Chaparral Sophomore Cheats Death

What was supposed to be the best day of the year for one Chaparral sophmore turned into a nightmare for his family.

David Groh, 16, a Temecula resident, was celebrating the last day of school on Friday May 27 with several friends in Murrieta. The group of boys were enjoying a favorite pastime, skateboarding, down a steep street.

David went down the hill about three times and made the fateful decision to make one last run.

He raced down the hill while another friend was riding alongside filming him. Groh was clocked at 30-40 miles per hour, Groh’s mother, Linda, explained.

He then lost control, fell off the board and slammed the back of his head on the pavement. He skidded along the road and stopped in an intersection mangled and unconscious.

 His stunned friends immediately called 911.

“I got a call from my husband while I was at work that David was at the hospital with a concussion,” his mother said during a phone interview. “He is very active and has been snowboarding, surfing and skateboarding for years and has had two previous concussions.”

She rushed to the hospital and asked to go into David's room, but a nurse told her she had to stay in the waiting room due to a severe trauma case they were working on.

“I asked the nurse if it was my son that was the trauma case, and she told me it was,” she said.

In addition to a concussion, Groh suffered bleeding on the brain and severe road rash along the right side of his body. He was placed under heavy sedation and on a ventilator.

Groh proved to be a fighter and started improving much faster than the doctors anticipated based on his injuries.

“Dr. Spicer didn’t think he’d wake up as fast as he did and was quite surprised at his improvement,” Groh said.

Spicer also marveled at the fact that Groh suffered no broken bones and didn’t require any stitches, she said.

In a twist of good luck in the midst of terror, the nurse in charge was the mother of one of David’s baseball teammates. “It made the situation a little bit easier to handle having her there,” Groh said.

David's family and friends rallied around the family and held a prayer vigil at the Groh home on May 30.

“There were at least 150 people gathered and praying for our son,” said Rick Groh, the boy’s father. “It was an amazing sight to see and feel.”

The outpouring of love and support was overwhelming, and they all pitched in to get him a gift to lift his spirits, his mother said.

“A friend of his from his travel-ball team, Danny Honoros, spoke to the large crowd and collected enough donations to purchase David an iPad,” she said while choking back tears.

“The Apple store also donated a cover and $15 towards applications for the i-Pad. We are so deeply touched,” she said.

David's recovering from the accident, but still has headaches -- a condition expected to last several months -- and has to take pain medication constantly.

He spent the past few days mostly sleeping in the family's guestroom, his mother said.

The accident will have a long-lasting effect, doctors told the Grohs, and he will not be able to play any contact sports for a year to avoid creating lifelong health problems associated with multiple concussions.

“That is going to be the hardest part for him,” his mom explained. “He is such an active boy and loves playing ball.”

An account has been set up at Wells Fargo to help with the medical bills, which the family expects will be expensive. The account number is: #6964197765. Checks can be made out to "For Benefit of David Groh" or to Linda Groh.

“We have insurance, but it isn’t going to cover a week-long stay in the intensive care unit,” she added.

David's mother created a facebook page to keep friends and loved ones up to date on David's progress, called Prayers For David, on Facebook.