Sacbee: stories about graduating seniors

The SacBee fronts profiles of this year's high school graduates. Ryan King, of Oakmont High, was in a grievous motorcycle accident. He recovered, and his first meal was at In-N-Out.



Photo by Bryan Patrick/Sacramento Bee

Ryan King

Oakmont High School

One moment, Ryan King was flying high, enjoying a senior year at Oakmont High School filled with fun, friends and victories in his favorite pastime, motocross racing.

The next, he lay unconscious after a racing accident in Reno. Doctors said he might not live.

A week from Friday, when King walks across the stage at Oakmont's graduation in Roseville, it will mark a triumph over pain and loss.

King was one of those kids always in motion, a soccer player, a snowboarder, a daredevil who jumped from rooftops. He loved racing motorcycles from an early age.

On Nov. 18, King was in Reno for a motocross competition that he hoped to win. In the second lap, he hit a section of the course with undulations, felt his suspension out of adjustment and flipped the motorcycle.

King's helmet cracked. His brain was injured. He broke bones in his face and lost sight in one eye.

He spent almost two and a half months in intensive care in Reno, where he went through surgeries, infections and agonizing pain. He couldn't talk, eat or walk. He struggled with memory and focus.

"It was so lonely," he recalled. "The nights were the worst, when I couldn't sleep."

Slowly, he healed. In late January, he moved to a rehabilitation program at the UC Davis Medical Center. In late February, he came home. In March he had his first real food since the accident: an In-N-Out burger. In April, he returned to school.

"It was awesome," he said. "I missed my friends so much."

With help from teachers, he managed to complete his senior requirements, English 12 and a government class.

"He worked so hard," said his mother, Shannon Similai "I wasn't expecting him to graduate on time with his friends, but he made it."

King still struggles with facial paralysis and memory lapses. The accident has changed him in other ways, including making him more thankful for life's many gifts.

A day in the mountains. Time with friends. A cap and a gown on a June evening. All are so precious now.