Reporter Casey McNerthney has more on the story of Sean Heldt:

Sean Heldt

Sean Heldt was in a coma for months with doctors unsure if he'd wake up, or if he'd remember his family. His mother sat by his bedside -- first at Harborview Medical Center, then at rehabilitation facilities -- talking to her son covered with tubes and casts, hoping her love would get through.

For months, she didn't say what happened to his girlfriend in the crash that put him there.

On May 25, Heldt was driving a Chevy Lumina westbound on Interstate 90 when police say a man with a blood-alcohol content more than three times the legal limit rammed his pickup truck into the front of Heldt's car. State troopers reported finding a bottle of Wild Turkey bourbon and other alcohol containers at the crash site near milepost 53.

The truck driver and his 2-year-old son were killed instantly. So was Heldt's 26-year-old girlfriend, Christina Grimsley.

Last month -- after doctors said he'd likely never leave a nursing home and Heldt's family chose to have only medication run through his feeding tube -- Heldt's mom leaned close to her frail son's hospital bed.

"Go to her," Joline Heldt said. "You can still be a family."

Heldt said Wednesday that Grimsley's family is taking care of her infant daughter, who was in a child seat during the crash and is now the only survivor.

Sean Heldt died Nov. 7, a few weeks shy of his 25th birthday.

"This didn't just affect one life," Heldt said of her son's death. "The ripple effect of an accident like this is horrendous."

Sean Heldt's funeral is scheduled for Monday in his hometown of Ephrata.