When Shaun White came to visit, Carpenter insisted on a stroll.

“He’s like, ‘There’s so many kids you’ve got to meet,’ ” White said. “We went floor to floor together. He wasn’t supposed to be walking around, really, but he was like, ‘No, no, no, it’s cool, it’s cool.’ He knew everyone in the hospital by name. He was getting better and making friends in that kind of spirit that he’s got.”

In early June, finally convinced that he would recover, Carpenter persuaded doctors to let him take a trip with friends, his sons, a nurse and a physical therapist to the Belmont Stakes to see American Pharoah win the Triple Crown. They took a private jet — Carpenter wore a hat and scarf to disguise the hole in his neck from the tracheotomy — and were gone for only a few hours.

By June 15, he was home for good, with his wife serving as his primary nurse. For six months since, he has been rebuilding his strength, finding his balance, both literally and figuratively.

“He changed, but he’s not the type who needed a wake-up call on how to live,” Donna Carpenter said. “Nobody needed this less than Jake.”

The change, she said, is spiritual.

“He’s lighter than ever,” she said.

In a separate interview, Jake Carpenter agreed that emotional good came from being physically incapacitated, particularly in tightening his relationships with Donna and their boys.

“I wouldn’t say we were growing apart, but we were so busy, keeping the business afloat, keeping our family afloat,” Carpenter said. “And this — everything stopped. Everything froze. It was like a rebirth. I don’t worry about things that are out of my control as much. I’m really happy. And I have so much more respect for my kids. I was always the dad. But to be reduced to nothing, and then to sort of grow back together, that is special.”