Rams track, field member on road to recovery after accident

02/19/09 - Three months after University of Rhode Island junior Kimly May lost control of his Audi and slammed into a utility pole, the URI track member and Chi Phi Fraternity brother is on his way to recovery, still struggling with the injuries that nearly took his life.May, the car's only occupant that night in early November, was traveling on South Pier Road at the time of the accident. Medical personnel on the scene immediately rushed him to Rhode Island Hospital and placed him in the intensive care unit.

Suffering from severe head trauma, a collapsed lung and internal bleeding, doctors had feared the worst for May.

"Overall, it's a big improvement from three months ago," Sina May, Kimly's sister, said about his recovery.

Sina said she's kept nearly 800 friends and family up-to-date on Kimly's condition through his group on Facebook.

Kimly has since been transferred from Rhode Island Hospital to a hospital closer to his hometown in Haverstraw, N.Y., and is still on a dialysis machine. He was originally placed on three blood pressure medications that affected his kidneys, forcing him to be placed on dialysis.

Kimly is also struggling from severe nausea that has not allowed him to keep solid food down. He has been fed through a feeding tube and will continue to do so until his stomach improves.

His collapsed lung has begun functioning once again, a positive sign for a man who doctors thought might not make it.

The brain swelling has hampered Kimly's ability to recognize friends and family in pictures, but according to Sina, his memory has continued to improve daily.

In order to see how just much of his swollen brain he is able to utilize, Sina said she has been giving him math problems to solve.

"I started off with some simple addition, then multiplication and division, then finding the square root of a number. It didn't seem like much of a challenge to him, so I gave him algebra to do and he solved the problems without any mistakes or hesitation," she said.

Doctors have given the May family a recovery time of six months to a year for the injuries Kimly sustained in the accident.

"We really don't know how bad it's going to be," Sina said. "It's just going to take some time."

With the medical bills piling up, Kimly has received support from his brothers at the Chi Phi Fraternity, who hosted a brunch in his honor. The brunch was a five dollar all-you-can-eat style and raised about $1,500.

The URI athletic department also donated a portion of the proceeds from its "date-a-jock" auction to the May family, and the URI track team has been selling yellow "Live Strong" bracelets to raise funds.

Kimly's family has dealt with four different insurance companies and has been able to receive complete coverage for one year, Sina said.

"Right now, it's OK," Sina said. "After a year, we don't really know."

As Kimly continues to recover, the URI track team would like nothing more than to see its teammate run again. Although he is an academic senior, he has only used up three years of eligibility and would be able to run again next year, pending a full recovery.

"I have a lot of hope for him," Sina said. "The doctor's didn't think he was going to make it and so far he's beat the odds, so why not?