Crash survivor shares his story

Tyler Presnell peppered a presentation to Delta High School students with rapid-fire poetry as he delivered a message intended to keep teens from making the same mistake he did.

Presnell, now 27, took the brunt of a 70 mph crash into a telephone pole when he was 14 years old.

After 22 surgeries, two stints on life support and six weeks in a coma, Presnell dedicates himself to speaking about the collision that changed him both physically and emotionally. He describes the challenges of his lifelong recovery and what it's like to live each day with over 80 percent of his short-term memory gone.

"Since I can't change what happened, I can only hope that my story inspires someone else to think twice before jumping into the car of a newly licensed teen driver," he says.

His presentation was sponsored by the Colorado Department of Transportation, AAA Colorado and the state's Regional Emergency and Trauma Advisory Councils (RETACS).

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