Raleigh, N.C. — A Clayton family says it's a Christmas miracle that a 21-year-old member of their family is making an amazing comeback after suffering massive head trauma overseas.

Cory Harrison was working abroad in Spain and staying at a youth hostel in May when he was locked out of the building. While trying to climb to the second-floor balcony, he fell on his head and went into a coma.

Doctors told his family that he would probably never wake up.

Seven months later, thought, he's home, spending the holidays with his parents and 10 brothers and sisters.

"It's been an interesting year," his father, Gary Harrison said Friday. "We didn't know if we were going to have him, and now, he's back."

He still has a long road to recovery – Cory still can't read or write, and words don't come easy – but he can walk and talk and even sink a basket on the basketball court.

"It's a Christmas miracle," sister Kara said.

Cory disagrees. The miracle, he says, is the outpouring of support from the community who rallied around his family to help him get back home.

Insurance wouldn't cover the necessary expenses to bring him home. The community raised more than $80,000 to get him back.

"I don't know where we'd be if that hadn't happened," Gary Harrison said.