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Tracy Morgan thanks his N.J. caregivers, 'You are the people who saved my life'.

Comedian Tracy Morgan showed the team that returned him to health how well they did Thursday night from a comedy club stage.

NEW YORK -- Comedian Tracy Morgan's audience at Caroline's Broadway was very special to him -- it was filled with the team that helped rehabilitate him after an accident on the New Jersey Turnpike in 2014 nearly cost him his life.

The team is from JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute in Edison, where Morgan was taken after he recuperated enough from his injuries at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick to begin the arduous rehabilitation process.

"You are the people who saved my life. I can never really thank you enough," an emotional Morgan said Thursday night to the nurses, physicians, physical therapists and other members of the health care team that cared for him at the facility, according to a statement from the institute.

The team attended Morgan's stand-up comedy show so he could hand out the first 'Tracy Morgan Award for Excellence in Rehabilitation Nursing," created to honor a rehabilitation nurse at the institute, the statement said.

The award will be given out annually to a JFK Johnson nurse who exhibits the highest levels of skills and compassion in rehabilitation nursing, officials said.

The winner was Jackie Chirichella, who treated Morgan.

He said she always told him he would get better, "and I did," Morgan said, according to a statement from the institute.

Sara Cuccurullo, vice president and medical director of the institute, said, "we created this award to thank Tracy Morgan for the inspiration he continues to provide to our patients and for the light he shines on the skills, compassion and specialized training of rehabilitation nurses."

She said he talks about his story of recovery and puts a focus on rehabilitation nursing during his comedy routines.

Morgan suffered broken bones and head injuries in the June 7, 2014 crash in Cranbury that killed his friend, comedian Jimmy McNair, and injured two other fellow comedians as well as Morgan's assistant.

The limousine they were riding in was struck from behind by a Wal-Mart truck driven by a man named Kevin Roper, 37, of Georgia, who is now awaiting trial on charges of aggravated manslaughter, vehicular homicide and eight counts of aggravated assault.

Sue Epstein may be reached at sepstein@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @susan_epstein. Find NJ.com on Facebook.


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