The toughest part of Chris Bunn’s day begins with getting up, taking a shower, and getting dressed. He says the morning routine that most of us take for granted really wears him out.

“It takes a lot of energy, because you’ve got one hand you can use to dress yourself with. Right now, my right hand is all I’ve got to work with. And I’m in a lot of pain. But the doctors say that’s good,” said Chris during an interview with the Voice on Monday.

The pain that Bunn suffered from a horrific motorcycle crash last November lingers on - and oftentimes tears through his 22-year-old body throughout the day and night. But it’s a signal that he’s healing - in body, in mind, and in spirit. It’s part of the long ride to recovery which brought Chris back home to Jackson to be with his family.

Like the helmet he was wearing the day of the crash, the scratches and scars Bunn has on his person are reminders that he’s on the mend.

“I’m going to Lexington twice a week for therapy on my left arm,” Chris noted as he points to that arm, nestled in a sling. “The nerves in that arm got stretched. The nerve endings were severely stretched in the wreck, and now they’re trying to put themselves back together. The doctors say that with therapy, I should be able to use my left arm in about six months from now.”

In what’s been two-and-a-half months after the crash, Bunn’s had to do a lot of learning all over again. Like learning how to walk, which he did at Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital in Lexington, after his release from the University of Kentucky Hospital. And learning how to drive a truck.

The seeds of those small steps were sown last November 11th. It was a Sunday afternoon, and Chris was on his motorcycle - a Kawasaki Ninja 650-R. A brand-new sports bike, where the rider “leans over” to steer it, which can make the ride uncomfortable, according to Bunn.

His father, Reverend John Bunn, is Pastor at the Hampton United Methodist Church on Route 205, at the Pegg Fork Road. Chris was headed to his Dad’s church, and was riding fast - way too fast, as he remembers. “I was doing 119 when it happened.”

It was between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m., when Chris was “flying” to his Dad’s church. “I was passing vehicles on 205, and driving fast. I always drove too fast. I don’t remember but what I’ve been told, a truck was turning left into a driveway, and I struck that truck. The impact ejected me off the bike, and knocked the camper top off the truck. I slid over 40 feet with my head on the pavement.” Bunn showed the skid marks on the helmet he was wearing that day and continued. “If I didn’t have this on, I wouldn’t be here today.”

John Bunn and his wife, Karen, were headed from the church about the same time, and came up on the scene of the wreck. “I saw all these vehicles, and all these people at the scene. I saw someone in a ditch and went to that person. It was my son. I put my hands on him, and prayed for him.”

Witnesses said that when Chris first hit the ground, he wasn’t even breathing.

An ambulance took Chris to a site where a medical helicopter was waiting for him. Moments earlier, the copter had left London after working a medical emergency there. The big chopper took his battered and broken body to Lexington in just 13 minutes.

The race to recovery was on.

And when Chris came to, the scene was far different from what he was expecting. “When I woke up, I was in a hospital.”

Allison Bunn Manning is Chris’ twin sister. She works as a nurse at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Lexington, and at Kentucky River Medical Center in Jackson. She spent hours on end with Chris, as did her father and her mother, Karen. In her spare time, she made a scrapbook. Decked out in a bright red fabric with a capital “B” on the front, the scrapbook chronicled the long, painful return to life during his hospital stay. It showed pictures of Chris during his darkest hours. Pictures of tubes going into him and through him, as he clung to life.

But it also showed some lighter moments, like when the family bought Chris a Garfield the Cat stuffed animal, and gave it to him during his stay. It showed the words of caring and compassion from a sister that truly loved her twin brother. And it showed the total devotion to God that has centered the Bunn family throughout life.

In the scrapbook, Allison told Chris, “This tells and shows your time in the hospital after your horrible accident…Your recovery is truly a miracle…Whenever you get down, look at this book.”

Her brother spent four weeks at the UK Hospital, then two weeks at Cardinal Hill. It wasn’t easy, as Chris slipped into a coma after Thanksgiving. But he woke up from it, wanting to live. “Towards the end, I got tired of living,” Chris recalled. “My Mom gave me a pep talk, and said, “You’re a fighter. You can do it. And after that, I did.”

He joined his family at home in Jackson for the holidays.

The scrapbook was given to Chris on Christmas Day, as a gift from his sister.

And his ride to recovery continues.

He and his Dad are big football fans. Papa John is a Cincinnati Bengals fan, while Chris roots for the Indianapolis Colts. Wearing a Colts hat with the bill on backwards, someone in the Voice office talked about last Sunday’s playoff game Indy played against the San Diego Chargers.

The Colts lost to the “Bolts”, 28-24.

“Oh, man!”, Chris exclaimed, but went on to say, “Ah, Peyton Manning (the Colts’ Quarterback). He’ll do better.” Then he told his father, “Remember when I woke up one time when I was in the hospital and I told you, ‘Dad, did I play ball for LSU?’ And you said, ‘No. But if you did, I would have been there!’”

“Yes, I remember that,” said John Bunn quietly as he smiled at his son.

“They said that came from the brain injury I suffered,” Chris replied. “Everything I do now, I have to write it down, as a result of the brain injury.”

And despite the occasional setbacks, Chris’ biggest supporters - his family - keeps him to keep his head up and recover. “My Dad told me, ‘Chris, you’ve got no choice but to get better. People are counting on you to improve. They’re praying for you’.”

Today, Chris Bunn continues to take those small steps. Saying that “he wasn’t living a very good life before”, Chris is now a regular at his Dad’s church every Sunday. “Sometimes I go there two days a week. And the wreck has changed my attitude about things. If I had died, I would have gone to a bad place, you know what I mean? It’s God’s way of saying, ‘Straighten up and fly right.’ Now I appreciate things more. I appreciate people more. And the miracle that is life.”

The easiest part of Chris Bunn’s day begins with walking around, and talking to friends. That spark for living burns on as he savors the people, the places, his family, and putting his life in the palm of God’s hands.

For Chris, it’s all part of a new route he’s taken in his long ride to recovery. “Before the wreck, I didn’t care. But I’m happier now. I still go through pain, but that’s minor. I call my old friends, and they see me. And I have my family - plus an extended family. I know I’m a lucky man.”