ATLANTA — A teenager who survived a direct hit from a tornado can leave the hospital for the first time Saturday.
Malachi Chaney, 19, has finished his inpatient therapy treatment at the Shepherd Center in Buckhead.
He was undergoing treatment there for a spinal and traumatic brain injury for the past 10 days.
Before that, he was in the intensive care unit at Grady Memorial Hospital.
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“When you first gain your consciousness back, it does feel like a bad dream,” said Chaney.
Chaney has regained his ability to walk and talk. He spoke one-on-one with Channel 2’s Courtney Francisco Friday after graduating from inpatient therapy.
“Being alive is just, I’m truly grateful for that,” said Chaney.
He said he has no memory of the day the tornado tore him out of his Locust Grove house on May 29.
“I heard I was thrown, according to reports, 300 feet,” said Chaney. “I heard I was found, like, way back in the woods, which is insane.”
Rescuers found him with broken bones in his face, ribs, a punctured lung and spine and brain injuries.
Chaney said he also does not remember spending two weeks in the ICU.
He said his memory picks up when doctors transferred him to the Shepherd Center where he underwent physical therapy.
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His mother, Ayesha Chaney, and father, Tray Chaney, said it took just 10 days for him to regain enough strength for doctors to allow him to move to outpatient treatment.
“It’s amazing, you know? From the beginning, I was like he’s a superhero because I just can’t believe how quickly he has healed. His body is recovering,” said Ayesha Chaney.
He will live with them in the apartments connected to the catastrophic care center and undergo outpatient therapy every day to ensure he can cook, drive and remember the college courses he’s learned.
He does not yet have a home to return to.
“It’s a process with this type of stuff,” said Tray Chaney. “Even with having insurance it’s still a process, a long process.”
Their son wants to go back to his neighborhood.
“To go visit my home,” said Malachi.
He said he wants to see if he can find any keepsakes in the rubble and see what he’s seen in pictures for himself.
“Seeing that it was destroyed, it was kind of insane finding that out, but I was just grateful I was alive at the end of the day, that I’m still here,” said Malachi.
He is unsure when doctors will release him with outpatient therapy. He hopes he is well enough to return to classes at Savannah State University in the Fall. He’s preparing to start his Sophomore year there where he is studying Visual and Performing Arts.
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