Darryl and Family

Hi everyone,

At the start of this new year on January 3rd, Darryl, my husband and the father of our three children, Sean, Cody and Jessica, suffered a life changing accident. While he was power washing the roof of our house’s garage he fell off backwards and suffered a severe injury to his spinal cord which took away all feeling and mobility in his body from the waist down. In addition to this, he also broke his leg and seven ribs. Since Kauai doesn’t have the medical resources to treat this type of injury, shortly after his arrival to the ER he was put on an air-ambulance to Queen’s Hospital in Oahu the very same day.

On Oahu, he received surgery for his broken leg, where they inserted a metal rod and three screws into his broken femur to repair the damage. In the same surgery, they attempted to repair the damage done to his spine by putting it back into place with several screws and metal rods. Afterwards, he remained in the ICU and the trauma unit within the hospital on Oahu for two weeks until he was fit to fly out to Craig’s Hospital in Denver, Colorado to be apart of their rehabilitation program which specializes in brain and spinal cord injuries. We believe Craig’s Hospital is the best place he can be during this time and we are very grateful he was cleared to start this very long journey of rehabilitation ahead of him there.

On February 1st, a month after the accident and two weeks after starting the rehabilitation program at Craig’s, they have determined his spinal cord injury is “Classification A”. Unfortunately, this is the worst classification a spinal cord injury can get because it means that the injury is complete and there is no neural connection between his upper and lower body at the moment. Classification A spinal cord injuries have significantly lower chances of ever gaining full body recovery and thus mobility. However, the doctors assured us that there is still a chance this could change in the next year, we must wait and see. In the coming weeks of rehab, Darryl and the doctors will continue to work to get him stronger with the primary goal of helping him regain his self autonomy with the upper body functions he still has. They think it will be several more weeks here before he is allowed to return home. We would like to say that all of the transport/trauma teams and hospital staff that we have encountered throughout this journey have been super amazing. Our children, who are all in their twenties now, have also been so helpful in supporting us during this time. Jessica was with us in Oahu and now Cody and Sean have been visiting us in Denver.

This is a life-changing event for him and everyone within our family, physically, emotionally, and financially. Many changes will have to be made in the near future to accommodate Darryl’s new lifestyle. We are very grateful that he is strong and healthy enough both physically and mentally to go down this very difficult road of recovery. The doctors are very happy with his progress so far as his body recovers and his upper body strength increases. Right now, he is doing well at learning how to transfer himself from the hospital bed to the wheel chair and how to use the wheel chair by himself. He is staying positive about the whole situation and in my opinion, he is just an awe-inspiring amazing human being overall. Most of you know Darryl to be kind, considerate of others, and always willing to give a helping hand without even being asked. His physical and mental strength amazes me everyday. To me, he is my Superman.

Amidst all of this chaos, my father passed away last week in San Diego, California. Unfortunately, everything has begun to take its toll on my health too. So frustrating, as much as I try to be strong for Darryl, I’ve had some health issues which have landed me in the ER twice in the past two weeks. Ugh.

Such difficult times, and in these difficult times we are very appreciative for all the support from family and friends that we have received, you all have been so wonderful! Many have mentioned that they want to help and have asked that we do a “go fund me” so that people can help in some way, so at last, here it is. Please do not feel obligated to contribute. With that being said, please know that just your positive thoughts, prayers, messages, and love that you offer is felt strongly and appreciated immensely.

Thank you all for everything,

Donna