How CaringBridge helped my family – and me – after I almost died

In late October 2015, I explored the local German city while on temporary duty in Germany that ended in a tragic accident. I had a traumatic brain injury, collapsed lung, and multiple fractures. I was in a coma and don’t have any memories between that day and Thanksgiving that year. That’s where my CaringBridge journey began.

When the casualty assistance team showed up at my wife’s door in Fort Carson to give her the news, she was told I may not live. Or, if I survived, I’d likely be in a vegetative state for the rest of my life. As you can imagine, this triggered a flurry of frantic phone calls, rushed long distance travel plans, child care planning for my three young children, and a great deal of uncertainty. Fortunately, for the mental well-being of my family and friends during this difficult time, my mother found CaringBridge, a 501(c)3 a nonprofit providing free and secure websites that helps family and friends stay connected during health journeys like mine.

It was hard for me to go from daily duties as a member of a Special Forces Head Quarters, serving my country in a fulfilling career – only to find myself relearning basic activities like speaking, writing, math, walking, and caring for myself. The great nurses and overall care team at the Richmond VA Medical Center provided me round-the-clock care that literally and figuratively got me back on my feet. They changed my life in ways I’ll never fully be able to thank them.

While I was busy with all that intensive rehab, the journals my mother maintained in CaringBridge not only delivered on the website’s promise of keeping my extended family and friends updated and able to communicate with us while we couldn’t call them all 1:1 regularly, everyone with every update. It also gave us the ability to share my health journey with our family and friends around the world so my loved ones didn’t need to repeatedly answer the same uncomfortable questions about my condition.

Finally, the CaringBridge journals were an incredible gift for me to have when my brain healed and my cognitive ability were back. Reading about how many amazing people were in my corner, supporting me and my family was overwhelming since I didn’t have any memories of what we went through.

I can’t thank my care team at the Richmond VA Medical Center, my family, friends, and CaringBridge enough for helping me through this tough time. I hope this story helps others who find themselves in a situation similar to mine and can benefit in the ways we did.

If you or someone you know is going through a health journey and would find CaringBridge valuable, you can start your own site here: https://rly.pt/CBcreate

If you don’t need a CaringBridge site now, but would like to learn more about supporting this great nonprofit organization, you can donate here: https://rly.pt/CBgive