Background information on Rick Cornelius prior to
accident occurring on February 3, 2009
Rick was an IT Consultant with a genius IQ, an avid surfer, skier, cyclist,
golfer,
musician & fisherman. Rick loved any sport that would take him outside.
On February 3, 2009
my husband Rick was in a
near fatal rollover auto accident where he was
ejected from the vehicle & met
the pavement face first. He was in a coma for 3 weeks;
with 3 areas in his
brain
bleeding, bi-lateral brain-stem damage,
on a ventilator & had a feeding tube.
His left eye socket & cheek
had been crushed.
He had multiple lacerations on his
face and fractures in his neck & ribs.
The doctors had informed me he had only a 2%
chance of living, the written prognosis was the word; grave.
The doctors told me
if he lived he would be a vegetable and he would always need to be on a
ventilator & be fed
through a tube and would never be able to live at home.
Nursing home care would be needed 24/7 as he would
need to be cared for by a
professional only. The doctors advised me to unplug him, I told them that GOD
had a
purpose for Ricks life & that I would NOT unplug him, I would care for
him the rest of his life no matter what
they had given me as his prognosis! By
the time he was ready to leave the hospital
they
removed him
from the ventilator, 3 weeks after the accident he awoke to the
sound of my voice
and he mumbled 3 times, I love you!
He spent 7 months in the nursing home. He had
to relearn everything, eating, walking, talking, reading.
His memory had been extremely compromised, he couldn't
remember anything about the accident and only
bits
and pieces of his life. I constantly showed him pictures daily of everyone
& told him their
names eventually memories started to return.
March 2009
He started physical, speech &
occupational therapies while a resident at the nursing home.
He still has stroke
like symptoms from the bleeds in his brain that cause his left arm & hand to be
permanently frozen in position. His left leg is unable to bend easily; he wears
a brace on his left ankle
for support. He was progressing slowly with walking,
learning to eat, speak, spell and write.
December 10, 2009
10
months after the auto accident Rick was given a near fatal dose of
Baclofen
by a
homecare nurse; resetting all his forward progress & completely changing the
condition
of his eyes. With a 50/50% chance of repairing the eye damage, we decided
not to go
forward with eye surgery.
He now has to wear prism glasses as he sees double
everything.
He's still getting better slowly everyday, his
memory for some things is still a challenge,
we're grateful for each &
every day. He has mostly good days as he's not a negative
person, life stills makes him smile everyday.
He spends his days now sitting in a wheelchair
doing word searches for 3 hours & then
sitting in a lift chair
playing Wii Golf
the remainder of the day. We are extremely thankful that
he can do this as he
was not
supposed to be able to do anything.
His brain is still healing.
PRAISE the LORD!
My art work
allowed us to purchase a van with a lift in the back,
new glasses, new electric lift chair & new electric wheelchair.
He's set now to proceed forward to new things. |