Danny's Rehab & Support Funds

September 1, 2018, Daniel Craig Caplinger was struck by a van that failed to yield while he was on his motorcycle. He suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury and had two emergency brain surgeries to relieve pressure in his skull, only days apart. He later had another surgery to place a shunt to allow the excess fluids to drain into his stomach. On October 5th, Danny was moved to TIRR Rehabilitation where he began Speech, Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy.  Over the next three weeks Danny started to walk with assistance, converse, read and write. He is still often confused and doesn't always make sense but that is expected at this time. On October 25, a head CT showed that Danny's shunt was not draining properly and he was sent back to Ben Taub Neurology ICU. It was discovered that he had MRSA in his shunt and it had to be removed. He was also getting sick constantly and refusing to eat so they put in a J tube, in addition to his G tube. He also developed a pulmonary embolism and had to have an IVC mesh implanted in his thigh. At that same time, he had an episode of tachycardia where his heart rate got to 190.

He finally got his shunt replaced and moved out of ICU after almost 4 weeks but then he went to have the IVC removed and he had another two tachycardia episodes, his highest heart rate going into the 200's.  Danny was then moved to Cardiology ICU to monitor his heart.

After a month back at Ben Taub, Danny went back to TIRR Rehabilitation. After TIRR, Danny continued outpatient PT and Speech therapy and was doing amazing in his recovery 

In April 2019, Danny's shunt quit working and he was admitted back into the hospital  The docto replace his shunt because his had failed. He also had collapsed lungs and pneumonia. And then he developed a chiari malformation, where his brain tissue extended into his spinal cavity. He had surgery to fix that next. Then they discovered he had MRSA in his lungs. His shunt still isn't removing the fluid enough so they placed an external drain to manually drain the fluid. Once his ventricles shrink down, they will replace the current shunt with one more suited for low pressure hydrocephalus, which is what he has. They decided to intubate and sedate him so he didn't continue to struggle with breathing and congestion.

After 12 weeks and countless more brain surgeries, Danny now has a working shunt and has moved back to TIRR for rehabilitation. He still has his vent but is able to breathe on his own. He has just started to move his hands and his feet some. Today was the first day in 12 weeks that he was able to be sat up in a wheelchair instead of laying in a bed. He still isn't doing much on his own but we are confident he will work hard and we will have Danny back again!