Injured racer proves he's a miracle rider

It was hard for Teresa Morros to believe that the bruised and bloodied young man lying comatose in a hospital bed was the same vibrant boy she'd watched ride away on a motorcycle in the Wendover desert just a few hours earlier.

"He had dried blood all over his face," she said of her son, Josh Morros, who was nearly killed in a Supercross accident on Aug. 16, 2008. "His nose was broken; he had a puncture wound near his eye that just oozed. It was pretty messed up."

And then there was the conversation. The one when doctors warned her not to get her hopes up. The talks when the doctors did their best to prepare her for what might lie ahead.

"When the woman came in, she was wearing a yellow smock," said Teresa Morros, who sat in a waiting room alone as the rest of her family made the drive from Wendover. "I honestly thought they were going to tell me that he'd died. I have lost a child before. I was not prepared for that."

Instead, they tried to describe for her the severe brain injury that then 16-year-old Josh Morros, a promising young Supercross rider, had sustained when he crashed. In addition to suffering a head injury, he broke his collarbone, several ribs and his nose, and bruised one of his lungs.

"They said, 'We cannot give you any hope'," recalled the mother, her voice cracking with emotion. Josh Morros, sitting next to her at the AMA Supercross races at Rice-Eccles Stadium last Saturday, reached over and put his arm around her.

Moms, however, have hope that comes from a place that doesn't rely on reason or medical facts. And Josh Morros' story is about more than a medical miracle. It's about perseverance, love and just what one can accomplish with a little faith, determination and hard work.

He was on the fast track to a phenomenal Supercross career — literally. He was breaking records and moving up the ranks as fast as he tore through courses.

He fell in love with motorcycles because his father, John, raced. It became his life's passion because of the adrenaline that accompanies motocross.

"It's just that feeling you get when you race, the rush," he said with a grin spreading across his face and a glance toward his mother. "When you win, it's all worth it. Winning is the biggest high you can ever have."

Once he started breaking records and turning heads, he knew he was hooked.