My Life After March 12, 2015

Welcome! I’m telling you about my life, I hope you will understand that this is about 50% of the
things I have battled against from my accident and I have also been so lucky to have phenomenal
people in my life. I don’t know a good way to start so, I will just jump in. I’m telling the highlights and
then I will tell you the LONG STORY, sorry:

On March 12, 2015 I was in a head-on collision while in California on Spring Break. I was having
the time of my life with my friends who Co-founded” The Sun Devil Riders club” with me, until I had a
quick conversation with death. I had to be resuscitated two times during the ambulance ride and
subsequent emergency surgery in the ER to address a ruptured kidney, two collapsed lungs, broken
back, damaged intestines, blunt force trauma closed head injury, and other internal injuries from being
skewered by a road sign. While I was having a battle of will against death, the ambulance team that
saved my life rushed me to the nearest hospital, Mission Viejo Hospital. The really amazing thing is that I
was lying on the asphalt until the Ambulance got there for 25 minutes. In E.R they placed lung tubes,
removed my kidney and drilled a hole in my skull to relieve pressure on my brain. I was then placed into
ICU with a Traumatic Brain Injury that left me in a coma and had another surgery the next day to
complete the removal of one kidney, it was demolished by a road sign.

I don’t really know what happened after my accident but, my family has helped to fill in the
missing parts of my memory. After I beat death by the skin of my teeth, I was in ICU for weeks. My
parents flew into California to grieve and do whatever they could for me and my team. The first thing
that the ER team did was saw into my cranium to release the pressure on my brain from the extra fluid
that would have ended my life. Then, after the horrific things where handled, my right kidney was
removed due to the road sign trauma. I will try to show you my battle for quality of life, and how I’m
trying to be the best Kevin I can be.

During the surgeries I received multiple units of blood to keep me alive. I was then placed into
ICU with a Traumatic Brain Injury that left me in a coma. My brain continued to swell and I had multiple
mini-strokes so I had to undergo another surgery to remove part of my skull to prevent the swelling
from ending my life. They induced hypothermia as a way to keep my body from failing. My liver started
to shut down and I turn mustard yellow. They kept me in a coma for a month and a half to aid in healing
and kept me with the broken back. Blood was required during this surgery as well as later during
another surgery to repair a broken vertebra in my back, replace my skull bone. After having the trachea
tube removed, and the esophageal tube removed I was air evacuated to Arizona and taken to Barrows
Specialty Select Hospital. I was still semi-comatose and unresponsive. They then decided to move me to
Care Meridian skilled nursing facility to further heal and see if I would regain conciseness.

After a month and a half of being at care meridian, going through physical, speech and
occupational therapy. I still couldn’t speak, sit up, feed my-self and remained in diapers. Care Meridian is
a skilled nursing facility. My family spent their time with me every day. I had somebody with me at all
times. Once I got to the point I could stand 3 hours in rehab, at that time they moved me to Barrows
inpatient facility. I was staying at the hospital, I was gaining a lot of progress with Christine in speech,
Allison as my occupational therapist and Nate the physical therapist. Months in the hospital getting
rehab. Months passed by until I was able to go home. Sweet relief, my own room! Ohhh, it has been
changed to make sure I will be safe, my brother moved into my room. Having someone with me every
moment and having a railing on my bed to make sure I cannot fall out of bed in the night.
My Life After March 12, 2015

Months passed until my mother came across Rehab without Walls. It is a facility that has
therapists for each disciple (Physical, Speech, Occupational, Neuropsychology, and Vocational). I really
enjoyed my time at Rehab without Walls they picked me up from my home every day and I brought my
own lunch. Months passed by and I was having headaches, also my language was getting worse and
worse. I felt some liquid oozing from my forehead, I don’t know how or why but I had a small pocket of
infection underneath my cranium that interrupted my speech and my cognition. IF it was not caught, it
probably would’ve sent me to my demise.

I then got an infection under my bone flap and had to have another surgery to remove the flap
again and clean the infection out. The surgery went wrong and I had a brain bleed and mini strokes. I
went into a brain surgery with 100% vocal movement and then after that brain surgery, I could not say
anything. I could hear and understand but could not reply, me and my mother cried, cried and cried. The
surgery damaged the language center of my brain and demolished my speech. I woke up without the
ability to speak AGAIN and this time the doctors said it wouldn’t come back. I also had seizures because
of the brain bleed. I had lost all the progress that was made over the last year and once again started
over to learn to walk, talk, feed myself and do basic tasks of daily living all over again. Went back to
Barrows inpatient rehab again to start all over!! Three more months of inpatient care there and intense
therapies and this time with seizures added on. I stayed there for about 2 months, I don’t really have
any memory about the time that I was there and the time before I started for the second time Rehab
Without Walls.

I want to spell this out, THANK YOU to every Doctor/Surgeon/Nurse/Therapist that has worked
on my body or mind or emotional problems without you I would be gone. So, THANK YOU. Now I have
thanked everyone that has helped me I will talk about when my language was destroyed.

Now I really remember that period of time through present day. I was going into Rehab Without
Walls 5 days a week. They were happy and distraught about seeing me again. I loved my time at Rehab
Without Walls. In the second time I was going to RWW I got some progress but, my insurance stopped
paying for me to go there. Again, my heroes Vance Frame & Laurie Frame battled against the insurance
companies to get me back into RWW and this was my final session with Rehab Without Walls. Every
time I talk about RWW I want to talk about Karen Will. I love Karen Will (A Speech Therapist) who has
guided me into the love of language and how important your speech is in your time on this rock.

I remember RWW fondly but, I will skip over the 1.5 years that I was in RWW and I will resume
talking about what I’m doing in my life after I graduated from RWW on April 12, 2017. On the last day at
RWW I promised myself to record everything I have done. Now I will tell you the highlights of my daily
life. I am still riding my stationary bicycle in my room now 1400 miles. No rest for the wicked, I started at
Advanced Neurologic Rehabilitation for PT and speech. ANR told me that they will start cutting the
appointments by 15 minutes I thought about it, after 2 weeks I would miss a whole session so, I found
another rehab center for PT and occupation. Still getting speech at ANR but, I went to Neuro & Brain
Performance Center.

Neuro & Brain Performance Center improved my cognition. I am going there twice a week, it has
been marvelous. They set me up with their computer, while I have been going there my balance and my
cognition has improved. They set electrodes on my head where it shows the most damaged parts of my
brain, then I have to concentrate on the vehicle’s forward motion. They send me to the wall with 8 lights
spread within arm length I have to deactivate the lights with two fly swatters. They will tell me when I
My Life After March 12, 2015

have to deactivate the right lights with my left hand to challenge the communication between the right
and left sides of the brain. After the lights I am then sent to the anti-gravity treadmill for 30 minutes to
work on my gait. Then, John send me home a year’s membership for Cognitive. I really love them.

I will type out the whole story: Accident on Ortega Highway, head on collision and then hit rock
cliff, 30-45 minutes on the asphalt waiting for ambulance, fractured vertebrae, side punctured by rock
outcropping and tree root, ruptured one kidney, partially collapsed both lungs, bruised liver and
stomach, skull micro fractures & TBI, resuscitated 2x on the ride to the hospital, resuscitated once on
the ER operating table, repaired internal damage and controlled bleeding, drilled skull to relieve
pressure from swelling, intubated and installed lung drain tubes, moved to ICU on March 13, continued
operation to remove one kidney and repair other internal injuries, next days in a coma, swelling of brain
continued, causing mini strokes/brain bleeds, swelling continued, continued to experience mini
strokes/brain bleeds, part of skull removed to prevent death due to brain swelling, coma continued for
approximately 4 weeks, mid April back surgery to stabilize vertebrae fracture, reinstalled skull bone
removed previously, late April flown to Phoenix, arrived St Joe critical care unit, stayed for 11-12 weeks,
transferred to Care Meridian, in Barrow Neurological rehab on 4th of July 2015 for approximately 6-8
weeks, transferred to home mid to late august and then began rehab at RWW, infection under
reinstalled skull bone was drained at St Joe/Barrow in September, became worse, operation to remove
infected material done at St Joe/Barrow in October, caused severe brain bleed in speech processing
center, returned home and then attended RWW again for most of 2016 and continued till April 2017,
began PT and Speech at ANR in April, began OT at Brain and Neuro Performance in approximately
August/September 2017

I know it is kind of a long story but, now you know a LITTLE more about my Traumatic Brain
Injury and how I triumphed over the horrific things that guided me to a happier life. The camps for TBI
are phenomenal for the survivors. I still have the ambition to go back into school, work, find where I am
needed and wanted. I am happy you are still reading my story, this story is not concluded but I am still
breathing. This will be the life of a survivor, anyways remember that you hit rock bottom, up is the only
direction to go. This story has helped me to recall all of the horrific events and to realize that the gift of
life has to be your first priority. Thank you for reading this.

PICTURES TO FOLLOW:
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My Life After March 12, 2015
My Life After March 12, 2015
My Life After March 12, 2015