August 16th, 2014 began as an ordinary Saturday at the lake with family and friends for Thomas Jay.  Fourteen year old Thomas kissed his mother, Lilly, goodbye as she left for work and he headed to the lake with his cousins and church friends.  It was an ordinary summer day and a beautiful day for a picnic at the lake with swimming, boating, and jet ski rides. 

What Lilly did not know is that the next time she would see Thomas would be at the Georgia Regents University Medical Center fighting for his life.  On August 16th, Thomas was a rider on a jet ski driven by a 17 year old girl.  Thomas was thrown (or fell) off the back of the jet ski and and hit head-on by another jet ski driven by a 14 year old girl riding closely behind.  

According to the details of the event as retold by friends and family members at the lake, Thomas was found floating face down in a 3 foot pool of blood at the lake with an open skull fracture.  He sustained an traumatic brain injury with the most severe damage to the frontal lobe. 

One of the people who pulled him from the water was able to keep him alive until the life bird arrived and took over.  He was air lifted to Georgia Regents University and a team of surgeons took over.  Before the life bird left the lake, Thomas was only breathing 6 times per minute and was not expected to live to make it to the hospital. 

By God's Grace, Thomas did survive the flight, plus six hours of brain surgery to repair the damage to his brain, remove the shattered bone fragments and blood clots, and piece back together what could be saved from his shattered skull.  After that brain surgery, he remained in a coma in critical condition in the shock trauma unit for 3 weeks.   He was then moved to the Childrens Medical Center Hospital in Augusta, GA, and underwent 5 hours of facial reconstructive surgery to his face.  About a week later, he was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis and returned to the shock trauma unit in critical condition. 

Once he recovered from bacterial meningitis, he started making small steps towards his recovery and eventually was moved to the Childrens Healthcare Center of Atlanta, Scottish Rites, for intensive daily therapy.  He remains at Scottish Rites today and is fighting to return to his normal life and regain the abilities he lost as a result of the accident.

Since arriving at Scottish Rites, Thomas has undergone two additional surgeries to repair dental injuries and  remove his tonsils to help improve his ability to breath and, hopefully, enable the doctors to remove the trach.  He is still on a feeding tube and we are not sure how long that will remain. 

Thomas's medical bills have exceeded $50,000 to date and it is anticipated that amount will double or triple before he is released from care.  Lilly is a single mother with no financial support.  Prior to the accident, Lilly and Thomas were staying with family while she worked two jobs to save enough money to get their own place.  She lost both jobs after the accident, but has remained at Thomas's beside since August 16th and has become his strongest advocate.  We all know he would not have made the progress he has made if it weren't for her dedication and love for her son.   The family has been helping them as much as possible, but the looming medical bills and need for future care has become an overwhelming reality. 

Thomas is making huge steps towards recovery and we hope he will soon be released from inpatient care.  Once released, he will stay at the Ronald McDonald House and go for outpatient therapy on a daily basis for an undertermined amount of time. 

Once he is released from care in Atlanta, Thomas and Lilly will return home.  But they need a home of their own to return to.  A home that can handle Thomas's special needs.  They also need help getting a vehicle which will enable her to transport him back and forth to doctor's appointments and help paying the medical expenses. 

Please search your hearts and help them start over once released from the hospital.   We need you to share this link on your Facebook pages.  The GoFundMe link is http://www.gofundme.com/e9gqyw.  The family will keep posting updates as they become available. 

Thank you for your generosity and may God bless you and keep you safe.