When Jase Muri sits down with about 35 others for a Thanksgiving at his Aunt Kathy’s home in Miles City today, it will be the first big family gathering since the talented young athlete suffered life-threatening injuries in a July scooter wreck.

The former Billings West football player was to attend Montana State University on a football scholarship this fall, becoming a Bobcats player like his father and uncle before him and joining the ranks of newly independent college freshmen. But the scooter accident put that world on hold — for both Jase and his family.

“If you would have shown me a flash to now when he was in the ER or the ICU, I would have been down on my knees crying with relief,” said his mother, Tammy Muri, who credits God with helping her get through the last few months.

Jase suffered a serious head injury that put his life at stake when his scooter collided with a car on July 16. A broken right shoulder and fractured pelvis forced doctors to strengthen his bones with screws and a metal plate. And after his injuries ceased to threaten his life, a new fear took hold that he might never again be the same smart young man who scored high grades as easily as he did game points.

“That’s Jase, but that’s not really Jase” is how Tammy describes the feeling brought on by her son’s hollow stare in the first few weeks.

Thankfully, that stare is now long gone.

On a bet with his mom, Jase recently took the ACT standardized test again, scoring close to his previous high mark. Tammy had thought he might need some tutoring in order to prepare for his delayed entry into college in January. Wily and stubborn as usual, Jase came up with the bargain of taking the ACT to prove the tutoring was unnecessary.

The star athlete is also committed to a full physical comeback, one that he hopes will allow him to play college football next year. To get there, he now spends his mornings at the gym and his afternoons with a physical therapist, though progress can feel painstakingly slow.

“That’s the thing that I have to keep in mind,” Jase said. “You got to look at it at least week by week, if not month to month, because if you go day by day, you just don’t see it.”

Two months ago, doctors’ orders banned Jase from running. Now, he thinks he has regained about 60 percent of the speed for which he was known, if not the stamina. Two months ago, he did not have the flexibility or strength — or his doctors’ permission — to do speed drills. Now, he’s battling daily with a sluggish right side, willing it to mimic the fleet movements of his left arm and leg.

“When we do things a little bit faster you see the tendency is to protect that injured arm, so we’re just trying to get some of that left-right coordination back,” said Adam Leachman, physical therapist and orthopedic specialist at Billings Clinic.

Working out at the Outlaws SportsPlex on Southgate Drive recently, Leachman and Jase had the facility’s indoor football field all to themselves. They did lunges and strength work, balance and agility exercises. Jase tackled the difficult workout with characteristic focus while sporting a T-shirt reading “Football is everything.” 

“Sometimes we do drills where we throw the ball, and that’s huge for me, because I am going to be a receiver,” Jase said with resolve.

Jase’s spot in the MSU dorms has been reserved for when he starts school in January, and he has been told his football scholarship will be held until next school year. But whether he will be able to return to the field after having suffered a head injury remains uncertain.

That’s the nature of the bittersweet playbook that has confronted the Muris since Jase began to reclaim his life after the accident. They are thankful he is here and for what has been a rapid start to recovery. They know that there are others who have not been nearly so lucky, but there is still a wide gap between what Jase can do right now, what he used to be able to do and what he wants to do. 

“The most fortunate thing so far is I really haven’t had any major snags or roadblocks,” Jase said. “I just hope it continues.”

The work of healing continues to demand much of the young man’s energy, and he regularly sleeps 12 or more hours in a day, a common experience for those recovering from head trauma. Neither his right arm nor his words move as quickly as they once did. And at a time when like most 19-year-olds he yearns for greater freedom, recovery has brought new scrutiny from family members, who notice all of the little differences.

“I keep thinking of the things he still needs to work on and then I forget to be thankful of the things he’s already done,” Tammy said. “The one thing I think we probably all learned was how little we know about the brain, and how much we take for granted all the little things that we can do.”

Contact Kahrin Deines at kdeines@billingsgazette.com or 657-1392.

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