A year after fall, student trying to pick up old life

For his 22nd birthday, College senior Matt Paris went bowling.

Last year, when he turned 21, Paris was critically injured after falling 35 feet from a balcony at a Psi Upsilon party, reportedly after drinking 21 shots.

Paris fractured his shoulder, hip and collarbone and all the ribs on the right side of his body. He also suffered damage to the frontal lobe of his brain, which controls memory and emotions.

For a while, Paris could not remember how to count or the names of his parents.

Now, the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity brother has regained most of his memory, recovered to normal physical condition and is back at Penn.

"I think I'm the same as I was before," Paris said.

Paris spent a month in the intensive care unit at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and a month and a half at the Moss Rehabilitation Center in Philadelphia. He continued speech, physical and occupational therapy for more than seven months afterward.

"He had to relearn all activities," Matt's father, Frank Paris, said. "He had to learn to swallow and eat. He had to learn to walk."

Now, Paris says the only physical difference is the vision in his right eye. He has also been advised by his doctors not to continue playing sprint football.

Although he had once planned to double major in economics and communication, Paris is currently enrolled in only one class to readjust to an academic setting.

He plans to slowly add courses and take classes over the summer and next year to get the 10 additional credits he needs to graduate as a communication major.

"We thought a return to his academic setting would be the best thing for his recovery," Frank Paris said.

Since the accident, Matt Paris said he is more studious and does not go out as much.

"I don't want to go out every single night. If I'm going to go out, I'll have a couple of beers and that's it. I'm not going to go and play flip-cup for a couple hours and be using a funnel" for beer, Paris said.

After leaving the rehabilitation center, he made weekly visits to see his fraternity brothers at Penn. Paris' parents say that Pi Kappa Alpha has played a "tremendous" role in supporting their son and determining his decision to come back to campus.

"Being there for each other in hard times and brotherhood, it gave that a pretty real meaning," Paris' friend and fraternity brother Ryan Tracy said.

Now, Paris is regaining his independence.

"Before, they helped me out a lot," Paris said. "But now they're just like, 'You're back, man, you're same as you were before.' They don't need to help me out anymore."

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