He fell backwards down the stairs and hit his head on the concrete floor at his best friend Jason’s house. Donny’s life started over that day and our worst nightmare began. I thought, I remembered that day with clarity. After talking to Donny’s brother Cory this past weekend, it seems the memories are fading with time as they often do. The phone only rings once when I hear my four-year-old grandson Beau singing in the background. Cory is yelling at Ralph, their Great Dane to quit chasing squirrels in the backyard. In an accusing tone he …show more content…
As we sat there on the edge of our sets stunned and speechless, I remember thinking what part of my child had he removed. How do you wrap your mind around that? By the end of that weekend, Donny’s brain damage was extensive. Mostly, to the left front lobe of his brain leaving him with virtually no short-term or long-term memory, he speaks in two and three word sentences, lacks inhibitions, and has paralyzes to his right side. Later, we would find out a stroke spot in the back of the brain caused damage to the vision center and scientifically not capable of vision. This was just the beginning of a long endless journey of hospitals, nursing homes, and group homes. Because of complications with seizures and aspirated pneumonia, he participated in the brain-injury stimulation program at Bethesda Hospital in St. Paul, previously denied by insurance because of its exploratory nature. He was a tall, lanky 6”2’ young man, weighing 148 pounds on that frigid February morning. When we checked him into Bethesda on May 9 of 1997, he was a skeletal 108 pounds. This was Donny’s turning point when his will to survive kicked into full gear and he never looked