Help Alan's Kids

Life can change it a split second…. or in a New York minute. On September 8th Alan was bicycling on a bike trail and to this day we are not sure what exactly happened but another biker found Alan on the ground. 

They called 911 and Alan was taken to a nearby hospital (Stony Brook University Hospital). They checked his wallet and found Chantal was his emergency contact. Chantal called me (Dana) and let us know that she was at the hospital with Alan. Dave called the hospital and at first we were told he had a concussion and they would keep him in the hospital for 24-48 hours to monitor him. Within hours it changed dramatically. Alan went into a comatose state and has not come out of it since. Lots of CT scans and MRI’s showed lots of brain bleeds, a fractured hip and a fracture in his spine. Also he might need plastic surgery on his face in the future. It took almost a month to stop the brain bleeds.

The prognosis is not good. The doctors are not sure how much damage was done to his brain but they told us he had a traumatic brain injury. They also said that he will probably never be able to do the simplest of tasks on his own if he wakes up. We just don’t know. They will keep him in ICU until they can find a long term rehab facility to accommodate all of his needs.

So many of our friends and family have asked what they can do.

Unfortunately, Alan did not have a POA (Power of Attorney) or a Will in place. This has put a lot of financial stress on his family since Alan’s child support payments are not getting to the two youngest boys for basic necessities like rent and food.

As Darcy (Dominic) is the next of kin, she needs to get guardianship over Alan. This will allow her to have access to Alan’s bank account and be able to get Chantal her child support that she has not received since September. This process of guardianship is not easy and not cheap. We are looking at approximately 3 more months before she will hopefully be granted guardianship.

Darcy’s first responsibility will be to help her mom and her brothers with everyday expenses that the child support was used for.

This has been extremely difficult for Alan’s family in Canada (Alan and the kids live in Long Island, New York). Not being able to be there for him has been tough but we are very grateful that Chantal has been there every day by his side. Alan also had a girl friend that cares for him deeply and she spends most evenings with him. We will never be able to repay these two women for their kindness and Alan is lucky to have them by his side