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In 1997, Derek was in an auto accident with his mother coming back from a summer vacation in Illinois. On their way home to Texas, they ran underneath a dump truck off the side of the high way that was under construction at the time. Derek was extremely injured in the accident. He was laying down in the backseat of the small car at the time. The entire right side was crushed, having been laying down, his entire right leg was crushed in the accident. When the car ran under the truck, he had flown frontwards, thus making the seat belt crushing most of his ribs. The belt snapped, and Derek was pushed almost under the driver seat when he was found. His lungs were severely punctured by the broken ribs. When he was operated on, he had lost the ability in half of his right lung, and he had extreme damage in his left lung. He had lost some vital organs during the operation, but he recovered at Saint Francis Hospital with hi mother. He was in a coma for four months, and was transfered to Baylor Children's Hospital to heal an additional four months. To this day, Derek plays with a half a lung, and a damaged lung. He also has partial paralysis in his right leg. Months later, he lost 25% of his hearing in his left ear for reasons to be unknown.