HAYDEN - David Carson can straighten his arms. His balance is improving. And he walks, too, with the assistance of a special walker and his wife.

He speaks in slow, careful words that are still difficult to understand.

He wants to do more.

"Do stuff by myself again," he said, of his goals.

The Coeur d'Alene man was undergoing a session on Friday at Joshua Tree Physical Therapy in Hayden. For about two hours, he'll go through a series of exercises and movement designed to return strength and mobility to his arms and legs. He'll receive a medical massage. There will be some neurological re-education.

It's working. Changes, small ones, are happening. Hour by hour, day by day. Little by little he's doing more and more.

"He's shown quite a bit of improvement," said Kevin Sgroi, his physical therapist.

"It's a matter of hard work, patience and wherewithal," he added.

Carson is willing to do that work. He wants to do it. He has to do it. It's his only choice.

"I push him," Sgroi said. "I push him hard."

It's been a long road just to get here for Carson, who was in a coma for two months after a friend choked him to restrain him at a New Year's party at a Post Falls home in 2010.

He suffered brain damage, and spent six months in the hospital before being cleared to go home. He lost much of his vision. The early prognosis was he might never wake up and be in a permanent vegetative state.

But the 25-year-old surprised some.

First, he woke up.

Now, he's fighting back.

No surprise to his wife, Ashley.

"He's doing a lot better than what he was," she said, their son Ayden sitting next to her, holding a toy car in one hand, a can of soda in the other as they waited for David to finish therapy.

Ashley works with her husband at home each morning on stretching his arms and legs, and he also follows a regiment of exercises. Afternoons are visits to Joshua Tree and more therapy with Sgroi and staff.

He walks, slowly, three, sometimes four laps around the Silver Lake Mall with the help of Ashley and a walker. Caregivers come to the Carson home, too.

All the efforts are paying off.

Her husband can use his hands more, and he's easier to transfer from home to car to therapy.

But Ashley knows they have far to go. Nothing has challenged their five-and-a-half-year marriage like this.

"It's difficult," she said. "Some days are harder than others."

Her faith, their son, and her resolve, sees her through many of those days. And their love.

"Him," she said, looking at her husband when asked what sustains her. "Wanting to get better."

"And God," Ashley added.

David has been a patient at Joshua Tree for a year and a half. Start with the basics, build from there.

"We're focusing more on balance and getting coordination, so we can break him away from the walker that he has at home," Sgroi said.

David said he's feeling good. He believes he's getting better. He believes he can get even better.

There's "all sorts of stuff," he wants to do again, so he keeps pushing. Doesn't matter if he's home or at Joshua Tree.

"I'm a pain in the butt," he said, smiling.

Ashley grins when asked about David and what he's like.

An outdoorsman, she says, and adds, "Goofy."

David, laying on his back as his legs are massaged, knows what drives him. He needs just a few words to explain the source of his strength and drive.

"Right there," he said, turning his head toward his wife.