POSTED: Sunday, August 5, 2012 - 1:00pm
UPDATED: Sunday, August 5, 2012 - 1:04pm
NBC NATIONAL NEWS — A Texas student is warning others about what can happen when a person tries to text and drive at the same time.
Chance Bothe is finally back at home after six months of multiple surgeries and rehabilitation.
In January the truck he was driving took a nose dive off the road, over an embankment, and crashed 20 feet below.
"Honestly, I don't remember anything," Bothe said.
His family later learned Bothe had been arguing with a friend through text messages while driving home from college.
One of the last ones he sent read, "I need to quit texting because I could die in a car accident and then how would you feel?"
He also suffered a traumatic brain injury.
After multiple surgeries, he went to TIRR Memorial Hermann for rehabilitation.
"Chance had to learn to breathe again," his mother said. "He had to learn to eat again. He had to learn to speak with proper voice inflection."
The brain injury also affected his personality.
Dr. Jacob Joseph with TIRR's Brain Injury & Stroke Program explained, "Often times we have that the frontal lobe is affected, and that can deal with a lot of issues such as behavior, someone's memory, also controlling emotions."
The story of this "second chance" gripped his hometown Ganado, southwest of Houston.
Family and friends created a foundation in his honor called Unsend.org to raise awareness about distracted driving.
Chris Bothe will continue outpatient therapy to help him reach his goal of returning to school and leading a normal life.