The recovery may be slow, but the key is the Osborne family – headed by Chris Osborne, spotter for Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Matt Kenseth and Daniel Suarez – is indeed recovering.
Chris, wife Melissa and son Austin were hit head-on by another driver on Dec. 17. All three family members suffered serious injuries in the wreck.
Chris suffered serious injuries to his right leg and foot. Melissa Osborne suffered major injuries to her pelvis, right hip, right shoulder, right arm and elbow. She’s hoping to be released from the hospital this Thursday.
And Austin Osborne is recovering from a concussion, partially collapsed lung, cracked sternum, broken nose and the loss of several teeth.
Even with their injuries, the Osborne family remains in strong spirit, a few examples of which can be seen from the following tweets.
That kind of spirit is uplifting, particularly with the severity of the wreck, as recounted in the following Instagram post by Austin just a few days after the wreck occurred.
As he continues his own recovery, Chris is holding out hope he is well enough to make it to Daytona International Speedway for next month’s season-opening Daytona 500.
“He’s very pleased with everything; we haven’t had any setbacks … knock on wood,” Osborne said of his surgeon, according to a story by NASCAR.com’s Kenny Bruce. “I know from the timeframe he gave me (initially) to the timeframe that he gave me this past week that we’ve already probably knocked off four weeks.
“But the doctor is only going to let me go as fast as my body will let me go with the healing process that it’s going through.”
Osborne does not want to miss Daytona, but at the same time, he doesn’t want to impair his recovery, either.
“If I miss one race, I’m going to absolutely hate it,” Osborne told Bruce. “But if I miss one race and I heal right instead of rushing it and messing something up … and have to miss three or four races again because of something they have to re-do, then I’m not only hurting myself, I’m also hurting the race team and Matt Kenseth and Daniel Suarez and everyone else around me.
“So I’m trying to make that transition as minimal as I possibly can … but I don’t want to toss myself on the back end of it either.”
While Osborne’s hopes are high, he’s also realistic that he may come up short of his goal.
“I’ll be honest with you — it’s going to be a tight timeframe,” Chris Osborne said. “Looking at the calendar … I don’t know if I’ll make Daytona. But I’m working so hard and … that’s my goal. Until the plane leaves and I’m either on it or not, that’s my goal.”
Click here to read Kenny Bruce’s whole story of the Osborne family and their recovery.
All of us here at NASCAR Talk continue to extend well wishes for speedy and full recoveries to the Osborne family.
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