Devin Maghen

Today, Devin Maghen is a piano teacher with more than twenty students and strives to be a positive force of love in the lives of those around him. He continues to explore and understand the beauty of life, though his path was not the one he originally imagined.

At sixteen, Devin was involved in a horrific crash that left him at the edge of death. After multiple emergency brain surgeries, several strokes, and more than two months in a coma, he miraculously survived. That survival came with lasting challenges, including the effects of a severe traumatic brain injury, partial blindness, and other neurological obstacles.

The early months were the fight of a lifetime. Devin was admitted to the ICU at UCLA with only a 2% chance of survival after numerous emergency brain surgeries. Simply making it through that period was an extraordinary battle.

Looking back, Devin recognizes that his life before the accident had prepared him in ways he never expected. As a practicing second-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and an avid amateur pianist, he had already learned perseverance, patience, discipline, and repetition — qualities that became essential during his long rehabilitation.

After emerging from the coma, Devin had to relearn how to walk, talk, see, and even breathe on his own again. Every step forward required relentless effort, but each challenge strengthened his determination to rebuild his life.

Living with the effects of his injury over the past fourteen years has changed his perspective deeply. Before the accident, life felt like a race to stay ahead — maintaining a 4.0 GPA, taking honors and AP courses, balancing extracurriculars, and keeping up with a full social life. Today, his outlook is very different: more humble, more intentional, and rooted in gratitude. Despite memory challenges, partial blindness, and other ongoing effects, every breath since emerging from that coma carries a deeper meaning.