When Zach Lawrence returned from Europe in April, he was nonresponsive from a traumatic brain injury and very ill, still dealing with the aftermath of injuries he suffered during a March car accident in the Republic of Georgia.

But some loyalties can trump even the most devastating of injuries.

While recuperating at Dodd Hall Rehabilitation Center at Ohio State University, the Dublin resident was given one button to push for “yes” and another to push for “no.”

“Do you like Michigan?” he was asked.

Lawrence immediately pushed the “no” button. And then — just to make sure everyone had heard him the first time — he pushed it again.

“He always makes a face when we mention Michigan,” said his wife, Meghan. “We’re pretty sure he’s in there.”

That’s a far cry from where they thought he’d be. When Lawrence returned to the United States on April 19, the family was told “that chances of him waking up were pretty slim, pretty much nonexistent,” Meghan Lawrence said. Doctors kept expectations low: The family was told they could expect to turn off Lawrence’s feeding tube within six to 12 months.

But four months later — thanks in large part to the OSU rehab facility — Lawrence is making progress.

He’s starting to make sounds. He is opening his eyes, and keeping them open more and more. He smiles at his children. He can give a thumbs up. His therapists help him stand on a treadmill. They use electronic stimulation to get the messages moving from his brain to various parts of his body. He can hold a crayon or a pencil, so when his children, Adrianne, 6, and Donovan, 4, come visit, they sit and color with him.

Every step is a miracle compared with where he started. Lawrence, a 38-year-old startup consultant who was raised in Reynoldsburg, was in eastern Europe for a business conference when the car in which he was riding back from a fishing trip veered into a 50-foot ravine March 21. The car flipped repeatedly and hit a tree. Two of its five occupants were killed.

Lawrence, who was wearing a seat belt, broke all of his left ribs. He had internal bleeding. His nose was broken. But most troubling of all were the brain injuries.

His father, Dave, Meghan and brother David flew to Georgia. They quickly decided he’d recover better if he were close to loved ones. So they raised tens of thousands of dollars to evacuate him, getting him first to Vienna, then to the U.S. When he returned — still dealing with pneumonia — he was ultimately placed at Ohio State.

The family’s greatest fear, said David Lawrence, was that Zach would never recover. They were heartbroken to read of Otto Warmbier, the Cincinnati-area man who was released from North Korea only to come home in a virtually comatose condition. Warmbier died shortly after his return to the U.S.

“His story really struck home with us,” David Lawrence said. “It broke our hearts, and still breaks our hearts, frankly. We feel so grateful to have Zach back with us, to have a chance.”

Dodd Hall’s Disorders of Consciousness program has made all the difference, Meghan Lawrence said. He’s been there for just seven weeks, and the progress is measurable.

“He’s now considered semiconscious,” she said, saying “we’re not sure how we got so lucky for them to take him in.”

Still, there are challenges. Insurance is now paying for Zach Lawrence’s treatment on a week-by-week basis, meaning he has to show some progress every week in order to stay in the program. And the family has seen so much progress, they said, that the idea of him leaving is terrifying. He’s currently slated to stay through Friday. They’re hoping he makes enough progress to have that time extended.

“We’re basically dealing with the healing brain,” Meghan said. “He has a long way to go, and he’s already come such a long way.”

David, meanwhile, will visit Zach soon. The Atlanta resident decided to spend his 36th birthday at his brother’s side.

“I figured he’d like that,” he said.

jwehrman@dispatch.com

@JessicaWehrman