Ten months ago, Adam Dansiger '00 lost control of his sports utility vehicle while driving down Interstate 89 and was thrown from the car.
Doctors at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, where Dansiger was hospitalized with massive head injuries, said they did not expect him to survive for 24 hours.
But on Friday, Dansiger will walk out of JFK Hartwyck at Oaktree Nursing, Convalescent and Rehabilitation Center in Edison, N.J., and will move back into his home.
Although he will still receive treatment at the rehabilitation center, Dansiger will become an outpatient for the first time since last October.
Dansiger said he is "very pleased" to leave Hartwyck at Oaktree.
"The rehab center kind of stinks," he said. Dansiger said he has problems sleeping in the center because he is "too busy thinking" about the injuries he sustained in the accident.
Dansiger has lost hearing in his right ear, his vision in his right eye is impaired and his right side is weaker than his left.
He said he is able to walk with a cane and with help, and "knock on wood," he will be able to walk alone in mid-August.
Dansiger said his "number-one goal" is to visit Dartmouth in September or in the beginning of October, and he may return as a student in January.
He sent his regards to the brothers of Phi Delta Alpha fraternity, who he said have been supportive during his recovery.
Although Friday will be his first chance to return home permanently, Dansiger has been leaving the rehabilitation center on weekends.
At home, he watches television, exercises his arms, legs, chest and stomach on Nautilus machines or goes to New York Mets games.
Earlier this year, he was Mets relief pitcher John Franco's guest at Opening Day at Shea Stadium, where his name was displayed on the scoreboard and the crowd gave him a standing ovation, according to The Associated Press.
Dansiger said he plans to go to eight more Mets games this season.
Dansiger "doesn't sound like anything's happened," said Chrissy DeLorenzo '99, a friend of Dansiger since high school. "We just have random conversations just like we used to."
