A small 10×10 waiting room on the fourth floor of Homes Medical Center is filled with teenagers in bright Space Coast Crew blue. Board games are bring played on the floor, there are three to a chair, all of them waiting. Their teammate Anthony Cerasale has been in a coma now for 27 days after being hit by a car while jogging on A1A. Senior and men’s team captain Steven Thomas has been visiting as much as he can. He has gone to the hospital almost everyday since the accident.

“It was the Sunday after the accident, his mom allowed me to go in there,” Thomas said “The best way his mom put it was that it was a bad bar fight. He had a black eye, covered in blankets with monitors all around him.”

The environment there is different than he thought it would be.

“You would think that it would be kinda sad, but when we go there it’s not sad,” Thomas said. “We’re mostly there to help the family; his mom hasn’t left the hospital. We try to lighten the spirits despite the circumstances.”

The community held a prayer vigil in his honor on Dec. 28. 185 to 200 people attended. The crew team has continued practicing, but now they do it for Cerasale.

“I think it brought us together more; it gave us something to strive towards,” Thomas said. “It’s one of those things that when we push we do it for Anthony because he can’t be there to push with us.”