Daniel Haag, an Island sawyer and longboarder who suffered from a traumatic brain injury after he fell off his board May 15, is coherent and able to engage in limited conversations, his father said Monday.

Douglas Haag, Daniel’s father, also said the 25-year-old Islander is expected to make a full recovery, although his rehabilitation could take one to two years.

Family members are heartened by the prognosis, Douglas said, adding, “It’s the best news you can have. I’d obviously like (his recovery to occur) sooner, as everybody would.”

Daniel, a Korean-born man who was adopted by his Wisconsin family as a baby, is well-known on the Island; he’d often be seen boarding through town, his long dreadlocks flying behind him.

He was critically injured in May after an accident in Port Orchard. No one knows exactly what happened: Daniel, who wasn’t wearing a helmet, was behind a friend when he fell.

His father said Daniel, who is now staying in a rehabilitation facility on Mercer Island, has no memory of the incident.

Daniel cannot yet walk; “he doesn’t have the physical strength,” his father said. Nor can he swallow, requiring that he be fed through a tube.

Still, the family is encouraged. “Daniel will be fine,” his father said.