ADRIAN — Aug. 9, 2024, started out a typical summer day for 15-year-old Dakota Courington of Adrian.

“He asked if he could go over to a friend’s house,” his dad, Jack, said. 

“I said, ‘If you do all your chores, you can go.’ He didn’t argue.”

When Dakota was ready to leave, “he told me, ‘Dad, Dad, I love you very much.’ I said, ‘I love you too,’ and I gave him a hug and a kiss.”

About an hour later, everything changed for the Courington family.

Dakota was heading home on his bike, which had a trailer attached to it that he used to haul his lawnmower around to all the lawns he took care of around the area, when at the corner of Clinton and Chestnut streets someone hit him with their vehicle.

The vehicle, described as a silver sedan or small SUV, knocked him off his bike and, after he landed on the pavement, ran over him and then fled the scene.

A passerby who happened to be a nurse stopped to help, and because Dakota was so well known in the neighborhood for his lawn-mowing work, someone was able to contact Jack to let him know what had happened.

He and his mother rushed to the scene, where they found him lying in the street. Apparently Dakota had been able to communicate right after the incident, but by the time Jack and his mom got there, the teenager had had a seizure and was unresponsive.

“I knew it was not good,” Jack said. “There was blood coming out of his ears.” And Jack, who previously worked as a firefighter, knew that was a bad sign.

First responders immediately rushed Dakota to Toledo Hospital. “He died en route,” Jack said. “They had to bring him back.”

Jack, who’s a stay-at-home dad, and his wife, Carrie, a school bus driver, got to the hospital in time to see their son just briefly before he was taken into surgery, a procedure which included removing part of his skull to accommodate brain swelling. Dakota was then placed into a medically induced coma for several weeks. 

He was moved into a rehabilitation facility the end of September, and had “started to be able to talk, high-five me, look at me,” Jack said. 

But just three days after the move, his tracheostomy tube accidentally got plugged and his heart stopped for 16 minutes before he could be revived.

Dakota was stabilized and transported to a nearby hospital, then transferred to another and eventually was at Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor before going back to rehab. 

Jack and Carrie have eight children in all, of whom Dakota is the second youngest, and “he was my sidekick,” Jack said.

Before the incident, Dakota was a hard-working young man who in addition to his lawnmowing business also shoveled snow for people. During one particular snowfall the previous winter, “he went out and shoveled sidewalks all day,” Jack said. “A lady gave him another pair of gloves because his were so wet.”

He used the money he earned that day to buy a used snowblower.

“The kid was not a lazy kid,” Jack said. “In fact, he was hardly ever home because he was always working.”

Dakota’s doctors have said that because of his age, it’s possible that his brain will recover better than if he were an adult. But the Courington family knows that he will never be the way he was.

He only recently became able to swallow, Jack said, and is unable to speak or walk and still requires a ventilator. “We don’t know if he’ll be able to get off [the ventilator],” he said. “That’s a long process.”

But Dakota, who’s now 16, is aware of everything going on around him and communicates by blinking his eyes, once for “yes” and twice for “no.”

And, his father said, “he’s homesick.” The family is working on a new place to live that’s equipped with facilities such as a wheelchair ramp and a walk-in shower, so that the Couringtons can bring their son home.

How is the family holding up a year since their lives changed forever? “It’s been hard,” Jack said.

At first, of course, there was a lot of anger that someone would hit Dakota and just drive away, leaving him in the street. Then the sense of guilt came. “I blame myself,” Jack said. “I feel like I should have told him to stay home.”

But, he added, whereas not long before the incident he had told his mom that he wasn’t sure if there was a God, he now actually has greater faith.

“I believe God works in mysterious ways. I firmly believe God has a plan for Dakota,” he said. “I’ll never question God again.”

The Couringtons’ other children have been very supportive, Jack and Carrie said, although “they’re angry at what happened and that he can’t be a normal teenager,” Jack said.

The couple said they are extremely grateful to the local community, which has supported them immensely throughout the ordeal, including participating in a May fundraiser at Lenawee Recreation and donating to the family’s GoFundMe account and an account set up at TLC Community Credit Union.

“The community has been great,” Jack said. “I couldn’t ask for a better community to be in.”