#tracy-morgan

On Monday’s episode of Today, Tracy Morgan sat down with his attorney Benedict Morelli and host Matt Lauer to discuss, for the first time, the June 2014 accident that resulted in Morgan getting brain trauma and broken leg, nose, and ribs. Morgan says he has no memory of what happened, “I don’t remember the accident. I just remember when I came through. Megan, my fiancée, was right there. My son was right there, Mark was right there, Ben was right there. That’s basically what I remember.”

While others might have looked to distance themselves from such a traumatic experience, Morgan did the opposite, “When I got home, it really hit me. Every day I would watch the accident on YouTube. One day I came across his funeral on YouTube…I had to know what happened to my friend.”

The friend he is referring to is James “Jimmy Mack” McNair, who did not survive the accident. Morgan cried when discussing a man he’s referred to as his mentor, telling Lauer, “He’s a close friend of mine, a comrade in comedy. He was a loving man and he was a warm man. He was a good man. It just hurts me to see that he’s gone.”

When Lauer asked how Morgan is doing now, the actor and comedian replied, “You can see the scars on my head. There are times where I have my good days and my bad days where I forget things, you know. There are times when I got headaches and the nosebleeds. And I won’t even let my lady know because I don’t want her to be worried about it. But I have my good days and my bad days.”

Tracy Morgan’s return to television continued on Today Tuesday. The actor and comedian, who is still recovering from a 2014 car accident that resulted in brain trauma, walked with Matt Lauer over to his old stomping grounds, Studio 8H, the home of Saturday Night Live.

Joined by his fiancee Megan and his attorney, Morgan told Lauer he couldn’t bear to watch SNL’s 40th Anniversary Special, “We were all together in my house and I wouldn’t look at it…My publicist called to say, 'Wow, oh man, they gave you a very big tribute,’ and I just put my head down and started crying because it was too much for me at the time. Too much.”

Morgan said “fighting every day” when asked how his recovery is going.  (Photo by Lenny Abbot/Splash News)

Comedian Tracy Morgan had to put his life and career on hold in early June after he was involved in a fatal six-car crash in New Jersey. The accident left him with a broken femur, leg, nose, ribs, and, perhaps most notably, a traumatic brain injury (TBI).

“Fighting every day,” the SNL and 30 Rock actor told a photographer on Wednesday. The cameraman asked Morgan how he was doing as he entered a local post office with the help of a walking aid and a nurse. 

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There was a promising aspect to the sighting: Morgan was last spied in public in early October using a wheelchair. The fact that he has now graduated to a walker is a huge step on his road to recovery.

But he also doesn’t appear to be rushing it. 

Morgan tabled the FX series he was developing to focus on improving his health, and has only been seen in public a handful of times since the accident.

The actor’s lawyer referred to Morgan’s brain injury as “severe” — although no one’s sure exactly what that means, as TBIs involve different degrees of severity.

A mild traumatic brain injury is essentially a concussion, and generally involves a knock to the head.

There might be a gash and brief alteration of mental status like dizziness and confusion, or a headache afterward. However, with these mild injuries, the brain remains generally protected by the skull, and doctors won’t see any areas of irritation on an MRI. They usually heal on their own with rest, over-the-counter pain relievers and a little time.

Moderate to severe traumatic brain injuries are different, which is likely what Morgan has experienced.

Measured on a 15-point basis by something called the Glasgow Coma Scale, medical professionals assess a person’s level of cognition after an accident and generally has to do with how long the victim’s lost consciousness. Where a score of 13 to 15 is normal, a moderate injury falls between 9 and 12, and a severe score is less than eight.  

Related: In Brains Damaged by Drug Abuse, Gender Makes a Big Difference

There are no reports of Morgan’s exact injury. However, both a moderate and severe traumatic brain injury require time for healing and recovery, says Robert Cohen, Psy.D, a neuropsychologist at Orlando Health and director of neuropsychology at Compass Research.

How much recovery time is dependent on the injury and the person, and can vary widely.

“After a severe traumatic brain injury, the brain has the ability, over time, to heal on its own,” Cohen tells Yahoo Health. “The blood, swelling, toxic chemicals and hormones take a long time to pull back. After a severe injury, by and large, depending on the parts of the brain involved, it can take two to two-and-a-half years to get to a place where you’ll peak.”

However, that timeframe differs dramatically from person to person, which is why docs hesitate to give a prognosis early on during treatment. Usually, though, after roughly two to three years a person with a more severe injury will see a plateau, says Cohen.

Related: 10 Ways to Rev Up Your Brain and Reduce the Risk of Cognitive Decline

Sadly, that “peak” after a moderate-to-severe TBI may not be the sufferer’s pre-accident normal. “Most people with severe traumatic brain never get fully back there,” Cohen says. “But that doesn’t mean they’re not going to be functional human beings.”

Early intervention is key, starting right after the accident.

After the injury has been stabilized, doctors will work on a personalized treatment plan. That may include a mix of surgery, physical therapy, speech therapy, and neuropsychological evaluation until a sufferer is at a “level that leaves you safe to go home,” says Cohen.

From back home, rehab will continue.

The body and brain are miraculous, and will heal some of the TBI on their own, but various therapies will make all the difference — and will last as long as it takes. “It’s so important to be reasonable with a person’s progress,” says Cohen. “We never want to put a limit on someone’s rehab potential, but the expectation can’t be that they will go back to the same level they were before the accident.”

Cohen says that it’s hard to gauge where a person will ultimately peak, because even doctors and therapists are evaluating a TBI sufferer on their basic brain functions. “And it’s the higher-level thinking that makes us successful in our jobs, gives us motivation to excel and helps us develop life skills,” he explains.

The bottom line? Brain injuries are unpredictable.

Improvements will come in baby steps, over time, for a long time. “The sooner we realize this, the happier we are with small gains that are made,” says Cohen, who also notes that depression is commonly associated with these types of traumas — and just another reason why realistic goal-setting and timelines are key for bouncing back.

Related: What To Eat (And What To Avoid) For Better Mental Clarity

One day, though, we might see a shorter timeframe on the healing process. “Researchers are looking into it,” says Cohen. “Right now, there are clinical trials looking to speed up recovery through the use of different medications and stimulators implanted in the brain.”

But for now, the TBI recovery process is still slow and steady. 

Morgan may be right on track, because there’s no one pathway back from a TBI. We’ll have to patiently wait on the funny man’s return, sending him positive thoughts and well wishes as he heals.

It’s been a long road back to health for Tracy Morgan since the 2014 automobile accident that almost cost him his life. This October, he’ll complete another important step in his recovery: hosting Saturday Night Live. The late night institution revealed via Twitter today that Morgan will be hosting the Oct. 17 episode of the show’s 41st season. 

We’re excited to announce our first three hosts of Season 41: @MileyCyrus, @amyschumer, and @RealTracyMorgan! #SNL pic.twitter.com/cVOrHZKPBk

— Saturday Night Live (@nbcsnl)

August 17, 2015

It’s only the second time that Morgan has emceed SNL since his eight-season tenure from 1996 to 2003, when he created such memorable characters as unlicensed “animal expert” Brian Fellows and Uncle Jemima.

Stoked to be going home…#SNL

— Tracy Morgan (@RealTracyMorgan)

August 17, 2015

This also represents his most high-profile TV appearance since he went on the Today show in June and broke down while discussing the aftermath of the accident, when a Walmart truck struck a car carrying Morgan and several other comics. (James McNair died in the crash; Morgan and Walmart have since reached a settlement.) 

While Morgan’s return to Studio 8H is the biggest news contained in that tweet, it’s also heartening to see that SNL is kicking off Season 41 with plenty of star power. Miley Cyrus is set to host the Oct. 3 season premiere, and box office superstar Amy Schumer will be front and center for the Oct. 10 episode. You can bet that Morgan will be on his game knowing that he’s following that sister act. 

Tracy Morgan Speaks Out for First Time Since Brain Injury

Tracy Morgan was overcome by emotion during an interview with NBC’s Matt Lauer — his first since a car accident left him in a coma, and his friend James McNair (also known as Jimmy Mac) dead, nearly one year ago. 

Morgan has made few appearances since his accident — he was spotted with a walker in December and said he was “fighting every day,” setting off a flurry of prayers and well-wishes on social media — and news of his recovery has been kept under wraps.

While most of the attention has been focused on Morgan’s recovery from his physical injuries (he suffered a traumatic brain injury as well as a broken femur, leg, nose, and ribs, and still uses a cane to walk), Morgan told Lauer that the emotional trauma of losing his friends has been far harder to deal with. “Bones heal, but the loss of my friend will never heal,” he said, gulping back tears.  

Part of that emotional recovery has included coming to grips with Mac’s death, as brutal as it was. “Every day I would just watch the accident on YouTube,” Morgan told Lauer. “And one day I came across his funeral on YouTube, and I lost it for about a week. I didn’t know what happened to my friend. And I had to know. I had to pay my respects. And that was my way.”

His emotional struggle is made that much harder by the symptoms of his brain injury, Morgan told Lauer. “There are times where I have my good days and my bad days. Where I forget things. There are times where I got the headaches and the nosebleeds, and I won’t even let my lady know because I don’t want her to be worried about it.”

As shaken by grief as Morgan appeared, he was also overcome by gratitude for those who helped him immediately, during the accident, and during his continuing recovery. He thanked “all of the people on the highway there that night, that stopped to get us out,” naming several drivers who helped pull him to safety that night, as well as helicopter pilots, ambulance drivers, and police.

Tracy also thanked the doctor who helped him at JFK Medical Center, Dr. Brian Greenwald, as well as the nurse, Jackie, who helped him come to grips with the tragedy after coming out of his coma. 

“When I first came out of the coma, I was a mess,” Morgan told Lauer. “I sat with her every day, I would throw things at her, and the only thing she had to say to me was ‘Everything is gonna be all right.’” Weeks later, when Morgan had moved to a rehabilitation center and began his recovery, he saw Jackie again. “I just grabbed her and I wouldn’t let her go and I just said, ‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

While the exact details of the extent of Morgan’s injury are still not known,the  effects of severe traumatic brain injury do take “a long time” to subside, Robert Cohen, PsyD, a neuropsychologist at Orlando Health, previously told Yahoo Health. “After a severe injury, by and large, depending on the parts of the brain involved, it can take two to two-and-a-half years to get to a place where you’ll peak.” However, a person who experiences a TBI may never return to the same level of “normal” from before the accident. 

While Morgan’s obvious heartbreak was sobering, so was his humor-free demeanor. He cracked no jokes and no smiles, and his voice broke with tears as he spoke with Lauer. Will he return to comedy? Yes, says Morgan. “I love comedy, and I can’t wait to get back to her, but right now my goal is just to heal, and get better. ‘Cause I’m not 100 percent yet.”