BU student seeks to recover after New Zealand crash

In this Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013 photo, Meg Theriault, of Salisbury, Mass., reflects on being back in class on the first day of spring semester 2013 at Boston University School of Management, in Boston. Theriault is auditing the class as she recovers from a brain injury sustained during a crash last year in New Zealand. Three BU students were killed in the same crash May 12, 2012 when their minivan flipped over during a trip while the students were studying abroad.

The brain injuries she sustained were serious; it was an open question whether she would ever again be the high-spirited young woman she was before the crash.

In this Saturday, May 12, 2012 file photo, police officers examined the scene of a minivan crash near Turangi, New Zealand that killed three BU students.

Theriault is seen in a picture taken before the crash.

Meg Theriault, foreground, worked with physical therapist Heather Meunier to practice walking at the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston on July 11. Meg was receiving physical therapy as part of her rehabilitation from a near-fatal traumatic brain injury.

Theriault worked with speech therapist Lynette Holmes, left, at the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston.

Theriault is assisted by her mother, Deb, right, as she arrived at their home in Salisbury, Mass. on Aug. 2, 2012 for the first time since she was involved in a multi-fatal minivan crash in New Zealand in May.

Deb Theriault, left, wiped a tear from her eye from joy that her daughter Meg, right, survived an accident in New Zealand two-and-a-half months earlier.

Theriault, left, is helped by her mother, Deb, as Meg examined her personal belongings after not being in her bedroom for eight months.

Theriault is helped with a helmet by her mother, Deb, left, as she talked with her family about the logistics of her daily life recovering from a traumatic brain injury at their home.

Theriault listened as her father, Todd, right, called a pharmacy about her medication at the their home.

Theriault is assisted by her mother Deb, left, as they descended a flight of stairs at their home.

Theriault spoke with nurse Darleen Crisileo, left, on Sept. 4, 2012 during preparations for surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Theriault had a plastic plate implanted during the surgery where a portion of her skull had been removed following a near-fatal head injury from a minivan crash three-and-a-half months earlier. The helmet Meg wore afterward for protection rests on a shelf at foreground left.

Neurosurgeon Anoop Patel prepared Theriault for surgery at MGH. She had a plastic plate about five inches long installed where a portion of her skull had been removed.

Patel, left, used a marker to outline areas for incision on Theriault’s cranium, moments before surgery at MGH.

Patel, second right, and operating room nurse Janet Hoskin, right, looked at monitors during surgery on Theriault.

Deb Theriault kissed her daughter Meg Theriault after surgery.

Boston University senior Dustin Holstein, of Southborough, Mass., left, hugged his friend Theriault during a chance meeting on Oct. 25, 2012 at a restaurant near the BU campus in Boston. Holstein was an eyewitness to a multi-fatal minivan accident where Meg nearly died. Holstein was driving a different minivan and saw the crash in his mirror. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)