Caleb Williams:

Published 10:41 am Thursday, October 2, 2008

Snoqualmie – Last week, Caleb Williams shot some three-pointers. Every day he’s getting better at basketball, he said. He even made a shot with his eyes closed.

For the former Mount Si High School basketball player who made varsity as a freshman when he was also an honor student, such a feat may have been easy for him in the past.

But Caleb suffered a serious brain injury this summer, was in a coma for about seven weeks and still deals daily with the after-effects, which include memory problems and difficulty with coordination and speech.

Each day he gets better at things (he lifts weights, too, though he now lifts less than he did before), but will never be allowed to play contact sports again for fear that another blow to the head could put him in a coma indefinitely.

Caleb doesn’t remember anything about June 20, 2005: the day he saved a girl and ended up falling into the South Fork of the Snoqualmie River, hitting his head, fracturing his left arm, breaking his cheek bone and nearly drowning.

Caleb doesn’t actually remember much of anything from the past year-and-a-half. What he does recall is a jumbled mix, although it is sorting itself out. His physicality, memory and speech are improving all the time.

After months of physical therapy and rehabilitation, Caleb, a sophomore, is ready to go back to high school. He started part-time classes this week.

Friends who were present at the time of the accident remember it vividly. They said it changed the way they look at life.

“You can’t take friends for granted,” Blake Hepner said.

“You can’t take anything for granted,” added Justin Poth.

Friend Josh Hendricks was unavailable to interview. All of the boys are sophomores at Mount Si High School.

Things had started on a positive note that day, Caleb’s friends said.

“That day we were so happy,” Ben Emerson said.

It was after school during finals week when Caleb and five to 10 of his friends decided that it was hot and they wanted to have some fun swimming in Blue Hole, a place at a nearby river that served as a popular swimming spot.

“The summer before, it was all about the river,” Wes Burdulis said. “Now [the area] is depressing to me.”

The bank near the water was somewhat steep and rocky, but that had never seemed to bother the group before.

It had never been a big deal, Burdulis said.

They had been there many times before, had swung many times on the rope swing that was connected between two big trees with the water underneath. The rope had a large knot tied at the end of it, so someone could sit on it as he or she swung back and forth before jumping off into the water below. It was also common for kids to sometimes just swing on the rope without jumping in.

One girl, who is still a good friend to Caleb and his friends, swung back and forth. She seemed to want to get off, but was unable to do so.

Caleb’s friends said that Caleb offered help. He tried to stop her momentum to help her off.

Caleb grabbed the rope, slipping on the rocks that sloped below his footing, hit his head and went under in the strong current.

“I was in shock when he fell,” Poth said. “Immediately, it just kind of kicked in.”

Without hesitating, Hepner, Poth and Emerson jumped in and held Caleb, keeping his head above the freezing cold water, while their own bodies were submerged in water up to their chests.

Burdulis called 911, handed the phone to Hendricks and jumped in to grab Caleb’s legs.

The paramedics came soon after, but Poth estimated that it was a good 40 minutes before they were able to get Caleb out of the water.

“We had to be so careful,” he said.

Burdulis used the information he had learned from CPR training in middle school and Emerson said that common sense kicked in.

Helping the paramedics, the friends loaded Caleb onto a stretcher attached to a raft, holding IVs and creating a makeshift splint out of a nearby stick. They watched as a helicopter lifted off to transport Caleb to Harborview Medical Center.

Caleb fluttered in and out of a coma for more than a month, giving his first purposeful response on Aug. 11.

For five weeks, Caleb laid in bed at Harborview. His eyes opened early on, but he was still in a coma when he returned home on July 27. Slowly, step by step, Caleb regained consciousness.

From Sept. 27 through Oct. 21, he stayed at Children’s Hospital and Medical Center in Seattle for intensive occupational (the body’s upper half) and physical (the body’s lower half) therapy and rehabilitation.

The rope at Blue Hole has since been taken down and the trees have been cut, something for which Caleb and his friends are grateful.

Caleb’s mother, Kim Williams, noted the many churches, businesses and community members that collected and gave donations, prayed and offered support.

His friends continue to wear rubber wristbands to honor him. Even basketball players on rival Mercer Island’s team wore armbands with his initials when they heard about his accident.

Caleb’s friends came by as much as possible to help out his family, which also includes father Andy, brother Josh (a senior at Mount Si High School) and sister Sarah (in middle school). They kept him company as much as possible.

“He has very good support and a great group of friends,” Kim said.

So far, things have been slowly getting back to normal for Caleb.

He was elected a homecoming prince at Mount Si this fall.

Though Caleb’s family and friends have to keep a closer watch on him now, Caleb’s mother and his friends said that they try not to treat him any differently than before.

They note that he is the same kid, although he is more social and outgoing now and he laughs a lot more.

“I’m sad that I can’t do as much as I did before, but I still feel the same,” Caleb said, adding that his goal is to speak better and to enhance his coordination and his understanding of things.

He would like to be a basketball coach someday, noting that he admires Michael Jordan.

“He’s had a positive attitude the whole way,” Kim said.

Caleb may seem almost fully recovered a year from now, though Kim said it may actually take up to five years for a full recovery.

He’ll most likely have to take an extra year of high school before he can graduate in order to earn the necessary credits.

“Every day is a gift,” said Kim, noting how things can change in a heartbeat. “Spend more time with your kids and tell them that you love them because you never know how long you’ll have them for. Take advantage of the time you have with your kids.”

Hendricks, Poth, Burdulis, Emerson and Hepner received special recognition and a certificate from the commissioners of Fire District 38 on Oct. 5 for their efforts to save Caleb.

His friends recalled Caleb before the accident in almost mythical proportions, as a hero among mere mortals: he had always been a leader. He was an overall gifted athlete, though his favorite sport was basketball. He was super strong physically and mentally, smart and nice.

Burdulis said he was the most honest kid that he had ever met.

“He could take on anyone,” Emerson said. “Any sport you gave him he could play.”

“He ran over anyone,” Poth said. “He’s the one person you would want on your team.”

They still see him that way.

“I feel that he’s the same Caleb,” Emerson said, noting that he and his friends only have to be careful when rough-housing with him.

Though they don’t speak about that day with Caleb, his friends said they know Caleb would have done the same thing for any one of them.

“Except he would have just picked you up [out of the water],” Burdulis added, with a smile.

His friends are eagerly awaiting Caleb’s return to school.

“It’s exciting to know that he’s come this far,” Hepner said.

“He wanted to come back so badly,” Emerson added.

They are there to support Caleb as he transitions back to school life, but they said that he is more than capable of doing it on his own, something his friends said is a trait that remain