Actor Clayton Conroy is on the road to recovery after being involved in a horrific accident that came close to being fatal.
Conroy, who portrayed the recurring role of Padre Terry in Netflix crime drama “The Gringo Hunters,” is opening up about being struck by a reckless driver in Los Angeles back in April.
He suffered a traumatic brain injury when struck by the vehicle, which was allegedly traveling at 100 mph at the time.
A Speeding Car Crash
As the 32-year-old actor recently told the Santa Cruz Sentinel (via People), he was driving home after meeting friends — and had not been drinking, because he was slated to be on a set the following morning.
“The road was looking as normal as it could, just lights on the road behind me,” he told the outlet, explaining he had no memory of the actual crash. “I did, perhaps, notice certain lights approaching quickly. From there, I woke up in the hospital.”
A Traumatic Brain Injury
Clayton was rushed to nearby Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in L.A., where doctors determined he’d suffered a traumatic brain injury that required emergency surgery, in addition to fracturing both his hip and shoulder.
Initially given a low survival rate, his operation was handled by a top surgeon. “He got unlucky and lucky in the course of half an hour,” his mother told the outlet.
As he told the Sentinel, he faces a long recovery, but remains grateful that his condition isn’t worse.
“I’m feeling different but, I guess, lucky or happy that it could be much worse,” he shared. “[I’m] trying not to take things for granted.”
A Long Recovery
Over the course of the five months since the accident, Conroy has worked to regain his speech and the ability to walk, in addition to other motor functions.
After a month at Cedars-Sinai, he was transported to a hospital in Sacramento, where his parents live.
That first month, he admitted, was the most difficult period.
“I was at my weakest,” he said. “It took a little bit of an adjustment, physically not being capable of doing many things alone.”
As he undertook physical rehabilitation, he initially initially relied on a rollator to walk. He was then able to walk with the assistance of a cane, and can now walk short distances unassisted. However, he admitted that he’s still experiencing brain fog, cognitivie fatigue and frequent headaches.
“That process, you really don’t have control over it,” he told the newspaper. “You just have to rest and hope that it gets better and better.”
He added: “I have a lot of soreness in my legs and in my body, but I’m able to walk longer distances, but I’m not capable of athletics. I can’t really bend my legs very much, I can’t really jump, but I’m working hard to get there.”
He added that his experiences over the past few months had encouraged him to “think a lot about what’s important in life.”
A Role in ‘The Gringo Hunters’
Conroy starred in Netflix hit “The Gringo Hunters,” a Netflix drama in which “a top Mexican police unit hunts down fleeing U.S. fugitives as a nefarious scheme unfolds within their force in this series inspired by real events.”
Conroy portrayed the recurring role of Padre Terry, a Catholic priest who was arrested and detained by the unit.
The actor’s other projects have included “The Demon Detective,” “The Sweetest Kill” and “That One Summer.”
