Help for Brain Injury Victims

This handsome DJ is my brother Casey Leonard. On Memorial Day weekend he was involved in a tragic ATV accident and suffered severe brain trauma. I am happy to report that Casey is working his way back to us one day at a time. Everyday my family rejoices that he is a living miracle, even his doctors say they've never seen a patient survive with injuries as serious as Casey's. He is still in the hospital but when the time is right he'll go to a rehabilitation center where he will stay until he is well enough to go home.

My family is experiencing first hand the arduous journey a brain injury victim must walk. A few nights after his accident Casey's mother whispered to him that if the pain was too bad and the road ahead too hard she would do her best to let him go. "If you want to go to God, I'll understand, " she told me she whispered in his ear. Casey decided to fight and we are fighting with him.

There are so many families dealing with the same situation. We are not alone. Wives and parents are welcoming loved ones home from Iraq that have suffered a brain injury due to IED's and other bombings. They face months of recovery and an even longer adjustment to the reality of living with and within a battered mind.

A battalion was created this summer, at Camp LeJune, North Carolina to give the soldiers a place of support and marine camaraderie. It's called the Wounded Warrior Battalion. To read more about this inspirational place go to http://sempermax.com/index.html.

We are finding out with my brother that victims of TBI need constant support and stimulation. They must relearn many of the activities we take for granted. Talking, eating, walking, grasping...things we do almost involuntarily, must be taught as if the adult victim were a young toddler. Connections in the brain must be hopefully rewired by playing memory games, coloring pictures, doing crafts, and simple tasks that link motor skills and thought.

It's an exhausting act of love to be a victim's source of support. If you'd like to help families like mine in some small but tangible way, I located http://www.doonenicething.com/index.php. Do One Nice Thing has a program listed under IDEAS labeled "We can help people with brain injuries". Here is what they suggest:

One of the most outstanding Brain Rehabilitation centers is at the Mayo Clinic, http://www.mayoclinic.orb/, in Rochester, MN. Games and crafts, below, help patients undergoing recreational therapy.
Please send any of the following:

decks of playing cards
wood kits
watercolor paint sets
package of colored pencils
a sketch bookstamp pads/rubber stamps
100-300 piece jigsaw puzzles
games: Scrabble, Trouble, Uno, Scattergories (new or gently used)

How about including a card of encouragement? "We're with you." "You can do it!" "Sending you love." It's a good project to do with children.

Mail to: Dr. Tom Bergquist, Inpatient Rehab Unit, 3 MB, St. Mary's Hospital, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905.

On behalf of my family and Casey (I know he would thank you if he could) thank you in advance for anything you do to make the day of a brain injury patient orpgaofcp he/her family a little brighter.

Miracles are Happening

I am happy to report that my brother, Casey, is making a miraculous recovery with the help of many, many hours of prayer and the staff at Medical College of Georgia Hospital.

His fighting spirit has amazed everyone. Two days after his accident my family was gathering in preparation for a funeral and now we are celebrating each new day that Casey is still with us. Not only is he with us, he is struggling his way back to a normal life. His recovery is expected to be long and arduous but if anyone can do it Casey can.

During the days my husband and I spent at the hospital, we were amazed by the way Casey's friends have rallied around him. Someone stayed every night with his wife while she slept on a pallet of quilts folded in a dark corner of the waiting room. Brent and Julia organized benefits to help cover Casey's mounting medical expenses. Others rallied the local television and print media, pulling favors to have stories run about Casey's accident and the benefit fund that had been established in his name. Friends of Casey's mother organized a food-fest that will deliver food to her house for the next month. Chaplins and preachers from various churches visited to tell us that their entire congregations were praying for my little brother.

I'll never forget the look on the nurse's face when he explained how badly Casey was injured. "Imagine dropping a watermelon from head high. That's the effect on his skull and brain. He's a miracle. That's the only way I can explain it." He managed to grimmace and smile at the same time.

Casey's recovery is not the only miracle. His very existance in my life is just as miraculous. I met my baby brother when I was thirty and he was a wirey, rowdy, obnoxious sixteen. Our father had relinquished me as an infant to the state adoption system, the penance paid in the sixties by young people who found themselves expecting the unexpected. In 1996 after some searching, my birth family welcomed me with open arms as only the Carters and Leonards of Augusta can. It's the only way they know how to live, open and accepting of all life brings their way.

With the age difference and our circumstances, time together became a valuable commodity. Looking back, I'd give a fortune in gold for more. This time I studied him as if an A in Human Anatomy Class depended on my observation skills. I know the shape of each finger and the gentle feeling of his hand folded in mine. I'll never forget the exact placement of the shunt at his hairline or the color of the fluid draining from the tube. As his IPOD played in the background, I memorized a list of his favorite songs, everything from Nora Jones, Euro Club Music, to Elvis Costello. Listening felt like following an obscure trail, built with harmony and bass beats, along his emotional history. I listened intently and fought back tears as his friends and wife related stories about his crazy sense of humor and his incredible musical talent. Through this experience I know my brother better than if we'd grown up together and I'd shooed his little toddler butt out of my room as a teenager.

My family is extremely hopeful about Casey's future. The next time I go back it will be to see Casey at home with his children and wife. He'll spin some incredible tunes for me. We'll cook out in the backyard and laugh about the obsurdity of life and the incredible power of prayer and the human spirit.

Thank you to all who have read this blog and thought of Casey. Your prayers and positive thoughts are working. Much love and gratitude goes out to you.

For You, Casey

This is my handsome brother Casey. He is a young father and and hard working DJ. He lives life to the fullest and is not afraid of anything, the classic adrenaline junkie.

During Memorial Day weekend he took a trip to the lake with his wife. They went for a ride, Casey on an ATV and his wife on a go-cart. Casey's four-wheeler flipped. He was hurled foward into a tree. His forehead and face took the full impact of the shattering blow. My brother was not wearing a helmet.

As I write this, Casey is in a trauma unit fighting for his life. We are constantly praying that he will recover, that he will be able to go home and play on the floor with his children and spin music while my neice does her toddler dance behind him.

Please, before you give your children four-wheelers or any motorized vehicle, research the saftey issues surrounding them. The smallest dip in the terrain can cause them to flip or roll. Even experienced riders and adults can find themselves in dangerous situations. If someone you love chooses to go ATVing, insist on a helmet, especially if it is your child. You have the right as a parent to say, No helmet, no ride." Adults are a harder sell. Tell them about Casey and ask them if it's a risk they want to take.

I don't know if a helmet would have changed the outcome for my brother. It's something we will never know. Much like seatbelts in cars, helmets provide an important extra measure of defense in case the worst happens but do not provide total protection from injury.

My family and I are going to spend some time concentrating on Casey, so the priority of LifePrints will fall for a while. Please think of Casey's wife, his two small children and my entire family as we walk this difficult path with my little brother.

God Bless you and keep you in his loving care, Casey. Don't stop fighting your way back to us.