MARK OF A SURVIVOR MAN BEATS ODDS AFTER HEAD INJURY.

Byline: Angie Valencia-Martinez Staff Writer

SIMI VALLEY - Longtime school board member Carla Kurachi would like her son to grow out his hair to hide a noticeable scar on his scalp, which she quips makes his head look like a baseball.

But Scott Kurachi, 20, refuses. The scar is a testament to how lucky he is to be alive, he said.

``He says to me, 'But, Mom, that shows I'm a survivor,''' she said. ``I tell him, 'Scott, I'm so happy you were able to survive this, but I haven't survived this yet and I'm not sure I ever will.'''

Nearly a year after Scott slipped into a coma after a skateboarding accident, Carla Kurachi - herself a quadriplegic since a car accident at the age of 16 - thanks God for his full recovery, which she considers a miracle.

Doctors gave Scott Kurachi, then 19, a 10 percent chance of survival. When he made it through the night, one doctor indicated he had suffered permanent brain damage.

``This was my worst nightmare come to life,'' said Kurachi ``I thought we would have to pull the plug. I felt my heart shatter.''

Watching her son go through rehab gave her flashbacks of what she had gone through.

``I never felt pity when I had my accident and felt Scott shouldn't feel pity for himself,'' she said. ``I was raised in a family where you didn't cry over spilled milk. You dealt with things.

``I had to work really hard so I expected him to do the same. I had to tell him to suck it up.''

A school psychologist who was first elected to the board in 1990, Kurachi missed several school board meetings to care for her son. And the roller-coaster ride took a toll on her family.

Scott, a former Royal High School water polo team player, underwent several surgical procedures to save his life.

He had a blood clot removed from his brain and a piece of his skull cut out. Later, neurosurgeons drilled a hole on his head to drain a buildup of fluid on the brain. And he has titanium plates inserted in his skull.

It all began when the teen fell off his long board Oct. 24 near Lake Arrowhead. He wasn't wearing a helmet and suffered severe head trauma.

The Moorpark College student was unresponsive and thrashing around on the ground before he was airlifted to Loma Linda Medical Center, where he lay in a coma for five days.

He spent two weeks at Loma Linda before being transferred to Northridge Hospital Medical Center for physical and occupational therapy.

``They taught me to walk again, speak clear, and pretty much everything that such a bad head injury had caused,'' he said. ``I wanted to get back to my life.''

His vision was impaired, he suffered short-term memory loss and had to work on his speech and problem solving.

But he has made a full recovery, beating the odds and defying early prognosis.

However, he has had to develop new goals in life. Scott Kurachi's dream was to join the military and become a firefighter, but he will not be able to because of the head injury.

Instead, he has now decided to major in kinesiology so that he can become a physical therapist. ``I love to help people and I could tell my patients my story and show them that if they don't give up, they can accomplish almost anything.''

Angie Valencia-Martinez, [phone]

angie.valencia(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

(color in Simi edition only) Scott Kurachi, 20, prefers to wear his hair short as a reminder of how lucky he is to have survived a skateboarding accident.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News