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When it rains it pours. In this case, even during an all-time drought in California...
This is the sad but true (yes that is a Metallica reference) story of how “The System” has failed my best friend/brother. There are plenty of additional details to his story that I can provide but I’ll try to keep this as short, politically correct and to-the-point as possible.
I believe there is a time in everyone’s life where they will need to ask for help, whatever his or her case might be. He is going to hate me for doing this, but Cody Berg; it’s your time to ask for a little help.
As many of you already know and others may not, back on March 5th 2016 Cody suffered an extremely traumatic brain injury. He was thrown out of a street legal golf cart (which is public transportation in Scottsdale, AZ) when the driver made an abrupt and illegal U-turn. As a result of being thrown out of the golf cart he slammed the back of his head on the pavement, rendering him unconscious immediately and laying in the middle of Scottsdale Blvd. completely unresponsive. He was rushed by ambulance to the nearest ER where he was placed into a medically induced coma due to how severe his injuries were. He then flat-lined twice within the first 6 hours of being in the ICU but kept on fighting with help from the unbelievable medical staff at the hospital. Cody remained in the ICU for 5 days and was later moved to a regular hospital room within the brain injury wing of the facility. He slowly progressed hour-by-hour and day-by-day. After a week in that room, he was transported to an off-premise inpatient care facility.
On March 19th, 14 days after the accident, he “came to” and realized that something happened to him and that he was NOT OK. Cody remained in the rehab care facility for an additional two weeks. During his two week stint of inpatient care he had to endure excruciating rehab to the point where some days he could not complete the task at hand and would shut down for the remainder of day. He also had to re-learn how to walk, talk, read and write again.
(I don’t think he changed clothes for a couple of weeks either)
Finally released from the inpatient care facility after 27 total days in hospitals and 40 lbs lighter, with an extreme headache, nausea and dizziness, he could barely stand the 10 minute car ride to my mom’s house. He remained with her for the entire month of April experiencing those same symptoms basically 24/7. Sleep has been almost nonexistent since the accident, as you can imagine. While in Arizona the entire month of April he continued to strive to get better each day going to outpatient rehab working on his basic motor skills, memory, speech, and physical strength.
In May, with help from friends and loved ones, he was able to make the 6 hour car ride back to California to try to get adjusted to the world again and has been living with me ever since. He continues to rehab and is making progress. For example, he started PT being able to stand on 1 foot for 8 seconds and is now up to about 30 seconds. He still endures his bad days of full body aches and headaches. Getting a full night of sleep is still a daily battle he’s trying to win. He continues to have short-term memory issues but is challenging himself and makes progress on a daily basis.
Here is Cody’s current situation:
-He owes a substantial amount of money for medical bills. Well into the high 6 figures.
-Although every doctor has said he has made great progress and is ahead of schedule (if there even is one) with his recovery, they have NOT cleared him to go back to work. He continues to go to psychiatrists, psychologists and neurologists for benchmark evaluations.
-His company has denied him Worker’s Compensation even though he was on a work trip at the time and with a client hours before accident. Their reasoning is that “his employment contract states that he is a 9:00am-5:00pm, 40 hour a week employee”. Anyone that has seen him working over the past 7 years understands that he was constantly working. No matter what day or what time of day. “Client Maintenance” in the professional athlete industry does NOT have an On switch at 9:00am or Off switch at 5:00pm. It certainly doesn’t on Monday morning or on Friday afternoon.
-The State of Illinois (where he was employed at the time of the accident) does not have a State long-term disability program
-He's currently paying out-of-pocket for physical therapy 3 times a week trying to regain his strength and motor skills
-There are ongoing lawsuits that have been exhausting and will take years to play out. It looks like even if he wins all of his lawsuits, the settlements will not cover all of his medical bills…
-It is still unforeseen what medical issues he could endure 5, 10, 20, 30 or 40 years down the road as a result of his injury
-On top of all of his issues, in the middle of this he found out that his mother is currently battling cancer
The guy just can’t catch a break. It is inconceivable to me how an injured person can just be thrown in the middle of the ocean without a life vest on and have them try to figure out how to get back to land on their own, but this is basically what has happened here. His story is a horribly sad example of the state of our society we currently live in.
This extremely strong and prideful individual is trying to keep a positive attitude even as sucker punch, after sucker punch rains down on him. He’s currently beat, broken and completely lost. I see it on a daily basis, trust me. He doesn’t know what to do anymore. “The System” has failed him. Plain and simple. At this point, he has ZERO source of income and a stack of medical bills to pay. Anyone that knows brain injuries knows that there is no timeline on when he will be back to 100%, but he’s hoping to get back to work in the next 6-8 months. Above anything else in the world, all he wants is to get better and become a productive member of society again like he was only 4 short months ago. He’s still unsure on what he will do in the future but hopes to share his story and work with other brain injury patients to help them thru their tough times.
This is where I am asking you for help. He is too prideful to do it on his own. To say he has a completely new outlook on life would be an understatement. We need to help him get back on his feet, literally. I am not asking you to help pay for all of his medical bills, but if we can help him get thru this rough patch and get him working again in the next 6-8 months (hopefully) so he can pay his own bills, I know he would be unbelievably THANKFUL & APRECIATIVE!!!! $50 bucks, $100 bucks, $200 bucks, whatever you can afford. It all adds up! Any financial assistance you can provide would mean the world to him! (and me too)
THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO READ THIS!!!
Please share his story to anyone any everyone you know that might be willing or able to help out! Thanks again.
Much Love,
Adam Milauskas
This is the sad but true (yes that is a Metallica reference) story of how “The System” has failed my best friend/brother. There are plenty of additional details to his story that I can provide but I’ll try to keep this as short, politically correct and to-the-point as possible.
I believe there is a time in everyone’s life where they will need to ask for help, whatever his or her case might be. He is going to hate me for doing this, but Cody Berg; it’s your time to ask for a little help.
As many of you already know and others may not, back on March 5th 2016 Cody suffered an extremely traumatic brain injury. He was thrown out of a street legal golf cart (which is public transportation in Scottsdale, AZ) when the driver made an abrupt and illegal U-turn. As a result of being thrown out of the golf cart he slammed the back of his head on the pavement, rendering him unconscious immediately and laying in the middle of Scottsdale Blvd. completely unresponsive. He was rushed by ambulance to the nearest ER where he was placed into a medically induced coma due to how severe his injuries were. He then flat-lined twice within the first 6 hours of being in the ICU but kept on fighting with help from the unbelievable medical staff at the hospital. Cody remained in the ICU for 5 days and was later moved to a regular hospital room within the brain injury wing of the facility. He slowly progressed hour-by-hour and day-by-day. After a week in that room, he was transported to an off-premise inpatient care facility.
On March 19th, 14 days after the accident, he “came to” and realized that something happened to him and that he was NOT OK. Cody remained in the rehab care facility for an additional two weeks. During his two week stint of inpatient care he had to endure excruciating rehab to the point where some days he could not complete the task at hand and would shut down for the remainder of day. He also had to re-learn how to walk, talk, read and write again.
(I don’t think he changed clothes for a couple of weeks either)Finally released from the inpatient care facility after 27 total days in hospitals and 40 lbs lighter, with an extreme headache, nausea and dizziness, he could barely stand the 10 minute car ride to my mom’s house. He remained with her for the entire month of April experiencing those same symptoms basically 24/7. Sleep has been almost nonexistent since the accident, as you can imagine. While in Arizona the entire month of April he continued to strive to get better each day going to outpatient rehab working on his basic motor skills, memory, speech, and physical strength.
In May, with help from friends and loved ones, he was able to make the 6 hour car ride back to California to try to get adjusted to the world again and has been living with me ever since. He continues to rehab and is making progress. For example, he started PT being able to stand on 1 foot for 8 seconds and is now up to about 30 seconds. He still endures his bad days of full body aches and headaches. Getting a full night of sleep is still a daily battle he’s trying to win. He continues to have short-term memory issues but is challenging himself and makes progress on a daily basis.
Here is Cody’s current situation:
-He owes a substantial amount of money for medical bills. Well into the high 6 figures.
-Although every doctor has said he has made great progress and is ahead of schedule (if there even is one) with his recovery, they have NOT cleared him to go back to work. He continues to go to psychiatrists, psychologists and neurologists for benchmark evaluations.
-His company has denied him Worker’s Compensation even though he was on a work trip at the time and with a client hours before accident. Their reasoning is that “his employment contract states that he is a 9:00am-5:00pm, 40 hour a week employee”. Anyone that has seen him working over the past 7 years understands that he was constantly working. No matter what day or what time of day. “Client Maintenance” in the professional athlete industry does NOT have an On switch at 9:00am or Off switch at 5:00pm. It certainly doesn’t on Monday morning or on Friday afternoon.
-The State of Illinois (where he was employed at the time of the accident) does not have a State long-term disability program
-He's currently paying out-of-pocket for physical therapy 3 times a week trying to regain his strength and motor skills
-There are ongoing lawsuits that have been exhausting and will take years to play out. It looks like even if he wins all of his lawsuits, the settlements will not cover all of his medical bills…
-It is still unforeseen what medical issues he could endure 5, 10, 20, 30 or 40 years down the road as a result of his injury
-On top of all of his issues, in the middle of this he found out that his mother is currently battling cancer
The guy just can’t catch a break. It is inconceivable to me how an injured person can just be thrown in the middle of the ocean without a life vest on and have them try to figure out how to get back to land on their own, but this is basically what has happened here. His story is a horribly sad example of the state of our society we currently live in.
This extremely strong and prideful individual is trying to keep a positive attitude even as sucker punch, after sucker punch rains down on him. He’s currently beat, broken and completely lost. I see it on a daily basis, trust me. He doesn’t know what to do anymore. “The System” has failed him. Plain and simple. At this point, he has ZERO source of income and a stack of medical bills to pay. Anyone that knows brain injuries knows that there is no timeline on when he will be back to 100%, but he’s hoping to get back to work in the next 6-8 months. Above anything else in the world, all he wants is to get better and become a productive member of society again like he was only 4 short months ago. He’s still unsure on what he will do in the future but hopes to share his story and work with other brain injury patients to help them thru their tough times.
This is where I am asking you for help. He is too prideful to do it on his own. To say he has a completely new outlook on life would be an understatement. We need to help him get back on his feet, literally. I am not asking you to help pay for all of his medical bills, but if we can help him get thru this rough patch and get him working again in the next 6-8 months (hopefully) so he can pay his own bills, I know he would be unbelievably THANKFUL & APRECIATIVE!!!! $50 bucks, $100 bucks, $200 bucks, whatever you can afford. It all adds up! Any financial assistance you can provide would mean the world to him! (and me too)
THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO READ THIS!!!
Please share his story to anyone any everyone you know that might be willing or able to help out! Thanks again.
Much Love,
Adam Milauskas