In this week's episode of This Hits Different, Shelby Cassesse tells the inspirational story of Waynesburg Central senior Cole Homet, who returned on senior night after losing the use of an arm due to a car crash.
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After nearly dying, wrestler returns to mat
January 12th was senior night for Waynesburg Central wrestling. Senior Cole Homet's hand was raised in victory, far from something new for one of the best to ever come through the program. But this was different, and more than just a victory on the mat.
“It was an awesome feeling and the support and people who talked to me afterwards, it almost had me in tears, all the people I get to talk to,” said Homet. “That’s what it means to me, to be able to touch people’s lives and show them what God did for me.”
It was Homet's first match since a car crash that nearly took his life over the summer. It happened in St. Louis, where Homet was participating in a wrestling camp. As he recalls it, one moment he was driving, and the next he was waking up in the hospital, days after the crash.
“I was groggy, pretty messed up and had lost nine units of blood total,” he explained.
Among Homet’s injuries, doctors believed he lost use of his left arm. It took some time to process what happened. But what followed was only a new appreciation for life.
“When it finally hit me, it wasn't really anything negative,” he said. “I was just so grateful to be alive.”
A long road to recovery and a lot of questions laid ahead. But as for wrestling, Homet knew one thing was for certain.
“Immediately, I knew that I would wrestle again,” he said. “That’s kind of just the mindset that I have. It didn’t really faze me, to be honest.”
That attitude came as no surprise to Kyle Szewczyk, who has been coaching Homet since he was six.
“If there’s anyone who can overcome the injury and, in some capacity, wrestle again and get on the mat, and be competitive, it would definitely be him,” Szewczyk said. “If you’re going to tell him he can’t do something, he’ll do everything in his power to prove you wrong.”
So Homet got to work, starting with short walks around the neighborhood, then physical therapy, and eventually getting back to the sport he loves.
Homet set his sights on senior night for his return, though doctor's weren't optimistic he'd get the green light that quickly.
“It wasn’t even in the cards,” Homet said. “They weren’t even thinking about that. It was kind of just me thinking about wrestling and making a return.”
He even started regaining some feeling in his arm, though he still can't use his hand.
Preparing for his comeback meant changing his approach on the mat, and overriding over a decade of muscle memory.
“I actually have to focus and really think about what I’m really doing when I’m out there,” Homet said. “Not many people wrestle with one arm. Even though I have an arm, my hand doesn’t work and I can’t even use my arm. It’s real weak.
“So I’m just wrestling with one arm. So I had to change my stance. It took a little bit of time to figure out, like, ‘okay, this is what I’ve got to do and how I’ve got to attack and score.'”
A few days before senior night, he was cleared. As Homet faced his first opponent in over seven months, Szewczyk watched with pride, especially considering Cole got to choose his opponent, and chose the tougher wrestler.
“And that didn’t surprise me that that was his answer,” Szewczyk said. “So we put him out there against a much tougher opponent. And then Cole battled the whole time, as he does, and figured out a way to win.”
Homet won, and the gym erupted. Some fans even approaching him in tears.
He's recently shared his story more to spread a message of perseverance and faith. That foundation of faith is where Cole says he'll start building his future, which perhaps looks different than it did a year ago, but one he looks forward to with hope.
“I think about constantly the fact that I could be dead, or completely paralyzed from the neck down,” he said. “And the gift that God has given me, to be able to go through something so traumatic, and be able to wrestling Sven months later. It’s all through him that I’m able to do it.”