Nick Hogans crash victim goes home from the hospital
After nearly two years in the hospital, John Graziano is going home. Graziano was the passenger in Nick Hogan’s car which he flipped while drag racing on a public street. Firemen had to use the jaws of life to get Graziano out of Hogan’s car, and Nick literally walked away fine. It was thought John wouldn’t live, and then it became clear that he would, but in an assisted medical facility. Now his mother has finally taken him home, and his care will be provided by family, friends, and volunteers.
John Graziano, the Iraq War veteran who suffered severe brain damage while riding in a car with wrestling star Hulk Hogan’s son, Nick Bollea, is now home after two years at the James A. Haley VA Medical Center in Tampa. Doctors determined Graziano’s condition had improved enough that he could go home, where nurses, friends and relatives will continue to provide him 24-hour care, said his mother, Debra Graziano.
Graziano, 24, has been hospitalized since the Aug. 26, 2007, wreck in which Bollea lost control of his Toyota Supra in downtown Clearwater and smashed into a palm tree. The crash broke parts of Graziano’s skull. Bollea was uninjured. Graziano, strapped into a wheelchair in the back of a minivan, stared straight ahead as the van pulled away from the hospital at 12:42 p.m. Debra, Graziano’s brother, Michael Graziano, his sister, Christin Carson, and Carson’s husband, Richard Carson, rode with him.
His return from what Debra called “the best hospital imaginable” will be a welcome move for the family, which regularly made the long trek from its Pinellas County home to be at his bedside. Debra “always worried about him in the middle of the night,” Michael said. “Now she can know he’s okay.” Debra, who thanked God for her son’s release, gave no details on how their home had been prepared for his arrival. But she did give a name for it: “Heaven on Earth.”
Michael Graziano, interviewed Wednesday afternoon at his workplace on Clearwater Beach, said he was still stunned about his brother’s return home. “It didn’t really sink in yet,” said Graziano, 21. “It may take a while to realize every day when I wake up he’s there. He’s not in Tampa.” Graziano said his brother’s breathing has improved recently but that he would still need outpatient therapy a couple of times a week.
“A lot of people think brain trauma is like a soap opera. Like, just one day he wakes up,” he said. “He’s pretty much at step one. There are a lot of baby steps from here.” Debra Graziano had been visiting her son in Tampa daily from their home, he said. The Carsons came from their home in Georgia just to be with John Graziano during his release. Michael Graziano thanked everyone who showed support and spoke of hope that his brother would continue to improve. But, he said, he couldn’t help but compare his brother’s absence from home with another tough time: when John served overseas with the Marines. Michael “shut it out” then, he said. But this time could be harder. “I’ll just miss doing everything that brothers do,” he said.
[From TampaBay.com]
John had a fractured skull and still has severe, severe brain damage. He will never live a normal life, and Nick Hogan took that from him. Still, it’s nice to see that he’s made improvements, but it’s heartbreaking to think of all the things he could have been and the life he could have had. This man served our country and survived two tours in Iraq, only to have the quality of his life essentially taken away by Nick Hogan. I hope whatever it takes, the Grazianos get every penny they can from the Hogans. John deserves top-notch care, and the Hogans deserve some sort of punishment, even if it is only monetary.
Here’s a link to a story that shows a video of John’s horrendous injuries. It’s truly shocking, but I feel it’s important to remember just how severe this is. However the video is extremely hard to watch and very graphic, so please keep that in mind.

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