Now, archery anchors his life

Tony Grant was not supposed to be able to do this.

The 26-year-old notches another arrow, draws back and releases. It lands in the target located 30 metres away with a smacking thunk.

There’s a lot to archery.

The position of the hips, the pull, how you’re supposed to hold the bow. The importance of turning your head but not your shoulders.

The position of your hands. Then there’s the wind. Presently, it’s whipping across the range from right to left.

But Mr Grant doesn’t seem too concerned with all of that on a recent Saturday at the Gold Point Archery Range in St David’s.

He likes to pull back and let fly. Some of the arrows miss the target completely.

Here, according to his family, he is happiest.

His very presence, said his mother, is a minor medical miracle.

On October 19, 2010, Mr Grant struck a palm tree in a motorbike accident.

The outlook was grim.

“He suffered a traumatic brain injury,” said his mother, Sonya Smith.

“We were told that if he survives he would be a vegetable. And they didn’t expect him to survive.” From October to December his family camped out at King Edward Memorial Hospital here in Bermuda while he recovered. In January of 2011, he moved to Boston for three months of intensive physical, speech and occupational therapy.

Family members moved there as well, living at first in a hotel on the harbour, then in an apartment in the city’s South End.

He had to be re-taught everything. He needed to be dressed and fed. Medication for his injury caused him to gain substantial weight. For a long while after the accident, Sonya Smith took him to work; she handles cargo at the airport. She no longer does that.

“I needed a break,” she said.

While there was a time when he couldn’t walk or talk, Mr Grant, the eldest of three siblings, can now handle everyday activities.

“He washes his clothes, folds his clothes, cleans his room. He cooks, things like that,” said his mother.

He still has limitations.

He cannot read or write and struggles with language; his family oftentimes has to fill in his sentences.

“It’s worked out in his favor but it’s still difficult,” said his 23-year-old sister, Ashley Smith, who dropped out of college shortly after the accident as the family dealt with the aftermath and now works two jobs as a bartender and cashier. “He’s still going to speech therapy, he has trouble with words, sometimes we have to fill in the blanks. He’s like a kid again, basically. It’s hard because it’s the older brother. I can’t depend on him like I want to. He has to depend on me.”

Previously, motorcross was his passion, said his mother. He was constantly tinkering and building bikes.

“His bedroom looked like a garage,” he said.

But his mental and physical state makes motorcross an impossibility. He’s been back on the track once since his accident, unbeknownst to his mother, who was none too pleased to learn of his brief foray into his old hobby.

Now, archery anchors his life, according to his sister.

“That his life, basically,” she said. “I think it’s mind stimulating for him. He can’t go to the track and participate, but he feels like he can do something at archery. He doesn’t want to go anywhere but archery.”

He stopped attending church with his mother — he prefers to be at the range. He recently told his family they could throw a birthday party for him if they wanted, but he wouldn’t be in attendance.

He would be at archery.

On this Saturday, a Delta jetliner taxis at the nearby airport, while cars drive by, honk and yell for Tony out the window.

“Usually they say ‘Yes boss!’ because that’s one of his favorite sayings,” said Ross Roberts, who runs the range on weekends. “He’s a big part of what we have going on here.”

Mr Grant, donning an archery range staff shirt, is all smiles. He mentions and gestures toward the decal on the hood of a Volkswagen nearby. He is inquiring about the vehicle’s paint job, his mother says. The sun is shining and he’s wearing shades. He seems a very long way from death’s door.

“There is a God,” said his mother. “I have no doubt of that, after all this.”