Team Cookie (Andy aka Drew Cook)

On Thursday, April 10th, our dear friend, Andy Cook (Drew/Cookie), had an unfortunate ATV accident while on a trip with friends in Fort Worth, Texas. Emergency response was quick and upon assessment in the hospital he was diagnosed with a small brain bleed. He remained unconscious for two days, and on Saturday he ‘woke up’. He was able to recognize his 3 friends that were there with him, and was able to say his own name. He continued to sleep most of the time.

Repeated CT scans gave encouraging news as the brain bleed had not spread, and in fact had resolved itself, resulting in it not being of further concern. At this point, other than the brain bleed, he didn’t present with any other serious physical injuries except for a fractured nose. His right side has sustained various impact wounds and lacerations to his face, shoulder, arm and leg.

The medical team explained that an MRI would give more info about the impact to his brain, but this couldn’t be done for several days to ensure all possible ‘trauma’ would be evident at the time of the scan.

Although he was initially hooked up to a respirator, this was done as a precaution. Medical staff were clear to say that he was always breathing on his own, including when on the respirator. He was removed off of IVs and feeding tubes within days.

Over the span of a week, Drew has made great improvement. When awake, he responds appropriately to questions. He was able to identify his wife Martha’s voice, was able to say he has two daughters, and he gave their names, as well as identify where he lives. He was able to identify the time on the clock in his room and continued to have brief conversations with his friends and parents, who arrived on Sunday. Although speech is slow and muffled, his personality and sense of humour comes through. He has been moved out of ICU and Physio has been helping Drew in hospital and they have even been standing him up. Progress continues to be made.

On Thursday, the results of the MRI were shared with the family. It is confirmed that Drew has sustained a Traumatic Brain injury. The medical team advises that he be moved to a rehabilitation facility upon release from the hospital. We are currently consulting with Drew's out of country medical insurance company to determine how and when Drew will be transferred back to Canada, and we await news as to which rehabilitation hospital he will be admitted to.

The Physiotherapist in the Fort Worth hospital has deemed Drew as a good candidate for rehab. The degree to which Drew will recover is unknown, yet we remain hopeful based on the progress he has made to-date. Andy and his Mom were having a conversation in the hospital and Joan was telling Andy there is a lot of work to do to get him home and Andy simply responded "Let's do it".

Although we know these are early days, and there are a lot of unknowns, we do expect that Drew’s recovery will be a long process and we anticipate numerous expenses, many of which will fall outside insurance coverage. We are thankful to family, friends and community members who have already reached out to ask how they can help. We are thankful for any donation you are able to give so that we can continue to support the Cook family at this time.