By Bill Morgal

On the morning of August 6, Shippensburg senior Sean Cohick was on his way to work in Biglerville. He was running a little late. As his vehicle rounded a treacherous turn in the mountains, something happened.

Sean’s vehicle didn’t make it around the bend—it plummeted down a ravine and flipped approximately 15 times. Despite wearing his seatbelt, Sean was ejected, landing in a ditch nearly 50 feet away while his vehicle wrecked in front of a house.

Minutes later, a woman from the house wrapped a blanket around Sean and then sat with his motionless body—waiting for paramedics.

Four months later, in Huber Art Center, the only visible evidence of his accident was a blue sling delicately supporting the metal pieces recently inserted in his left arm.

As Sean stood in the front of the classroom, facing his peers for the first time since May and sharing his story with the crowd, his trademark smile radiated across the room.

He was again wrapped in a blanket.

“It’s beautiful,” Sean said to his classmates. “It’s really warm.”

Back with his peers

A major part of his personal rehabilitation came in November reuniting with his classmates.

Part of the reunion centered on Melissa Braden’s presentation of a beautiful, handwoven blue and red blanket created for Sean by their Contemporary Methods of Art Education class.

For several semesters, assistant art education professor Mark Moilanen’s classes have created a quilt or blanket for a specific individual in the community. The blankets are a concrete reminder for the recipients, who have triumphed over adversity, that people do care. Last year, Sean helped create the blanket given to a young woman.

However, Moilanen and his students never expected to create a blanket for one of their own.

Production could have been a problem as the students didn’t know how to weave.

Cindy Pimental’s fourth grade class at the Grace B. Luhrs University Elementary School came to the rescue.

Moilanen had taught the fourth graders how to weave. They, in turn, having practiced on scarves, taught the university students so they could create their blanket for Sean.

Involvement by elementary students is especially fitting as Sean hopes to one day teach art. He plans to complete his degree in art, then return for art education. He starts his way back with an independent study class spring semester.

“When I was in the hospital, delays to my education never occurred to me,” Sean said. “I just hope my injury doesn’t affect my creativity and my ability to create art.”

Miraculously, for this right-hander, it was his left arm that was broken. He is capable of drawing and creating most if not all of his artistic projects.

“I love being with my peers,” Sean said later that morning. “I appreciate the simpler things much more.”

Fate intervenes

Waiting for her son to return home to take her to her physical therapy appointment, Karen Cohick’s telephone rang and she noticed Sean’s name on the caller ID. The voice she heard when she answered was not her son’s.

“It’s the worst phone call ever,” Karen said.

For three days, Sean was in a coma.

When he awoke, the doctors were able to add severe brain trauma to their diagnosis of an arm broken in three places. The only other signs of injury were bruises across his chest from his seat belt.

Two weeks following his injury, Sean received a visit from one of his closest friends, his art professor Mark Moilanen.

Their conversations meandered from one topic to another as Sean attempted to regain his thought patterns and memories. One day, as Moilanen recalled, Sean focused on the classroom and his peers.

“I realized something,” Sean said to Moilanen. “…If I took the pain, the rest of our class would be okay.”

Sitting in Huber Art Center on that rainy Thursday morning, Sean and his mother sat and smiled as they regarded the assembled gathering in the art classrooms.

“I thank God every day for protecting me.”

“What did we learn from this?” Karen asked.

“Slow down,” Sean said. “You’ll get there eventually.”

Former classmate, Melissa Braden, presented Sean with the blanket members of the Contemporary Methods of Art Education class wove for him. Right: students from Cindy Pimental’s fourth grade class line up to sign Sean’s cast.

Track success

The only place where Sean won’t be slowing down is on the Shippensburg University track.

Sean has evolved into a highly competitive sprinter over the past three seasons for the Raider track teams that have been among the best in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC).

Just months before the accident, Sean ran the 200-meter dash in just 22.57 seconds and recorded the team’s best outdoor long jump of the season with a leap of 23-feet, 7-inches at the Lynchburg Invitational.

Despite his accident, Sean’s legs were undamaged. Recently, he had his sling removed and replaced with a short cast. He hopes to be competing near the end of the indoor track season in March.

“I’ve been competing athletically since the age of six, and I feel like a part of me is not there,” Sean said of his absence from track competition.

As he rehabilitates his body and his mind, Sean is serving as an assistant coach. He traveled with the team to its season-opening meet at Bucknell in December.

“I’m not competing, but at least I’m helping,” he said.

So much to be thankful for

After prompted by Dr. Moilanen to share a lesson from his experience, Sean said: “Being young, you feel invincible. In a flash, you could be gone. Live your life. It’s a blessing.”

Whether it is the “quazy” energy he gets from eating his Quisp cereal, or his penchance for the little things in life (including beanie weenies), the happiness and appreciation for life is infectious.

At the party thrown to celebrate the collective work of the elementary and college students on the project—fourth-graders walked up to Sean to share some of their own stories and to sign his cast.

Sean had a conversation with every student who approached him.

The smile never left his face.

Students formed a line to sign his cast. What began as an impromptu signing by one friend became an entire class mission.

“Don’t worry,” Sean said. “I can stand like this for a long time.”

Bill Morgal ’07 is the interim sports information director at Shippensburg University.