Reece's Journey to Regain Vision

Here is the car from the accident and what I looked like when the tree was in my face. Beware it is a little graphic.




Below is a great overview of my story, but if you would like the full version please visit my website at: 

www.ReeceOBryan.com

On Halloween of 2013
(10/31/2013) I was in a car accident. On that night it was storming really bad and I came over a hill about half a mile from my house, I had no time to stop for a dead tree that had fallen in the road. A tree branch hit the top of my car, broke off and went directly into the left side of my face, impelling me. It was storming extremely bad that Halloween night and when the paramedics and the fire department got there they thought that I was already dead. I was rushed to the closest local hospital, but upon arrival they immediately realized I needed to be moved to a top level trauma center due to the severity of my injuries. 

I was transported to the University Of Louisville Hospital, where they did scans to see the damage that the branch had done. It was only 1/16th of an inch from severing the main artery going to my brain. Since this was such an unusual case and it was very unlikely I would survive (they wouldn't even give a 1% of me living). They left the branch in my face, which after the scan we found out was 4 inches in my face. They left the branch in my head for 3 days while they gathered doctors, such as some of the top neurologist and plastic surgeons in the country, to figure out what they could possibly do to save my life.

The first surgery was 16 hours long. During this time I was unconscious and I awoke days later with no recollection of the accident and no idea where I was. I awoke in severe pain, with a breathing tube to down my throat, and a feeding tube. The only thing I could do was move my hands, and I motioned for them to give me something to write with; the first thing I wrote down to ask was "Am I dead?". I was told no, but there was a good possibility that my vision would be gone forever. 
I was in the hospital for 2 months while I continued to have surgeries. When I was finally sent home I was still not finished with all of my surgeries. For 2 months I had to endure the most pain I ever had in my life. For 6-8 weeks I had to soak gauze in a bleach solution. Twice a day I would have to soak the gauze in the solution and put it in the open cavity of my face, going back 4 inches. Once the gauze were dried, it had to be ripped out 2 times a day, just to prevent infection. I was given every pain medicine possible, but my doctors said there was no mediation available that could numb the pain at all. 

On January 2014 I went to see multiple eye specialist that told me I would be blind for the rest of my life. Earlier this year (2015) I found a doctor doing a study called SCOTS, which is an experimental surgery that could possibly give me my vision back in my right eye (my entire left eye was destroyed from the branch). So far this doctor (Steven Levvy) has had great success with others that have had traumatic accidents like me. I recently talked to Dr. Steven and he informed me that with the surgeries he has preformed so far he has not had such great success in people with NLP (no light perception).

No light perception is what I suffer from and that is very UN-common in blind people. Other people that go blind they still retain the ability to see light. I do not, I see nothing but darkness. Since the accident I haven’t been able to see any friends, family members, loved ones, or see life like it was before.

As I have said Dr. Steven has had no success with people suffering from NLP. However, the story starts to take a lighter side here, While talking to Dr. Steven, he informed me that starting this fall he would have a new study directed toward people with NLP. He said that I would be a perfect candidate for this study. My only problem is the surgery will cost $20,000 that the insurance will not cover due to the surgery being experimental. Thank you for any little amount that you can contribute, I cant explain in words how much this would mean to me to be able to see again, to have my life back again.

 If you would like more information on the SCOTS study you can visit the link below:

http://clinicaltrials.gov
 


Thank You all again