Lt. Tim Coleman says he's happy to be back at work. Winning a national award only increases the pleasure.

Coleman, 54, a veteran conservation officer and West Virginia's hunter education coordinator, spent most of the past year battling back from an infection that nearly claimed his life. Leaders of the International Hunter Education Association recently honored Coleman's struggle with the organization's Darrell Holt Memorial Award.

"This award recognizes the hunter education coordinator or administrator who is working or has worked under conditions that call for a determination to succeed despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles such as physical disabilities, working conditions, accident, disease, personal hardship, etc.," said Wayne East, the association's executive director.

Coleman was attending the association's annual conference in western Illinois last May when the illness struck.

"I was sitting in the motel lobby when I started feeling chills," he recalls. "I went back to my room and laid down. That was the last thing I remembered."

Luckily for Coleman, some friends missed him at a reception later that day and came looking for him. They found him, unconscious and unresponsive, and had him rushed to a hospital.

Doctors at the hospital called Coleman's family and told them to fly to his bedside as soon as possible.

"My wife told the doctor there were no planes headed from West Virginia to St. Louis until the next morning," Coleman said. "The doctor told her, 'We'll try to keep him alive until then.'"

A massive septic infection had set in, and was affecting Coleman's internal organs.

"I was in a coma for two weeks. Then, after I came out of the coma, I was in the hospital in Illinois for two more weeks after that," he said.

Lt. Tim Coleman says he's happy to be back at work. Winning a national award only increases the pleasure.

Coleman, 54, a veteran conservation officer and West Virginia's hunter education coordinator, spent most of the past year battling back from an infection that nearly claimed his life. Leaders of the International Hunter Education Association recently honored Coleman's struggle with the organization's Darrell Holt Memorial Award.

"This award recognizes the hunter education coordinator or administrator who is working or has worked under conditions that call for a determination to succeed despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles such as physical disabilities, working conditions, accident, disease, personal hardship, etc.," said Wayne East, the association's executive director.

Coleman was attending the association's annual conference in western Illinois last May when the illness struck.

"I was sitting in the motel lobby when I started feeling chills," he recalls. "I went back to my room and laid down. That was the last thing I remembered."

Luckily for Coleman, some friends missed him at a reception later that day and came looking for him. They found him, unconscious and unresponsive, and had him rushed to a hospital.

Doctors at the hospital called Coleman's family and told them to fly to his bedside as soon as possible.

"My wife told the doctor there were no planes headed from West Virginia to St. Louis until the next morning," Coleman said. "The doctor told her, 'We'll try to keep him alive until then.'"

A massive septic infection had set in, and was affecting Coleman's internal organs.

"I was in a coma for two weeks. Then, after I came out of the coma, I was in the hospital in Illinois for two more weeks after that," he said.

"They thought I might do better in a hospital closer to home, so they chartered a jet and flew me back to West Virginia. I spent a month at St. Mary's Hospital in Huntington. By then, I'd begun experiencing some paralysis and a lot of muscle degeneration, so they sent me to a rehabilitation hospital for three weeks to start getting some movement back."

During the stint in the rehab hospital, Coleman suffered a relapse. Doctors transferred him to Cabell Huntington Hospital, where he spent three more weeks battling kidney problems.

"When it became clear that one of my kidneys was failing, they sent me to the Cleveland Clinic to have it removed," he said.

With his health finally stabilized, Coleman set about the difficult task of getting himself back into shape. "I spent close to one month rehabbing myself because there were no openings at the rehab hospital," he said. "I finally got to the point where I could get around with the aid of a walker."

Months of physical therapy allowed Coleman to regain strength and mobility. He returned to the DNR March 16. In May, he received word that he had won the Hunter Education Association's Hunt Award.

"I can only say I'm humbled by the recognition," he said. "I think I'm even more humbled by this than I was when I won the Conservation Officer of the Year award in 1991."

Coleman said he's "not quite 100 percent yet," but is able to handle his mostly administrative office job.

"It'll probably be a while before I'm ready for a lot of field work, but I've re-qualified with my pistol and have been returned to full duty status," he said. "Considering all that's happened over the last year, I'm pretty happy."

Reach John McCoy at johnmc...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1231.