Hi, my name is Daniel Porter, until i get a little better my story is being
told by my mom and dad. Today is April 16, 2005 and Daniel is nearly (7) months post
injury. Sept. 22, 2004 0634 hours is when his journey began, as he along with a
couple of friends were on their way to school. The Jeep Grand Cherokee that he was
driving, ceased to exist on that day as the Toyota Sequioa that he hit, turned in
front of him and took away his right of way. The impact was so severe, that the
Toyota was also totaled and it's battery recovered some 200 feet past the point of
impact. Before it was all said and done, the Toyota had been pushed into another
vehicle thereby totaling it as well. That day's running count, (3) vehicles lost and
(5) lives forever changed. Seasoned investigators told us then and tell us today,
based upon what they saw, Daniel should not have survived. In fact, on the scene,
they were already preparing for fatality notifications. But Daniel did survive! and
17 1/2 at the time of the accident was a strong healthy kid who stood 5'10 and 150
lbs of pure muscle. Well conditioned and active in many sports, primarily ice
hockey, authorities believe that this contributed to his miraculous survival.
Survive he did, but he was critically injured as well. Daniel sustained a massive
head injury( closed head wound )had a pulse, but had to be intubated on the scene.
All of this, as well as cut out of the wreckage. Thanks to the lightning fast
response of the Maryland State Police's air unit, Daniel was loaded up just a mere
20 minutes after impact and flown to the region's premier facility, Baltimore Shock
Trauma. Once there he was seen by an army of personnel who quickly learned that
Daniel's priority issue was that he had sustained a Right Subdural Hematoma. He also
had the following: 
1. partially collapsed left lung 
2. fully collapsed right lung 
3. left upper arm broken completely in half 
4. multiple broken ribs 
5. fractured right ankle 
6. broken right scapula 
7. pelvic fracture 
 
Daniel's Neurosurgeon's elected to decompress Daniel's brain by doing a large scale
craniectomy where they remove the skull cap around the affected area and allow the
brain to swell without causing further damage. The surgeons also said that due to
the enormous amount of blunt force trauma to Daniel's upper body, they might have to
open up his whole abdomen to allow for swelling as well. Daniel also was in a coma
and remained there for the next (76) days. At first, Daniel had the whole array of
gadgets attached to him that are consistient with his injury, the ICP monitors and
drain tubes etc. Fortunately Daniel never did have to have his abdomen opened up, a
fact that still puzzles the Doctors and gets attributed to his physical conditioning
at the time of the accident. As devoid of emotion as these first few paragrapghs
have been, let me interject, this IS A PARENT'S WORST NIGHTMARE COME TRUE. There is
no way to understand unless you have been through it. Daniel remained in Neuro-ICU
for (37) days before being discharged to an acute facility. The whole, in a coma /
not in a coma thing is very subjective, but Doctors said that Daniel officially came
out of coma on 12/6/04 ( we his parents believe it to be about a week earlier ). Who
are we to question the profesionals you say??, well when you are thrust into this
situation and it becomes your life 24/7, and you spend as much time researching it
as we have and ask as many questions as we have, you tend to get an unoffical degree
in Neurology, Pharmacology, and Physiology. We are not Neurologists, but we did stay
at a Holiday Inn Express last night HAHA! The recovery from these things is
agonizingly slow and varied from patient to patient, but Daniel is making progress.
Back on 12/31/04, he said his first word - Mom. Since that time he has gone to a
rehab facility and is breathing on his own, lost the trach and feeding tube and eats
regular food, and as much of it as he can get. 
 
At his low point, Daniel had lost 25lbs of pure muscle mass and was severely
fatigued because of it. ** This story is still being written, not complete or
updated ** 
 
 
 
Email  Daniel Porter