WPI junior Sean Nelligan was seriously injured earlier this month when the Jeep he was driving overturned on Route 110 near the Sterling-Clinton line. Three passengers also suffered injuries in the one-car accident.
According to Clinton Police, Nelligan's Jeep was heading out of Clinton toward Sterling and back towards Worcester when the vehicle somehow skidded across the road, spun around, and crashed into a tree. It was later learned the vehicle overturned at least twice. The cause of the accident, which happened around 6:00pm September 15, was solar glare. Driving around a bend, Nelligan was unexpectedly blinded by the sun and became disoriented.
Route 110 was closed for about an hour following the accident. Nelligan was immediately airlifted to U-Mass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester. The other three passengers, all Assumption College students, were driven via ambulance from Clinton Hospital to U-Mass.
The four students, including Nelligan and his girlfriend, had just left her home in Clinton and were headed to a Chinese restaurant for dinner.
Nelligan, considered WPI's top wrestler, suffered facial injuries as a result of the crash. A broken jaw, broken palate, crushed cheekbone, and damage to his right eye socket will all require surgery. His vision was not impaired, however, and doctors report that his condition is improving every day. Dr. Raymond Dunn was scheduled to perform surgery yesterday at 7:30am to repair the damage. Dunn, who directs the medical center's Plastic Surgery Research Laboratories, received his bachelor's degree in chemistry from WPI in 1978.
Sean's girlfriend suffered neck and hip bruises, another passenger had a broken shoulder, and the third sustained a cracked vertebra. Sean's girlfriend was released from the hospital later that night, and the other two were released the next day.
Nelligan, who was in the Intensive Care Unit until last Wednesday, was in serious but stable condition. Since the beginning of his hospitalization, he reportedly has been communicating via hand signals, and more recently, writing notes.
Doctors have indicated that, giving some healing time, nobody would ever know that he sustained any facial damage in the accident, and a full recovery is expected. Head wrestling coach Phil Grebinar has been visiting Nelligan daily to check up on his star 165-pound grappler.
"Needless to say, this will impact our wrestling team," said Grebinar, "but that has not been the concern. The concern is to make sure that Sean will be all right. For that matter, his family as well. We're not expecting anything of Sean this season, but we're all hoping for his full participation next year."
Nelligan, a mechanical engineering major from Brockton, MA, plans to fulfill his athletic eligibility based on his academic interest. On the mat, he was 20-4 as a sophomore, with one loss to the Division III national champion and three losses to the national runner-up.
Grebinar understands that this tragedy will have a major impact on the highly competitive Engineer squad. "As for wrestling, WPI will feel the loss. In fact, our conference will feel the loss. Sean will be missed this season for several reasons, not the least of which is because of his leadership-both in the wrestling room and in the fitness center. Sean trains hard, he drills hard, and he wrestles hard. To top it all off, he's just a great kid."