After a near-fatal accident, freshman Daniel Houchens is riding on

His first memory emerges 10 days after he was involved in the accident. He has left Bloomington Hospital -- which he doesn't remember -- and has been moved to the Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana where a buzzer is next to his bed. He presses the buzzer more than eight times a night to get the nurses' attention. The repeated buzzing isn't to complain about the pain he's experiencing; it's to get the nurses to bring him more cereal.\n***\nFreshman Daniel Houchens is like most IU students -- he's from Indiana, he's smart, good-looking and athletic. But 17 months ago Houchens was involved in a near-fatal car accident on IU's campus that almost ended his dreams of competing in Little 500 and without question changed his life forever.\n***\nOn Nov. 10, 2004, freshman Daniel Houchens is finishing a late afternoon ride. He heads into the intersection of 17th Street and Fee Lane when a car strikes him from the side. Daniel's head punctures the windshield, his bike flips backwards and into the air. \n***\nAround 6:30 p.m., the phone rang at the home of Peggy and Dennis Houchens in Zionsville, Ind. Dennis Houchens answered and heard the words that every parent dreads -- his youngest son had been in a serious accident and was taken to Bloomington Hospital.\n"Peggy and I jumped in our car without packing any clothes," Dennis Houchens recounted in his journal about his son's accident. "I cannot describe the anxiety and nauseous feeling that gripped us on what was the longest drive of our life. Probably 10 words were spoken in an hour and 15 minutes. While I tried to focus on the positive of him breathing on his own, I couldn't help but think about whether he was going to be dead by the time we got there ... Peggy said she prayed all the way there."\nAt 7:45 p.m., Peggy and Dennis Houchens went straight to the emergency room to see their son. With tubes down his throat and a brace around his neck, the brown-haired 18-year-old lay unconscious and sedated. Bloomington Hospital neurologist Dr. Souheil B. Haddad met Dennis and Peggy Houchens after they arrived in the emergency room and explained to them Houchens' head scans were clear. But Haddad said he didn't know when their son would wake up.\n"I knew no one would fight harder to recover than Daniel," Dennis Houchens wrote in his journal. "No one works harder to reach a goal than Daniel."\nWhen Houchens came to IU he began training with the Little 500 team Dodds House and was chosen as a team member because of his athleticism and drive. A separate hospital waiting room was set aside for his visitors -- his Dodds House teammates, other Little 500 riders, the IU Student Foundation's Little 500 director Rob Rhamy and a representative from the IU's dean's office. \n"We could hardly believe it," Dodds House teammate senior Craig Luekens said of the accident. "We wanted to know everything about his condition and we wanted to be there for his family. It was good to know that everyone was there when it counts."\nThe next three days pass as Daniel lies unconscious in the Bloomington Hospital Critical Care Unit. Each day doctors come in to give morphine and run tests, which consist of grabbing flesh on Daniel's shoulder and twisting. As the days continue Daniel begins responding to the doctors' tests, opening his eyes for a brief moment, and talks in small words. Four days after the accident, Daniel wakes up. \n***\nMidday on his fourth day, during his first session with the physical therapists, Houchens is awoken from his sleep and kept awake for a total of 10 minutes -- the longest he had been conscious since the accident. Dennis Houchens wrote in his journal that the therapists asked Houchens questions while he was awake, which he couldn't answer until they asked him his last name. \n"He thought about it for a few seconds then clearly stated, 'Houchens,' Peggy cried. He made the full 10 minutes then went back to sleep," Dennis Houchens wrote in his journal.\nHouchens was moved from the Critical Care Unit to the Neurology Unit after his 10 minutes of lucidity. He was brought his first meal, which he ate, plus granola bars, Nutri-Grain bars and Mrs. Fields chocolate chip cookies, which he also ate. Over the next four days, Houchens' eating became legendary at the Bloomington Hospital. \nHe was moved to the Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana Nov. 19. He set a goal to be home by Thanksgiving -- in eight days. While at RHI, doctors tell the Houchens family most brain injury patients' recoveries take up to a year. Houchens will not return to IU for spring semester. \n"Daniel took all this pretty well," Dennis Houchens wrote in his journal. "Not only will he be out of school, he won't be riding in the Little 500. Peggy and I are concerned because we know when Daniel's physical injuries have healed, it will be hard for him to understand why he has to be held back from the things he loves to do."\nHouchens made it home for Thanksgiving, but doctors said he needed 24-hour supervision because of his injuries. After Thanksgiving, Daniel began outpatient therapy and memory exercises at home. Peggy and Dennis Houchens noticed his memory coming back. \n***\nIt's six weeks since the accident and Daniel has made such good progress he rides his bike outside for the first time. Dennis rides behind him in the car with the flashers on -- starting in the neighborhood and then on country roads. After the bike test, Daniel drives a car for the first time with Dennis in the passenger seat. Daniel retakes the drivers test and passes with "flying colors," according to Dennis' journal. \n***\n"I was just excited to be out of the house," Houchens said of his first ride after the accident. "I didn't understand the accident. I didn't really comprehend it. It wasn't until the summer and really until I got here where I really started to think about it a lot." \nAs the months progressed through January, February and March Houchens' determination only pushed him further into recovery. Although he had to be sidelined temporarily to correct the vertical and horizontal distortion in his left eye, his headaches decreased and his physical therapy increased his strength. \nIn March Houchens and his dad went to Bloomington for the court hearing of the driver that injured him. From what the Houchens know the driver was a Ball State student driving his girlfriend's car, who was an IU graduate student. The driver didn't come to the court hearing, but called the day before to plead guilty.\nAt the beginning of April, Houchens competed in his first race since the accident, although his dad wrote in his journal that he was "apprehensive" about how his son would do. As a credit to his personality, Houchens won the time trial. \nAs a second-year freshman and a Little 500 rookie, Houchens competed in Individual Time Trials and placed 25th with a time of 2:27.32. Dodds House finished third in Team Pursuit and will be in row two for the 55th Little 500. Daniel Houchens is part of that team.\n"I definitely feel very lucky," Houchens said. "I'm lucky to be riding a bike period, but especially after being almost killed. I've been looking forward to this year's race for the past two years, so I'm definitely pretty psyched up for it, but I don't think I feel extra special just because of what happened. I just want to go out there and do my job for my teammates."\n-- Contact Senior Writer\nKatie Schoenbaechler at kmschoen@indiana.edu.