Tracy Morgan honors nurse who cared for him after crash on New Jersey Turnpike

EDISON, New Jersey -- Actor and comedian Tracy Morgan honored the nurse in New Jersey who cared for him after he was seriously injured in a crash on the New Jersey Turnpike six years ago.

Morgan presented Gina Domingo with the "Tracy Morgan Award for Excellence in Rehabilitation Nursing."

Domingo is a nurse at Hackensack Meridian Health JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute and works in the brain trauma unit.

She has spent the last 30 years caring for patients.

Morgan says she got him through his difficult recovery by encouraging him daily.

"She wouldn't even look at me, she said everything's gonna be alright," Morgan said. "She would take me outside and read and let me be outside in the air. I was so angry, I was so scared."

The medical director of the rehab center where Domingo works says that by sharing his story, Morgan is shining a spotlight on the role of rehabilitation nursing.

He added that Morgan is an inspiration to patients.