One year later

A little about Michael.... 

Michael is one of the most amazing kids that I know. He is ten years old and has so much personality and style. Anyone who knows him, knows how much his hair means to him. It is one of his ways that he can express himself and he loves it....we love it. He likes to experiment with different colors, purple, blue, green, yellow, pink. He has his ears pierced and he wears glasses, these all go towards his style. He is so smart, he is in the gifted program at school along with the A team and the ignite program, junior national honor society and the world drumming team. He loves people, he is that great kid that befriends the other kids at his school that maybe don't have as many friends. He is just a good kid. Now don't get me wrong, I am not just praising him because something horrible has happened, he also leaves all the lights on, runs through the house, takes FOREVER to do anything, never does his chores correctly, irritates his little brother, and never dries off before he gets out of the shower. But all in all he is one of the best kids I know. He is in 5th grade. He has 1 older brother, Hunter, and 2 younger brother, Titus and Adler. 

What happened?

On September 17th, 2017 Michael was walking to his friends house and was struck by a jeep. HE was airlifted to Arnold Palmer hospital in Orlando. As soon as we got here they had to do emergency surgery on his head to remove part of his skull. His brain was swelling and if this surgery wasn't done quickly then he would have an extremely low chance of surviving. Michael also suffered a broken leg, pelvic bone, and collar bone. His elbow has a chip and he tore the tendons there. (all on his left side) He had a collapsed lung and he also has a blood clot on his brain with smaller bleeds in other areas. His broken leg could not be fixed for almost 2 weeks because his brain was not stable enough to go through another surgery. The other broken bones will heal on their own without surgery. He will need to go back in and have his skull put back on, possibly after he is done with rehab, and in about a year he will have to have surgery on his leg one more time. 

Michael was on a ventilator for about 2.5 weeks but is now able to breath on his own and be breathing total room air. As of right now (3 weeks and 3 days after his accident) He is ready to go to rehab. All he has right now is a feeding tube in his belly. 

He is in the process of waking up. He opens his eyes but its still a blank stare. He moves his limbs but not exactly the way they are wanting him to right now. But every day he makes moves in the right directions. Hopefully we will be heading to the rehab this week and they can start working on getting him more alert and more purposeful in his movements. 

We are all taking this one day at a time. We have a growing support system. Everyone has been so great and encouraging. We couldn't be as strong as we are without you guys. Michael has a very long road ahead of him, but me and Tim, and Michael's Dad, Nate, will be holding his hands the whole way, as you guys hold our hands. 

I will try to post something on this blog everyday, even if its just sharing a cool picture or a little update. I imagine once we get the rehab the updates will be awesome!