A real story LifeWeaver wrote for Jeff Humphrey from his digital history.
Jackson's Time Tapestry Story
🕐 October 2013
We had told it many times, but as the years passed, many of the small details faded. LifeWeaver helped bring those forgotten pieces back together.
Step 1
Jeff connected LifeWeaver to his digital history:
Step 2
Jeff entered in October 2013. Jackson's Traumatic Brain Injury
Step 3
LifeWeaver wrote this story for him. Jeff only edited teh final 3%.
The Long Road Back: Jackson's Fight Through Traumatic Brain Injury
On October 12th, 2013, our world changed forever when Jackson suffered a devastating dirt biking accident that would test our family’s strength and faith in ways we never imagined.
The first terrifying hours unfolded through frantic messages as Marisa updated family from the hospital: “The helicopter arrived. The trauma team is working on him. We can’t see him.”
When we got to the hospital we were so worried. What made it worse was when we were greeted by the chaplain. When I saw him I prepared for the worst. I figured the only time the chaplain takes family in a private room to talk is when there is bad news. Fortunately he was just there for support and didn’t have any news to deliver.
But Jackson’s battle was just beginning. He remained unconscious, intubated to help him breathe. Marisa texted through the night: “Not awake yet. Keeps kind of trying” and “Intubated. To breathe.” By early morning he was barely able to follow commands from the nurse, but it was enough that they just took the breathing tube out. He is out again, totally exhausted.
The accident had caused what I described to others as Jackson getting “his bell rung big time” – but the reality was far more serious. When people asked what happened, I explained it was a “dirt biking accident” that resulted in him being “life flighted to the hospital” with “a severe concussion and brain bruising.” Jackson “just has to wake himself up.” In reality he had suffered a traumatic brain injury and had bleeding on the brain and shearing of the brain tissue.
As the days passed, Jackson’s condition became clearer but more concerning. I told Todd D.: “Right now he’s like Dori from Finding Nemo. Has hardly any short-term memory. It’s wild.” The comparison to “50 First Dates” became another way to help people understand what we were witnessing.
View The Memories
The First Breakthroughs
“He’s going to have to relearn how to walk and how to care for himself, among a myriad of other things.”
October 14th brought the first real breakthrough. Marisa texted excitedly: “He just had a tiny conversation with the nurse!!!! Said a couple sentences. Said his back hurts. She asked if he knew where he was and he said Grady!!!! Praise The Lord.”
Later that day, more progress: “The neurosurgeon visited… I asked him some questions and he answered. We are getting Jackson some food to see if he can nibble… I asked if he knew what show was on and he said Spongbob. I asked him what hurts the most and he said his ribs do.”
The medical picture became clearer when I shared the neurosurgeon’s diagnosis: “He has a frontal lobe brain dysfunction secondary to traumatic brain injury.” Jackson would need specialized care at Scottish Rite for “re-entry therapy to help him retrain his brain on some things.”
Small Victories
By October 16th, we moved out of the ICU to room 337. Jackson was “awake and talking more, but it might be slow going.” The most heartbreaking aspect was his memory of the accident: “No memory of it. His head is really hurting him. Asking for meds.”
The full scope of Jackson’s injuries became apparent during a sobering meeting with doctors. Marisa explained to family: “Jax has definite bruising of the brain and small bleeding. Minuscule. Bleeding has stopped… There was shearing, or stretching of the brain tissues and nerves. The nerves are still connected but stretched.” The plan was day rehabilitation from 9 to 3, with hopes he could eventually return to school “in some capacity with strategies.”
Jax couldn’t remember anything longer than 15 seconds. He would ask the same questions over and over and over again. He could remember before the accident, but nothing since. I was so afraid that he would just be stuck at 15 years old forever.
Small victories marked our days. Marisa reported: “Remembered who visited him last night. That is the first time he has remembered visitors. Balance is better today.” Jackson even caught the attention of a “GA Club that supports rehab here. Lots of cute college girls. He colored with them” and “They want him to come to their 24-hour dance marathon and perform in their talent show. They heard him playing the piano.”
It was amazing that he could still remember how to play and would sit down and play like nothing ever happened.
The memory issues remained the biggest challenge. As Marisa described: “Just his short-term memory is still poor. Like he might not remember he asked something or said something. He is so ready to leave because he feels fine and he doesn’t know what he doesn’t remember, so it is frustrating to him.”
Fighting Back
By late October, weeks after the accident, we were seeing improvement. I told Todd D.: “Better every day. He’s remembering more and more. Taking it one day at a time.” Marisa’s updates became more hopeful: “He is a little better every day… He is so ready to leave because he feels fine… But we are good… He is still fun to hang with!”
The journey was far from over, but Jackson was fighting his way back. His personality began to emerge again, and while the road to full recovery remained uncertain, our faith in his resilience grew stronger each day. As I had told VaLene F. early in this ordeal: “Everyone says he’ll get back to normal. I pray and hope so.”
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