All this week, we’ll catch you up with some of the fascinating people we’ve covered in the Star’s GTA section in recent years. Today, we talk to the family of Shane Berwick, the victim of a violent race-based attack in September 2007.

In many ways, it was a typically Canadian boy’s birthday celebration: pizza, chicken wings and a trip with his parents to the Air Canada Centre last month to watch the Leafs.

What made it bittersweet, however, was that Shayne Berwick’s parents, Colin and Terry, know that their boy will never grow up and move on with his life.

Shayne Berwick is 28 years old. He has permanent brain damage and in September 2007, his parents were told he had a 10 per cent chance of living.

He has come a long way since then. Colin and Terry Berwick can’t say enough good things about Shayne’s doctors, nurses, therapists and everyone at Variety Village for that.

Because of all their efforts, Shayne has relearned the alphabet. He likes playing pool in the basement of their Scarborough bungalow. He can enjoy watching the Leafs.

He got gifts this Christmas even though he has lost all memories of the holiday season.

He often looks lost and confused, but in many ways, Shayne’s a happy young man.

“He lives in the moment,” says Terry, 47. “Every day is happy for him.”

But Shayne’s parents know he’ll never grow up and move out.

One of the toughest things for the Berwicks to accept is why their boy will remain home as long as they can care for him.

“If it was an accident, we could understand. . .” Terry says, her voice trailing off.

The story of how Shayne became profoundly injured was at the core of a trial in 2009 and 2010 that brought attention to the act of “nip-tipping” or “nipper-tipping,” racist slang for attacks on Asian fishermen across Ontario.

On the night of Sept. 16, 2007, Shayne was fishing at Mossington Park in Georgina with a group of friends, including several who aren’t white.

Drunken white strangers approached and one of them demanded the group’s fishing licences.

At first, it seemed like a bad joke.

“He said that he’s Canadian and he’s doing his Canadian duty and wanted to see my fishing licence,” Shayne’s friend, Ruohang Liu, told court.

Seconds later, the two longtime friends were pushed into the black waters.

Moments after he was pulled from the lake by his friends, Shayne was in a Honda Civic driven by Liu, trying to escape Mossington Park.

A Ford F-150 truck driven by 20-year-old motocross racer Trevor Middleton, from Sutton, kept ramming the Civic.

Finally, the Civic spun off the road and crashed into a tree. Shayne lay near death in a coma.

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The Berwicks got the call about their boy at 5:05 that morning.

Until then, they had been planning to become empty nesters.

Shayne was a third-year apprentice electrician in a union, with plenty of friends.

Now, he’s back at home and his parents don’t see him moving out while they’re alive. They’ve renovated the bungalow, at a cost of $150,000, to make it accessible for Shayne.

Throughout the home are inspirational messages like “Cherish the past. Live for today. Dream for tomorrow,” “Every day holds the possibility for a miracle,” “A family is a little world created by love,” and “Never never never give up.”

Shayne’s memory had been wiped clean. In time, he was able to remember his parents and his love for hockey.

He played in the old Maple Leaf Gardens as a goalie when he was in Grade 8 and his team won the city championship in the Ted Reeve league.

He loves being taken to Leafs and Marlies games. For the Berwicks, that’s no small blessing.

They try to control the bitterness they feel toward Middleton, who didn’t even call 911 as Shayne lay motionless in a ditch.

They also hope they can one day feel a sense of closure in the case. Middleton is appealing his sentence of two years less a day for four counts of aggravated assault and two for criminal negligence causing bodily harm. The Crown is also appealing the sentence.

Middleton has been free on bail since March, pending the appeal.

The Berwicks also struggle with concerns about what’s ahead for their son.

“I’m fearful of the future,” says Colin, 52. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to him when we’re gone. I think about that all of the time.”