Document text
Injured skier slowly improves By MELISSA MARTIN When Perry Atkinson handed his 27-year-old son, Andy, a baseball cap sent by a New York friend, Andy grabbed it, bent the bill and slipped it on his head. The Medford photographer injured in a Mount Ashland ski accident recognizes family members when they walk in the room and has been without life support for nearly a week. "He's progressing very well and we are extremely encouraged," said his father, Perry Atkinson, general manager of KDOV FM 91.7 Radio in Medford and Oregon's Republican Party chairman. Andy Atkinson remained in a coma stage Friday in the intensive-care unit at Rogue Valley Medical Center following a March 16 accident on the steep, icy chutes of the bowl, the mountain's toughest skiing terrain. Perry Atkinson said his son is at a level 5 or 6 in the Rancho Los Amigos coma scale. Level 1 is what most people know as a coma, with the patient completely unresponsive, and level 8 is the most responsive. "He's at the tail end of a coma state," said Perry Atkinson. "We're hoping he will come out of the coma as soon as possible," said his brother state Sen. Jason Atkinson of Jacksonville. Andy has progressed enough to sit in a chair and begin rehabilitation work, his dad said. Doctors plan to move him soon to the Rehabilitation Center at Providence Hospital, Perry Atkinson said. They may also begin speech therapy next week. "Yesterday, they gave him his camera and he couldn't quite load it," Perry Atkinson said. "But when they helped him load it, he took a picture and then turned the camera around and took a picture of himself - one of his trademarks. He's starting to show some humor." Andy's wife, Emily, brought their 8-month-old son, Rogue, in to see his dad. Family members said they are still depending on the prayers of friends and concerned folks, especially because Andy's progress is not consistent. "He sometimes just shuts down," Perry Atkinson said. "But he's doing all the right things and we're thankful to the Lord for what we're sensing and feeling here." Reach reporter Melissa Martin at 776-4497, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.