He Survived Mt. Rainier Fall, But Not Boeing Layoffs

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By By Kevin Reece

Summary

Man fighting to come back from near death experience gets pink slip.

Story Published: Nov 27, 2001 at 5:01 AM PDT

Story Updated: Aug 30, 2006 at 11:47 PM PDT

He Survived Mt. Rainier Fall, But Not Boeing Layoffs
PIERCE COUNTY - The 1,900 Puget Sound area Boeing employees who received layoff notices this week now begin the struggle to find out how they'll survive economically. But none of them has or will struggle more than a 38-year-old man in Fircrest.

By all appearances, Brian Nelson had it all: rugged good looks, a passion for life, a love of the Northwest outdoors, and an engineering job at Boeing that won him awards and took him all over the world.

Then six years ago it all fell apart on Mt. Rainier.

He fell three thousand feet. Two of his climbing partners died. Brian suffered a severe head injury and woke up after three months in a coma to a life that would never be the same.

"Progressing slowly but surely," Brian told me in a voice slurred and strained because of his injuries.

Slowly but surely Brian did get some of his life back. He exercises daily, has endured hours of physical therapy, and recently had surgery on his throat to help him speak again.

And then in January of this year, the call came from Boeing. He'd be an assistant working in an office again.

"Did you expect it to last a long time," I asked him. "Yeah," he said.

It lasted until Monday.

Brian got the so-called pink slip. His return to Boeing will only last sixty more days.

"I am disappointed but I won't give up because I have a lot of goals ahead of me," he said.

One of his goals is to be independent again. For now, he lives in Pierce County with his mom. He says, like other Boeing employees, he doesn't know where this latest setback will take him. But Brian says he's driven to make it just one more mountain he will overcome.

"I would just hope that they would see that I am very driven at whatever I do and I can learn anything."