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Curt Allen Jr "TBI" Trust Fund

My son, Curt J.  Allen, Jr. was in a horrific car accient. He suffered a serious TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) and was given less than a 2% chance of surviving the night.  To keep from missing any details, I have pasted below a letter my husband wrote some time back in an attempt to secure funds to help with Curt's recovery.  I  have deleted names and certain places in an attempt to keep from upsetting anyone. Here it is...

Dear Mxxxxx,

We have received your information/inquiry for the documentary you wish to produce as it relates to my Son, Curt J. Allen, Jr. We are happy that Curt’s story is moving and hope that it has helped even one person. There are thousands of lessons to be learned from Curt’s story. There are tips we have learned about available TBI resources, and they are few to none with the exception of the HBOT treatment Curt recieved. The real story and or lessons to be learned in Curt’s case is the care he received, the love and devotion, the unending, tireless, relentless, passionate, never saying never, “life” he received from his angel, his mother, mother of three, my wife, Fran. Forget the three weeks sleeping in a chair in the level II ICU trauma ward, forget having what used to be known as “last rites” performed three times during that period, forget continually worrying about funeral arrangements, forget deciding not taking the top of his skull off to relieve brain pressure and or swelling, forget the diagnosis that “if he lives he will not walk or talk and will be home and bed bound for the rest of his life in a state of unconsciousness requiring a trache for breathing and a peg tube for feeding, forever, and in all likelihood live longer than she would be around to take care of him”. Forget his release and the ambulance trip from Alexandria to New Orleans where every bump in the road in her mind could be catastrophic and, where she stayed three months by his side 24/7 going through the same as above and being released after three months for Curt's “failure to make progress”, and oh by the way, two more surgeries and two hurricanes. Let’s start where it got hard…

Upon release from the New Orleans trauma facility Fran was making plans to bring Curt Jr home in his comatose state. I was relieved because at least we finally knew what we were dealing with. Call it fate, chance, or GOD, Fran was hooked up with HBOT with Dr. Harsh. Also by chance there was one opening at the RMcD House.  To understand what Fran did for Curt Jr. for eight months during this time you need to be able to envision what a good day involved. I say day but her days started and ended at the same place so 24 hours is irrelevant, so, here we go; wake up, peg tube feed, clean trache, change diaper, undress, lift and place into wheel chair, go the bathroom, lift and place into shower chair, give shower, lift and place back into wheel chair, roll back to room, lift and place into bed, dry, put on diaper, dress, lift and place back into wheel chair, change bed, brush teeth, strap securely into wheel chair, get herself ready for the day, grab herself breakfast, call the van, wait for the van, lift and place Curt Jr. with wheel chair into van, travel to outpatient therapy, help with outpatient therapy, peg tube feed, wait, change diaper, lift and place into wheel chair, grab herself lunch, call van, wait for van, travel to HBOT, assisted in HBOT with exception of taking dives,  change diaper, place back into wheel chair, call van, wait on van, load into van, travel back to RMcD House, unload and making their way to the third floor room, peg tube feed, roll to bathroom, unload and load into shower chair, shower, reload, back to room, diaper, body massage, dress for night time, sing and pray, play Christian music, and then, take 2 minutes for herself to get ready to start over because in truth, there was no sleep. I forgot meds and taking him everywhere she went every second of the day even to the bathroom so as not to leave him unattended. You can refer to the youtube video to see where he was when we brought him home. Oh yeah, hauling around two large duffle bags with clothes, food, diapers, etc. everywhere she went and also taking care of the relentless laundry.

I have gotten you to the point where Curt Jr. is now home, or was at the time. His speech and cognitive abilities at this point are now at a stand still do to lack of funds and depleated insurance which are desparately needed for additional HBOT treatments.   Other than the van, peg tube, trache, etc., Curt Jr. still required 24/7 help, and still does. At that time my wife Fran took care of everything even follow up trips to New Orleans for HBOT which were out-of pocket. We have had numerous suicide attempts, psych ward stays, physical attacks, verbal abuse, etc. The list is long but she never complained or gave up. Sure she had her moments but truly is his angel, my angel too. A lot of people, at best, would not have made it half this far or even have tried to begin with. In fact, a lot of friends told her she should put Curt Jr. in a nursing home. Can you imagine the look on Fran’s face when friends with children of their own would even suggest such a thing.

Let’s move forward to current time bypassing years of struggle and unimaginable events.  Curt Jr. requires 24/7 personal care assistance (PCA’s). There are three shifts per day, Fran picks up one shift which is about 60 hours a week part time, yes, part time and she recieves no pay or benefits, other than being with the son she so nearly lost. She cooks meals and prepares his meals for work, cleans the house, does the laundry, keeps up with meds, pays the bills, takes him to work, picks him up, takes him to doctor appointments or anywhere else he needs to go, tries to keep him entertained, sleeps over at least three times a week, etc., etc., etc. Her life is not much different now with the exception of 2 PCA’s paid for by the State who pick up the slack for the 24/7 shifts.

I’m not saying Curt Jr’s story is not a miracle, his smile lights up any room and when he prays you would swear the words were coming from Jesus. We received a  billion times more than we prayed for but, the real story is Fran and what she did and is still doing daily. The real story is the lack of help available for TBI survivors. The real story is what the family of a TBI survivor endures and suffers on a daily basis. 

Since the accident, Curt Jr., in our and others opinion, has needed HBOT treatments for improvements. We cannot afford and or provide any further funds and insurance has been depleted for years. We need  to provide HBOT treatments he so desparately needs.  It just needs to be within the next year or so before one way or another it’s too late either by an accident, fall, frustration, depression, natural crippling due to his gate and or GOD forbid suicide.

I’m telling you all of this because if you merely want to do a story on the recovery of our son please feel free to use the video that Dr. Harch has made and is also available on youtube. At this time we do not wish to once again subject Curt Jr and or ourselves to anything that may in any way appear to represent some avenue of hope to the real help Curt Jr needs and deserves, unless it truly does. We are heartbroken that your company cannot assist us in any manner, other than your documentary, for further HBOT treatments that could induce life changing improvement for our son.

If you have any questions or wish to discuss this matter please contact me using the info provided within the email.

- End of Letter -

Please help in our cause to obtain further HBOT treatments and in securing Curt Jr's persoal in home HBOT dive chamber. Anything is greaatly appreciated.

Please watch the video and GOD bless you all, Fran.
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Donations 

  • Anonymous
    • $275 
    • 6 yrs
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Organizer

Fran Allen
Organizer
Alexandria, LA

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