Three decades ago, Matthew Thomas probably would not have imagined trying to start a non-profit organization with the prospects of raising awareness and support for people with disabilities. At the time, he was fresh out of high school with a football scholarship to Brigham Young University (BYU). He was nineteen, living on his own, and living the dream with a job at Candid Camera.

THE CRASH
In June of 1991, he made the decision to ride in the passenger seat of his intoxicated friend’s Volkswagen Beetle. That night, the two were in a serious accident that left the driver with a broken leg, and landed Matt in the hospital in critical condition and in a coma, with just a 5% chance of living. Everyone was told to not expect very much out of Matt for the rest of his life. He was not even expected to be able function on his own after that night, if he ever came out of the coma.

RECOVERY
He was in a coma for three months. When he came out of the coma, everyone knew that there was a long, grueling road ahead. Matt wasn’t even able to think on his own yet. He spent another month in the hospital before returning home, only to face a 12-month in-house head injury program through Northridge Hospital called the TGI Care House. At the time, he still could not read, write, shave, shower, or dress on his own. These were all skills that he had to re-teach himself. Before long, Matt was beginning to feed himself, talk and even start to walk again. After much faith and sometimes near-superhuman determination, Matt surprised even the doctors with how far he has come with regaining his abilities.

HYDROBIKES
Two years into his recovery, a neighbor, Jim Raué, bought four hydrobikes: basically, a bike used to pedal on water. He gave Matthew the task of cleaning them. Eventually, Matt started to multi-task. Prior skills were being re-developed: organization, concentration, endurance, independence, time management, stamina, memory development and more. Ultimately, he started riding the hydrobikes, giving Matt a new sense of accomplishment. The rides got longer. In 2011, Matt pedaled a hydrobike 28 miles in 7.5 hours non-stop from Catalina Island to Long Beach, CA to set a world record. On August 20, 2022, Matthew set a new world record peddling his hydrobike from Catalina to Newport Beach Harbor.

PHOTOGRAPHY
In 2007, Matt started noticing that when he was on his hydrobike that the local bird population would often fly over him. Matt started to feed the birds as he rode, which became a daily routine. In 2015 Matt’s girlfriend told him that he should take some pictures of the local birds and wildlife. Matt started taking pictures while out on his daily rides. When he shared his pictures with friends they were amazed that the pictures were so unique and special.

TODAY: GIVING BACK
As the years progressed, Matt became an advocate for not only the consequences of intoxicated driving, but also the support that disabled people and coma patients need in order to improve their quality of life. Matt is a spokesperson for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (M.A.D.D.). He spends his time giving speeches about drinking and driving in schools and trying to get through to people before they could potentially make the same mistakes he did. He also works tirelessly with coma patients, using his unique approach, of what he calls his “Coma-dentials”.

Matthew is a charismatic public speaker. He motivates people by sharing his story. Matthew Thomas is the subject of a documentary currently on tubi called “straight Out of a Coma”. He is about to release two follow up documentaries called “Putting Ability in Disability” and “Tripp’in Ain’t Eazy-What’s Your Handicap”.