Matt Weirich
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Carolina Extreme
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- Posts: 550
- Joined: Tue Jul 15, 2003 10:22 pm
- Favorite Vaulter: Chase Shealy
- Location: 121 Crockett Road, Columbia, SC 29212
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rainbowgirl28
- I'm in Charge
- Posts: 30435
- Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2002 1:59 pm
- Expertise: Former College Vaulter, I coach and officiate as life allows
- Lifetime Best: 11'6"
- Gender: Female
- World Record Holder?: Renaud Lavillenie
- Favorite Vaulter: Casey Carrigan
- Location: A Temperate Island
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http://www.fredericksburgstandard.com/a ... 05news.txt
Home Sweet Home!
Posted: Wednesday, Jul 21, 2004 - 03:02:09 pm CDT
By Lauren Itz
It was a moment to remember for Matt Weirich and his parents, Rick and Brenda, as they stepped off the plane Monday evening to find extremely excited and relieved family members and friends welcoming them back home.
Last month the 21-year-old had been hiking in Australia with fellow missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints when he fell off a 230-foot cliff. He then spent the night injured and alone in cold weather on the canyon floor at Morton National Park in New South Wales, near Sydney, before being rescued the following day.
Now, after recovering the past few weeks in Australia's Wollongong Hospital, Weirich is finally home.
"We arrived at the San Antonio airport around 7:50 Monday night after an 18-hour plane trip," Rick said. "When we walked down the exit area we saw all our family and some friends waiting for us and jumpin' up and down n they were so excited he made it home alive."
Rick said that immediately after their arrival it was time to satisfy their cravings for long-awaited Tex-Mex food and chicken fried steak at the Alamo Café.
Matt has been improving more and more each day. With surprisingly no scrapes or bruises from the accident, the only souvenir that he has from the fall is a somewhat puffy bottom lip.
"He will have to have surgery on his bottom lip within the next couple of weeks, but other than that everything is good," Rick said. "He's walking steady, his speech is good, both his CT-scan and his MRI were clear with no long-term effects, and his memory keeps improving as the days go by. This is the first time that the doctors have used the term ‘miraculous recovery' to describe Matt's improvement."
Matt is now able to remember everything that happened -- up until 15 minutes before the fall, that is. He says that the last thing he can recall prior to his tumble is taking a picture with a man from Australia because he and his friends had been wanting a picture with a "real Aussy guy". Otherwise, there are gaps in his memory.
About 10 days ago, he also started to remember all the visits he got while in the hospital. "Matt had written a really touching letter to his missionaries about one week after the accident and now he doesn't even remember writing it," Rick said. "Someone did, however, take a picture of him writing it, so when we showed it to him he said ‘Oh, I guess I did write it!'"
Rick said that in order to see how his son's memory was improving they had asked him 12 questions. They then waited a couple of days to see if he could still answer those same 12 questions and he did successfully.
Though his memory is improving, Matt will be going to rehabilitation while his head injuries continue to heal and he will also need some physical therapy to gain his strength back to his previous athletic form.
A pole vaulter, Weirich won the Class-AAAA title at the University Interscholastic League State Track and Field Meet in 2001. He spent a year at BYU on a track scholarship and has competed on the national and international level.
"He definitely won't be able to pole vault again for another eight months because the doctors want to keep him away from risks of injuries to the head," Rick said.
As for school, Rick says his son will spend this fall semester at home so that he can recuperate fully.
Home Sweet Home!
Posted: Wednesday, Jul 21, 2004 - 03:02:09 pm CDT
By Lauren Itz
It was a moment to remember for Matt Weirich and his parents, Rick and Brenda, as they stepped off the plane Monday evening to find extremely excited and relieved family members and friends welcoming them back home.
Last month the 21-year-old had been hiking in Australia with fellow missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints when he fell off a 230-foot cliff. He then spent the night injured and alone in cold weather on the canyon floor at Morton National Park in New South Wales, near Sydney, before being rescued the following day.
Now, after recovering the past few weeks in Australia's Wollongong Hospital, Weirich is finally home.
"We arrived at the San Antonio airport around 7:50 Monday night after an 18-hour plane trip," Rick said. "When we walked down the exit area we saw all our family and some friends waiting for us and jumpin' up and down n they were so excited he made it home alive."
Rick said that immediately after their arrival it was time to satisfy their cravings for long-awaited Tex-Mex food and chicken fried steak at the Alamo Café.
Matt has been improving more and more each day. With surprisingly no scrapes or bruises from the accident, the only souvenir that he has from the fall is a somewhat puffy bottom lip.
"He will have to have surgery on his bottom lip within the next couple of weeks, but other than that everything is good," Rick said. "He's walking steady, his speech is good, both his CT-scan and his MRI were clear with no long-term effects, and his memory keeps improving as the days go by. This is the first time that the doctors have used the term ‘miraculous recovery' to describe Matt's improvement."
Matt is now able to remember everything that happened -- up until 15 minutes before the fall, that is. He says that the last thing he can recall prior to his tumble is taking a picture with a man from Australia because he and his friends had been wanting a picture with a "real Aussy guy". Otherwise, there are gaps in his memory.
About 10 days ago, he also started to remember all the visits he got while in the hospital. "Matt had written a really touching letter to his missionaries about one week after the accident and now he doesn't even remember writing it," Rick said. "Someone did, however, take a picture of him writing it, so when we showed it to him he said ‘Oh, I guess I did write it!'"
Rick said that in order to see how his son's memory was improving they had asked him 12 questions. They then waited a couple of days to see if he could still answer those same 12 questions and he did successfully.
Though his memory is improving, Matt will be going to rehabilitation while his head injuries continue to heal and he will also need some physical therapy to gain his strength back to his previous athletic form.
A pole vaulter, Weirich won the Class-AAAA title at the University Interscholastic League State Track and Field Meet in 2001. He spent a year at BYU on a track scholarship and has competed on the national and international level.
"He definitely won't be able to pole vault again for another eight months because the doctors want to keep him away from risks of injuries to the head," Rick said.
As for school, Rick says his son will spend this fall semester at home so that he can recuperate fully.
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rainbowgirl28
- I'm in Charge
- Posts: 30435
- Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2002 1:59 pm
- Expertise: Former College Vaulter, I coach and officiate as life allows
- Lifetime Best: 11'6"
- Gender: Female
- World Record Holder?: Renaud Lavillenie
- Favorite Vaulter: Casey Carrigan
- Location: A Temperate Island
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He's back on the roster at BYU. I take it recovery has gone well!
http://www.byucougars.com/Profile.jsp?ID=809
http://www.byucougars.com/Profile.jsp?ID=809
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rainbowgirl28
- I'm in Charge
- Posts: 30435
- Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2002 1:59 pm
- Expertise: Former College Vaulter, I coach and officiate as life allows
- Lifetime Best: 11'6"
- Gender: Female
- World Record Holder?: Renaud Lavillenie
- Favorite Vaulter: Casey Carrigan
- Location: A Temperate Island
- Contact:
From the brink of death to over 5 meters in under 2 years. INCREDIBLE
Meet at New Mexico yesterday.
Meet at New Mexico yesterday.
Code: Select all
Event 30 Men Pole Vault
4 Weirich, Matt Byu 5.05m 5.05m 16-06.75 Return to “Pole Vault - College”
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