Mike Davis

@byMikeDavis

One month after a spinal cord injury, BMX rider Scotty Cranmer is back in New Jersey and sharing the story of his crash.

While Cranmer's friends and family have provided a series of video updates on his progress, the BMX star addressed his fans for the first time in a 10-minute Nov. 14 video.

"I actually had the worst crash of my life about a month ago," Cranmer says in the video, sitting in a wheelchair. "The crash was really bad, the worst I've ever had in my life."

MORE: Scotty Cranmer 'not just going to wake up OK'

Cranmer, a Jackson native, was shooting a video in Las Vegas on Oct. 12 when the front wheel of his BMX bicycle landed in a hole. It caused the bicycle to lock up, propelling Cranmer onto his face.

He sustained two broken vertebrae, broken teeth and a brain hemorrhage that required surgery to remove part of his skull. In the YouTube video, Cranmer shows the indentation in his head where the skull fragment was removed. Surgery to replace the fragment is expected within a month or so, Cranmer said.

"Having to lie to my best friend, saying 'You're fine, you're fine,'" said Alex "Big Boy" Whistance, Cranmer's friend and frequent collaborator. "Where we're at now is way better than it would have been."

"I remember doctors yelling at me, 'Can you feel your arm?''' Cranmer remembered. "It was hard because I'm kind of coherent, but I'm actually not. As the days went on, I started to wake up a bit, started to remember a couple of things."

In the wake of Cranmer's injury, his friends and family set up a donation page through the Road 2 Recovery Foundation, which supports athletes who suffer injuries.

As of Nov. 17, the page had collected more than $99,400, nearly 40 percent of the $250,000 goal.

A graduate of Jackson Memorial High School, Cranmer is one of the most decorated BMX riders in the sport. He has collected nine X-Games medals in the BMX Park event, including three gold medals, over 14 appearances.

MORE: Check out Asbury's newest skate park

His YouTube page has turned him into one of the sport's celebrities, with nearly 700,000 subscribers tuning in to watch videos of Cranmer and his friends riding their BMX bikes or goofing off with each other.

"It’s not ending here," Cranmer said in the video. "I am going to be the fighter and get through this and I’m going to be riding for you guys soon enough."

Mike Davis: 732-643-4223; mdavis@gannettnj.com