Photo from Darien Waker
The snowboard community near and far has rallied for one of its own, local snowboard coach Chris Waker.
Waker suffered a “freak” neck injury while riding at Copper Mountain Resort on Christmas Eve, breaking the C5, C6 and C7 vertebrae in his neck. He is recovering at Craig Hospital in Englewood after multiple surgeries the first at 4 a.m. Christmas Day including the installation of several cervical plates.
Waker’s wife, Darien, said Thursday that Waker has made recent progress at the hospital, which specializes in spinal cord injuries and rehabilitation.
Two weeks ago Waker was limited to laying in bed. Since then, he’s progressed from being able to sit in a wheelchair to using a manual wheelchair for the first time Thursday. Darien said her husband was able to move the wheelchair using the bottom of his hands. Also in recent days, Waker has been able to use a fork attached to his hand to feed himself and even throw a bean bag at a cornhole tar