My name is Roxanna, My son & best friend Richard (aka Richie) my only child, was in a horrific motorcycle accident on 11-21-17 when a truck pulled in front of him and in a split second our lives where changes forever. This is our story of fighting to save his life and fighting for recovery & a future and why we need your help, prayers and love to achieve our goals. ***Check out the bottom of this Page for More ways YOU can help Richie & our Family!

Don't forget as a thank you for helping Richie and our family, BookVIP travel company wants to give you a gift of a free hotel accommodations for the vacation of your choice for helping this cause! Donate $50+ get a 3 day vacation and donate $100+ get a 5 day vacation!  Send your Name and email address to [email redacted] after you have made your donation and they will verify your donation & authorize your vacation voucher to be sent to you via email with instructions to claim.


WHY ARE WE FUNDRAISING!

Thank you for reading about what happen to my son and our journey we are on to save his future. I pray that you will find it in your heart to help us reach our current goals. Time is of the essence with healing a brain injury, and as you will see below my son has come so very far, but the fight is far from over...we need your help!  My son was accepted to go back to the World renowned Shepherd Rehab Center in Atlanta Georgia for their next level of rehab in their Outpatient Pathways 8 week program and it starts on September 24th, 2018! Everything for the rehab program itself it paid for because Richie was granted a scholarship. All we need to be able to do is cover housing and living expenses...but this is no easy feat! 

We also desperately need a wheelchair van.  I have come up with a plan to not raise funds for a hotel or short term housing but instead raise funds for a used RV Camper so that those fund will go to good use for something we can use over and over anytime we need housing for any future rehab opportunities anywhere in the country. We also have two small dogs and this plan would help us stay together because our dogs are part of the family right!  So here are our current goals for fundraising:

We need funds for:

* A Used Toy Hauler RV Camper (This type of Camper will allow easy wheelchair access for my son and the ability to bring equipment)

* A place to park the RV during the 2 months in Atlanta and have electric access.

* A Used Wheelchair Van.

* Funds for living expenses in Atlanta Georgia for 2 months.

* Funds for some therapy equipment we still need at home to continue working hard when we return home.

* We desperately need a new wheelchair ramp for our home before Winter. The one we have is old, rotted, not to code and not safe. It was at our home when we moved there two years ago.

If you feel led to help, please know that any amount will help. Our needs are great and because the person that pulled in front of my son, his insurance was only the minimum of 25K, those funds went straight to the hospitals and didn't even make a dent in the over a million dollars in hospital bills he has now. My son gets nothing for all he has been through...So it is up to me to make this happen for him and get him the things he needs. We have lost everything except each other, This is why I need your help so badly to help me fight for my son's recovery and for him to have a future. You can donate through this GoFundMe account or mail donations directly to:
Roxanna Southwell
PO Box 7
Alpine, TN 38543

You can also send any cards and well wishes of encouragement to Richie at the address above.

Thank you for your love and any help you are able to do.
Richie and I are so very grateful!

OUR STORY IS BELOW:


My son told me just four days before the accident that he knew what was missing from his life.  He shared with me that he wants to be able to be a husband one day and experience being a dad.

My son is a hard working young man that loves his family and friends deeply. It is important to him to be a provider and protector of those he loves. Richie's favorite word is "Loyalty".


He always wore his helmet but it did not save him from a Traumatic brain injury and his body becoming severely injured. 
The fight to save my son's life began that day, November 21, 2017 at 1:15pm!



My son Richie is only 29 years old with his whole life ahead of him. Just two days before Thanksgiving last year I received that phone call that was every mother's nightmare. My son had to be air lifted to Knoxville, TN to the University of TN Critical Care Trauma Unit because a truck pulled in front of his motorcycle just a few miles from our home.

When I arrived at the hospital I was told my son was only expected to live for about 48 hours. He had sustained a severe traumatic brain injury from a brain bleed to the left side of his brain from the impact of the accident. He also had a severely broken body with two broken legs, a broken arm and wrist along with 7 broken ribs. He had a lacerated liver, spleen and bruised kidneys. His chest hit the other vehicle so hard that his lung collapsed and his lungs were swollen and trying to fill with fluid as he went into Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. 





My son's brain began to swell and pressure increased within the first 48 hours and I had to have my son's left side of his skull removed to release the pressure and allow the brain to swell in order to have a chance at saving his life! It was the hardest thing I ever had to do.


They said my son would never wake up from his coma and that I should take him off of life support. I refused and continued to stay at my son's side day and night...praying, singing, begging God for mercy. I would watch his chest rise and fall as he was breathing by a machine and I visualized Jesus breathing life into him over and over.

My son almost died in my arms 12 times in the first 10 days. My son is my life, I had to fight for him with everything possible medically and spiritually.

My son was in a coma for 30 long days and the fight for his life during that time was so hard, but we never give up on each other...ever!
Then he woke up!


My son and I look deep into each others eyes after he woke up from the coma. I love my son with every part of my being. Whatever he goes through, we go through together. I never want him to ever feel alone. When he goes home...then I go home!


He started to fight to live. He still could not move or speak.....

THEN........Despite that the doctors said he would not live and if he lived he would never move or be anything more than a vegetable in a bed dependent upon life support that would never go home....Our God had mercy and other plans for Richie!

THEN THIS HAPPENED..... (Watch the Video Below!)



After he woke up from the coma and began to move his fingers of his left hand upon command, the doctors then they told me that he probably would NOT even know me or know that I was his mother again..... I told them it didn't matter because I know who he is!
But the truth was, as a mother, to think that my son may not know who I am was a crushing thought to my heart and soul! I continued to beg God for mercy!

THEN THIS HAPPENED........ AND I KNEW MY SON KNEW EXACTLY WHO I WAS! My heart was full!

In the Video Below the therapist from the University of TN sat my son up on the side of the bed for the very first time after waking from his coma! Watch Richie's face as I orientate him to what is going on...Watch his face when I tell him that "Momma is right here".


Now awake and and a bit stronger he needed multiple surgeries to repair the injuries to his body that he was previously to weak to survive. We tackled them one by one together!










He finally was able to be weaned off of the ventilator/life support and beat the odds and beat ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome)  and his damaged lungs were holding their own! They took the tubes out of his throat and had a Tracheostomy surgery with a stoma in this neck !  This was a huge victory! He was breathing on his own but required the trach to maintain an airway for now!




His brain started collecting fluid and he developed Hydrocephalus. It became so dangerous and protruding that he needed to have brain surgery to place a shunt in his brain to drain the excess fluid off regularly.











Richie finally started to move his left leg!!
(Video Below)


Then I was able to get my son accepted into the World Renowned Shepherd Center Acquired Brain Injury program inpatient program in Atlanta GA.  I had my son transferred from Knoxville TN to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta and I stayed right by his side, never going home but staying at his side so that he would never feel alone and had the comfort of his mom & best friend at his side sleeping in a chair. 

We went to The Shepherd Center and the recovery process began and a lot of intense therapies for about 6 hours a day. Occupational, Physical, Speech, and Recreational therapies!  This is the place that hope begins. Richie's brain injury is on the left side of the brain in the language area so speaking and expression are very hard for him. Also with a brain injury to the left side it affects the right side of his body with right sided weakness. We need his brain and body to make their connections back so that they will work together again. This is the place to get that kind of healing and rehab!





Richie's very first therapy session at the world renowned Shepherd Center Acquired Brain Injury Inpatient program in Atlanta Georgia.
(Video Below)



Richie get's to eat food for the first time in 3 month's!




Mom & Richie go outside for the first time in four months!



My son Richie wrote his name for the first time! (On the bottom of the paper)



Strengthening his vision with special glasses to force him to keep his weakened eye open!


Getting Botox injections into his right arm to help relax the tightening of the muscle. 


The fluid on his brain is beginning to go down with the new brain shunt. Now it will begin to concave inward until we get strong enough to have an artificial skull bone put on.



Mom, Son, Best Friends and Warriors!






After 6 long months of living in a hospital and not having the left side of his skull, Richie finally has surgery to place an artificial skull bone made of titanium and peek. It was a big surgery and the fear of rejection was very real but God has his hand on his precious head.

To finally see my son with a perfectly complete beautiful head was very overwhelming to me as a mother. We had been through so much with much more to go on this road. When my son got to feel his own head be intact it was a very emotional moment.










Just before he graduates from the inpatient program at the Shepherd Center, below is Richie's last Therapy session video after 3 long months of therapy...(If you watch his first therapy session you will see how far he has come!)



My son has fought so hard to just survive and after 6 months away from home living in 3 different hospitals in two states, Richie graduates from the Shepherd Center Inpatient Rehab Boot Camp and he gets discharged home on May 10th, 2018 with the goal being, that by going home he will continue to make more progress and get even stronger, and that the healing will continue. 

What a victory it was to see my son graduate from the Shepherd Center Inpatient Rehab Boot Camp!

Graduation Video Below!






Heading home for the first time in 6 long months!  The original doctors from the trauma unit in TN said he would never come home let alone be alive. Well, My son & I were heading home to Alpine, TN via a private medical flight provided by the Shepherd Center! 





We were so excited to finally be home after 6 long months, but life was very different now. My son is in a wheelchair and still has a long road of recovery to go, but we are determined.

Then came our heart break. Just days after coming home, my son and I both found out that we had both been betrayed by the two people that we trusted, loved and thought we had a future with as a little family. We had to move on from both of our long term relationships that we both were in because of lack of loyalty & respect to us during the hardest time of our lives.

So we both gather our strength and push forward on this journey. We have each other and our faith in God to guide us and give us the strength to continue recovery and keep healing. We believe one day true love, loyalty and devotion will find both of us and give back the level of loyalty that we give. Until then, we will press on fighting for recovery and Richie's future. We trust in God to guide us, protect us and shelter us with his everlasting love & loyalty.


Richie began working very hard at home with Home health therapies and with therapies that him and I work on every day. My son has to relearn everything to connect to the memories he already has in his brain and get the brain and body to connect again. He is himself trapped inside his body trying to regain his ability to express and communicate.



At home I turned everything into a therapy and we worked hard every day!

Richie is putting away laundry in the Video below!

Hanging up clothes on hangers with one hand!



Folding Towels with one hand!



My son begins to practice walking at home with a physical therapist on one side and mom on the other side! Video Below!



Kicking on the voice in the Video below with our voice contest! 



Speaking, singing, and counting in the video below!



Then after 3 months at home, Richie was strong enough to go back to Atlanta to be evaluated for 3 days for their Shepherd Pathways Outpatient 8 week Rehab program.  So we took an 8 hour road trip and on August 13th-15th 2018 Richie was evaluated and tested to try to get accepted back in to Shepherd Center but this time for their Outpatient Program.







Test Time!

Standing strength!

Walking with assistance!

Pushing through the pain!


He did a great job at showing them how determined he is to get well and not give up the fight to take back his life!

Then after 8 days back home, we got that very special phone call from the Shepherd Center Pathways Outpatient Program that:

RICHIE GOT ACCEPTED!!!!!

His start date is September 24th, 2018.

Please help us make this next level of rehab happen for Richie. We have a lot of money to raise for the things that we desperately need. You can help....

Please donate and become a TEAM RICHIE FUNDRAISING WARRIOR! Help us fund raise and earn prizes along the way!

Thank you for reading about what happen to my son and our journey we are on to save his future. I pray that you will find it in your heart to help us reach our current goals. Time is of the essence with healing a brain injury, and as you will see below my son has come so very far, but the fight is far from over...we need your help!  My son was accepted to go back to the World renowned Shepherd Rehab Center in Atlanta Georgia for their next level of rehab in their Outpatient Pathways 8 week program and it starts on September 24th, 2018! Everything for the rehab program itself it paid for because Richie was granted a scholarship. All we need to be able to do is cover housing and living expenses...but this is no easy feat! 

We also desperately need a wheelchair van.  I have come up with a plan to not raise funds for a hotel or short term housing but instead raise funds for a used RV Camper so that those fund will go to good use for something we can use over and over anytime we need housing for any future rehab opportunities anywhere in the country. We also have two small dogs and this plan would help us stay together because our dogs are part of the family right!  So here are our current goals for fundraising:

We need funds for:

* A Used Toy Hauler RV Camper (This type of Camper will allow easy wheelchair access for my son and the ability to bring equipment)

* A place to park the RV during the 2 months in Atlanta and have electric access.

* A Used Wheelchair Van.

* Funds for living expenses in Atlanta Georgia for 2 months.

* Funds for some therapy equipment we still need at home to continue working hard when we return home.

* We desperately need a new wheelchair ramp for our home before Winter. The one we have is old, rotted, not to code and not safe. It was at our home when we moved there two years ago.

If you feel led to help, please know that any amount will help. Our needs are great and because the person that pulled in front of my son, his insurance was only the minimum of 25K, those funds went straight to the hospitals and didn't even make a dent in the over a million dollars in hospital bills he has now. My son gets nothing for all he has been through...So it is up to me to make this happen for him and get him the things he needs. We have lost everything except each other, This is why I need your help so badly to help me fight for my son's recovery and for him to have a future. You can donate through this GoFundMe account or mail donations directly to:
Roxanna Southwell
PO Box 7
Alpine, TN 38543

You can also send any cards and well wishes of encouragement to Richie at the address above.

Thank you for your love and any help you are able to do.
Richie and I are so very grateful!



MORE WAYS YOU CAN HELP RICHIE & OUR FAMILY:

Help Richie by becoming an official "Team Richie Fundraising Warrior". You will help raise money for Richie and earn cool prizes and recognition along the way! Go here and join for free and help Richie while earn great prizes, trips, Team Richie Gear, recognition and much more: https://www.gofundme.com/Richies-fight-forRecovery-fund?teamInvite=gD7e4XkMVysQ5pKnBDXlVzXyIjGxnMqdSe4BaWIegmI1Rly4JlkN7KZTymgSqmzQ 

You can help even more by becoming a customer or member and purchasing the following products or services:

Are you or someone you know looking to sell their home or buy a home?
Let Roxanna find you a top Real Estate Agent in your local area that will sell your home fast and for top dollar anywhere in the United States!
This is a Free Service...Visit www.FindMeTheBestAgent.com and submit your information or contact Roxanna Southwell directly from this site.

HempWorx CBD Oil Products
http://www.HempWorx.com/RoxannaSouthwell 

My Daily Choice Products (Nutritional Sprays & CBD)
http://www.MyDailyChoice.com/RoxannaSouthwell 

Pain, depression, & anxiety Relief with Kratom & Natural Botanicals
My Therapy Botanicals Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/MyTherapyBotanicals/ 
My Therapy Botanicals Facebook Group

Boost your nutrition with the Triangle of Heath from Kyani
https://roxannasouthwell.kyani.net/ 

Do you have an online business and want all the tools to make unlimited sites and funnels plus many more online tools in one spot?
7 Day free trial, check out The Conversion Pros!
http://roxannasouthwell.recruitlikeamachine.com/partner/ 

Have you ever wanted to have a homebased business of your own?
Work at home just like Richie's mom does so she can care for Richie.  Learn more about or Join her team called My Victory Tribe by requesting to join the Facebook group "My Victory Tribe" by going here: 
Join our group at  https://www.facebook.com/groups/2061934614024899/ 

Take a Free tour of Roxanna's Hempworx Business by Pre-Enrolling here:
http://www.HempWorxBizOp.com/RoxannaSouthwell 

Make a huge impact for Richie by not just donating once but by donating a regular monthly amount that will be paid automatically monthly via PayPal by setting up a monthly subscription here:

or you can send donations monthly to help this family by sending donations by mail to:
Roxanna Southwell
PO Box 7
Alpine, TN  38543