Cathedral Catholic Graduate Gets a Hero’s Homecoming

There were seas of red and gold outside Tuesday afternoon. Hundreds of Cathedral Catholic High School students, teachers, and parents gathered there to welcome home 2010 graduate Derek Thomas, who survived a car accident that killed four people last August.

Thomas, who was raised in Encinitas, suffered burns to 85 percent of his body after the car he was a passenger in crashed head first into a California Baptist University athletic van and burst into flames. 

After the crash, Thomas spent nearly a year at the Grossman Medical Center at West Hills Hospital in Los Angeles, where he was kept in a medically induced coma for several months, underwent 42 surgeries, and had to have every inch of his burned skin scraped off.  

Thomas has truly beat the odds, as doctors said he had a less than one percent chance of surviving. Thomas, who is now walking on his own, has also realized his goal of making it home in time for his 20th birthday on July 20. 

In the moments just before his homecoming, the crowd was buzzing with excitement – and once the ambulance carrying him pulled into the parking lot, the scene was reminiscent of a pep-rally. People waved colorful signs and balloons, cheerleaders broke into chant, and several people hugged or wiped away tears.

This week Thomas will begin the next phase of his recovery under the care of Dr. Michael Lobatz, medical director for the rehab center at Scripps Encinitas, and a host of other physicians and therapists.