Gray Spencer discharged from rehab facility on his 22nd birthday
Published 12:02 pm Wednesday, April 22, 2020
Gray Spencer turned 22 years old today, Wednesday, April 22, and he got the best birthday gift of his life.
Spencer, following a serious car accident earlier in March, was discharged from the Jackson rehabilitation facility where he spent the past several weeks on Wednesday morning, the day of his 22nd birthday.
Spencer has been through the wringer during the past six weeks. Following the accident, he had to be placed in a medically induced coma just to survive. An extended hospital stint was followed by an extended stint in a rehab facility, where he had to re-learn how to walk and go to the bathroom.
Gray is coming home! His goal was to finish physical therapy to leave on his birthday, and he did it. Happy birthday @grayspencer32! pic.twitter.com/7PsbLifT1K
— Ole Miss Men’s Basketball (@OleMissMBB) April 22, 2020
“It’s been a big pain in the butt, honestly. Right now, the big thing is trying to learn how to regain my balance,” Spencer said earlier this month. “My therapist over here is laughing; he’s the one that’s been on me about balance all the time. Any blow to the head could reset me all the way to square one, so that’s why the balance is so important right now.”
Now, he’s released back to semi-normal activity.
A few simple text messages exchanged over the course of the morning tell the tale of a young man who, even through the process of literally teaching himself life’s most basic tasks, remained positive and jubilant.
Officially discharged pic.twitter.com/25Cpay80Gu
— Gray Spencer (@g_spence_) April 22, 2020
“This ride home from Jackson is killer,” Spencer joked.
April 22 was a deadline he set himself. Spencer said he had always wanted to be home on his birthday. Well, as of 10:20 a.m. on the 22nd, the day of his 22nd birthday, Spencer was headed home.
Spencer said he was missing one simple thing in the rehab facility: the simple process of driving through at Wendy’s. He said he hasn’t gotten that quite yet, “But it’s coming lol.”
Got get your Wendy’s, Gray.