Young hockey player in the fight of his life after being struck by alleged drunk driver.

We have a terrible story to bring you tonight, one that is all to familiar.

According to a report from The Times' Northwest Indiana, 20 year old Purdue University Northwest student Tyler Hoffman has a very long journey ahead of him after an accident last month left him with a very serious brain injury. Hoffman was in his hometown of Waunakee, Wisconsin for an ice fishing expedition with a group of friends and it was while he was driving to a friend's house that he was struck head on by a truck, one that is alleged to have had an alcohol impaired driver behind the wheel.

Hoffman's mother, Christy York, reports that her son suffered a grade 3 diffuse axonal injury, an extremely serious injury to the brain and one that can often prove to be fatal. She also indicated that Hoffman's injury was near fatal, and as a result it should come as no surprise that the path ahead of him will be one filled with difficult challenges to overcome.

"We didn’t know if he was going to survive," said York. "But he has been getting a tad better each day."

Since the accident Hoffman has had to undergo 4 surgeries in the hopes of correcting the damage done to his brain, but even if he does manage to make it through this harrowing experience the road to rehabilitation is far from over. York has indicated that her son may need as much as 2 years of rehabilitation for an injury of this magnitude, although the fact that Hoffman has fought through this injury for this long already is a positive sign.

As if all this wasn't bad enough, Hoffman also tested positive for Covid during his stay in hospital and in spite of the fact that he was asymptomatic that meant that his mother could not visit him for 3 weeks during what has been no doubt the most difficult battle of his life.

I am happy to report however that once again the hockey community has proven to be amazing, and charitable, with Hoffman's GoFundMe campaign far exceeding the goal they had set. Setting an initial goal of $2,500 they have already raised over $40,000 which will no doubt go a long way in helping the family afford his specialized care.

Hoffman was recently transported to Shirley Ryan Ability Lab, a research rehab hospital in Chicago and I am happy to report that his mother provided an update on Saturday regarding his treatment at that facility.

For the sake of preserving her message, here it is unedited and in full:

Just a short update because it has been an extremely long day. We made it to Shirley Ryan! He is all settled in and resting comfortably. Tyler was weighed for the first time since the accident and has lost over 30 pounds. He looks so thin. He was examined head to toe by the doctors and his rehabilitation really begins tomorrow. So excited to see to progress he starts to make with 3 hours of PT/OT, speech therapy, swallow therapy and more a day. This is the best place Tyler can be. Family, friends and all of you will be with him every step of the way cheering him on. Keep the prayers coming!

I hope that Hoffman's family will get some measure of justice when it comes to this terrible incident, but more importantly I am rooting for Tyler in the hopes that he makes a full recovery.