SEATTLE, Wash — Aidan Schellings still can’t talk or walk, but he is improving and impacting others at the same time.
Schellings, 19, remains in what his father calls a “semi-conscious state” after suffering a traumatic brain injury in a skateboard crash in Seattle in April.
Schellings was not wearing a helmet.
A month later, with the help of physical and occupational therapists from Harborview Medical Center, Schelling stood up for the first time since the wreck.
Aidan’s crash is making his skateboarding friends rethink their own safety.
“Culturally in skateboarding, helmets are just really looked down upon,” said Keaton Locicero, a longtime friend of Schellings’.
He said he and Aidan skated together for years and rarely wore helmets.
Locicero said that will change after what happened, even if he gets a hard time from other skaters.
“Why is me prioritizing my safety and caring about my friends and family looked down upon?” asked Locicero.
The Schellings hope their son’s story will help change the culture about skateboarders and helmets.
They have reached out to professional skaters and manufacturers.
But their main focus is Aidan’s recovery.
He and his mother, Rebecca, are flying to a Colorado rehabilitation center Thursday.
"A lot of hope. That's all you can have now, right? You can't go to the other side,” said Rebecca Schellings.
