After an accident in Arizona a Great Bend man actually died on the table. Less than two weeks later he's up and walking around. "Kind of a miracle. They called me that every day down there," said Michael Tysver.
Tysver went to Arizona to celebrate the new year and K-State's appearance in the Fiesta Bowl. He came back to Kansas unable to be without supervision because of his injuries.
"I hadn't caught a game this year," said Tysver, a lifelong Wildcat fan. "And we went to the Cotton Bowl last year and I had a really good time."
So when K-State went to Arizona for the Fiesta Bowl he went too. "I didn't want to miss this one. Especially it being on my birthday," said Tysver. It was a double celebration.
After the game, he and friends were on their way back to the hotel when a car rear-ended the pedicab they were riding in. A pedicab is a bicycle that pulls a two-seated cart behind it.
"I remember dropping two of our friends off and then that's the last thing I remember," Tysver said of the accident. "We woke up in the hospital the next day.
When he got to the emergency room Tysver was clinically dead for a few minutes, his head almost severed from his body, the backbone in his neck split open.
"My head was disconnected from my spine," said Tysver. "It's the same injury you get when you get hung."
He spent hours in surgery, where doctors re-attached his head using pieces of his ribs to patch up his backbone.
Six days later he was already trying to walk. "The doctors down there said they never really saw someone hurt like this and got back on their feet so quick," said Tysver.
By the time he got to the Wichita Rehabilitation Hospital he could walk on his own, even toss a ball around.
"I think I'm going to be back 100% again. It's going to take some time," said Tysver, who's determined to get his life back. "I'm listening to the doctors and doing everything that they tell me to do."
He hasn't done it alone and wants to thank those who've helped him.
"A lot of fellow K-State fans and just people from the state," he said. "And just wanted to thank a lot of people that they've donated to the fund and everything for us and, you know, giving out their prayers and support. It's really helped a lot."
Tysver doesn't know yet when he'll be able to leave the rehab hospital. But his family is already preparing for the day he comes home to Great Bend.
Scottsdale, Arizona, police arrested the man who hit the pedicab on suspicion of DUI.
Tysver's friend, Cody Clark, remains in an Arizona hospital.
The Scottsdale City Council is looking at what it can do to improve pedicab safety on city streets after this accident.
