Top:  Conscious & recovering.  Next:  The finish line. Above:  Met with open arms at the end of the day. Below:  JoAnne, Brian & Garth Boyle.

Brian Boyle, 21, spent last weekend competing in the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii.  Three years ago, he was a patient in intensive care, struggling to talk and walk after two months in a coma.

On Oct. 13, Boyle swam 2.4 miles, biked 112 miles and ran a 26.2 mile marathon, all within the respectable time of 14 hours and 42 minutes.  His coaches predicted that he’d need at least 16 of the 17 hours Ironman allows for the event; if he even managed to finish at all. 

His family and supporters’ biggest concern was how his body would handle the physical intensity of an Ironman Triathlon; the competition allows no breaks between segments.  Boyle knew he had the passion and drive, but even he didn’t know if his body could follow through.

“I just hoped that my body could keep up with my mind,” Boyle told The Bay Net.  “I’ve wanted to do this all my life, but I wasn’t sure I could do it this soon.”

During the swim he pulled his right hamstring and “ended up really hurting it on the bike and run”.  But, all through the race Boyle says he thought about his “journey back to life”.  He remembered a particular time during his intensely painful recovery process when he really wanted to give up, and how his father absolutely wouldn't let him.  He thought about how his parents continually encouraged him.  Those thoughts kept him going through the race.

“It was a tough race; it was a grueling race.  I came to the finish line full steam ahead, with every last bit of strength and emotion that I had,” he said. 

For the last few miles of the marathon at the end of the day, Boyle had a news crew on his right, both his coaches running along side and his Cannondale bike sponsors following behind in their SUV. 

“We were all just pumping to the finish line,” Boyle told The Bay Net.  “The feeling coming down to the finish line just can’t be explained.” 

The crowd at the finish line went wild and Boyle used a little of his remaining energy to playfully acknowledge the cheering.  His parents, Garth and JoAnne Boyle of Welcome, met him just across the line and enveloped him in their arms with pride and relief.  

When he was finally able to get to the rest area, Boyle sat down and then discovered he didn’t have enough strength to get back up. 

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The Reason for Doubt

On July 6, 2004, Boyle, recently graduated from McDonough High School, was blindsided by an enormous dump truck at the intersection of Poorhouse and Ridley roads.  The devastation of his little Chevy Camaro reflected the severity of his own injuries.

The impact knocked his heart across his chest, collapsed his lungs broke most of his ribs, broke his clavicle, crushed his pelvis and caused severe nerve damage to his left shoulder.  The injuries cost Boyle 60% of his blood by the time the La Plata Volunteer Fire Department and EMS pried him from the wreckage.  He required 36 blood transfusions and 13 plasma treatments during the two months he spent on life support in intensive care at Prince George’s Hospital Center. 

No one knew if he would live.  The severity of the trauma prompted his doctors to place him in a chemically induced coma.  He actually died and was revived 8 separate times while he lay at death’s door in the ICU.  His parents spent almost every moment of those two months at his side, but with little hope that he would live. 

His doctors weren’t even hopeful about the quality of life he’d have even if he managed to pull through.  During his two months in coma Boyle lost 100 lbs and his all his muscles atrophied.  The extreme injuries and his shattered pelvis indicated that Boyle would never walk again.  The severity of the truck’s impact had doctors worried about brain damage. 

When he finally woke from his coma in early September 2004, Boyle was still in pain so extreme that doctors put him on drugs 200 times more potent than morphine.  He was initially unable to communicate or move his limbs.  As he struggled with recovery over the next month, he experienced pneumonia, infections and seizures.  He went through medication withdrawals so severe that his body convulsed.

As a brilliant high school student in the top 10 in his graduating class, Boyle had planned to go to college.  As a high school state champion swimmer, a nationally ranked discus thrower, and a champion power lifter, Boyle had planned to continue to swim competitively in college.  He wanted to join the elite Navy Seals; and one day, he wanted to earn a spot in the Ironman competition, which he had watched on TV since he was little. 

Lying helpless in bed, unable to speak and barely able to move convinced Boyle that his plans for the future were over.  A month after regaining consciousness, he simply couldn’t stand it all anymore.  His father, however, had a different opinion.  Garth Boyle is a cancer survivor and knows about tenacity.  He refused to let his son give up. 

One night, Boyle struggled to move his facial muscles so he could smile at his parents.  It was then they knew Brian wouldn’t give up.  He was here to stay.

Boyle told The Bay Net, “Honestly, I [had] moments where I did wonder why the accident happened to me, but then another question only came from doing that, and that question was why I was saved?”

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Part II:  Team Boyle - Far Beyond Driven