stick, hop on a long board or even taste an ice cream cone.
The accident left
McKensie with chronic migraines, no sense of taste or smell and no hearing in one ear.
"There's a chance it's permanent," McKensie said. "The doctors aren't sure yet, but it might be."
Now McKensie, a self-described fitness nut and thrill seeker, spends most of the day off his feet. Any contact could cause his brain to swell, snapping the nerves that regulate his breathing. McKensie said he's under strict orders to get plenty of sleep every night and to take at least one two-hournap each day. Doctors also told him a high-protein diet can help heal his damaged brain.
"I've always been pretty active," McKensie said. "I'm going nuts pretty much right now — I played mini-golf the other day and it wore me out till I wanted to just fall over."
Full recovery could take as long as two years, but the fact that McKensie is even alive puts him ahead of schedule.
With enough attention to detail and hard work, he could be back in the gym in as little as three months, one of his doc¬tors said. McKensie's work ethic and positive attitude may ul¬timately be as important to his recovery as medical expertise.
"He's hilarious, and he loves to have fun," BYU lacrosse coach Jason Lamb said. "He's one of the hardest workers in the weight room. He took the time a lot of players don't. There were definitely good things on the horizon for him."
And there still are great things on McKensie's horizon, Lamb said, though they may or may not be on a lacrosse field.
"Right now [lacrosse] is laston the list of things that matter. What matters is Jordan getting healthy," Lamb said. "He probably shouldn't have survived, but he did. I think his life was spared for some great things."
McKensie hopes to be well enough to send in mission papers by December and enroll in classes this fall, but doctors said there are no guarantees McKensie's brain will be ready for university curriculum by September.
"I'm supposed to start reading children's books to slowly get my brain back to where it was," McKensie said. "It's hard for me to comprehend college reading right now. If I can go back I might need tutors, but we'll have to see."
Utah Valley Regional Medical Center has treated four patients with serious long-boarding injuries this year compared to 15 in 2007. While long-boarding accidents appear to be down slightly compared to the first half of 2007, hospital officials said they still see far too many patients injured without helmets.
r_merriman@byu.net