Hi, I am Austin's mom. It was July 14th 1996, the last day of our 2 week
vacation. Austin was just 2 months into his third year when we had our accident. 
This is a very hard story for me to tell. Unlike a lot of people s accidents they
have someone else to blame for their accident, I had no one to blame but myself. 
It all started when my husband wanted to take his truck up to the corner of a busy
intersection to place it up for sale. Our other vehicle was a brand new Taurus.
Since we were a family of five, to make things simple (no arguing over who was going
to sit where) we had assigned seats. Of course Austin had a car seat and always sat
there.  The other boys also sat in back. 
As my husband hopped in the truck, my oldest son (9) hopped in with him. My middle
son (7) with excitement asked if he could ride up front. We weren't going far so I
said sure. As I was putting Austin in his car seat, he started throwing a fit (one
of those terrible 3 year old fits) kicking and screaming and arching his back,
refusing to go into his car seat. I looked at my husband, and he shrugged. To this
day I regret the decision I made when I said "Okay, but just this once." At the time
we  were not in the habit of putting on our seat belts, so I did not fasten Austin's
either. 
We were just a few blocks from our destination, and I was taking the side roads to
avoid traffic. I was going down a residential street (25mph) that only had two-way
stop signs at every other street. It was a street with very old trees, and as I
approached an intersection I did not see the stop sign and went straight through the
intersection and got hit by a car going 45mph. It hit us on the side and slammed us
into a pole. Austin hit the windshield upon impact. The air bag went off and slammed
him into the windshield again. He broke the windshield twice with his head. My
airbag went off too, and I remember not really knowing what was going on. Or what
could have possibly happened. As the air bag went down, I looked around trying to
figure out what had happened. I saw Austin lying on the floor, still dazed I picked
him up and laid him on the seat. I asked if everyone was okay. Still very dazed and
trying to figure out what happened and where we were, I heard my middle son say "Mom
Austin's not moving" I looked down to see Austin s eyes were wide open and he was
staring into space. I picked him and got out of the car and started yelling  call 91
 call 911 . I thought my son was dead, I thought I had killed my little boy.  People
came outside and called for help. I was only a few blocks away from where I was
supposed to meet my husband and started running for him (I was hysterical) I was
yelling "I killed my son, I killed my baby." Someone grabbed me and took be back to
the scene. I kept saying "I killed my son, I killed my son." 
We were very lucky; Austin was still alive, but barely. He was only breathing 4
breaths per min. There just happened to be a military doctor who lived at that
intersection and was giving Austin CPR. It was very difficult be cause he had to
keep clearing his mouth of blood. Paramedics were only two blocks away. (Parked at
the very intersection were my husband was with his truck, waiting for me to pick him
up.) 
There were 2 ambulances at the scene. Someone went to get my husband. When He got
there I was still hysterical. They were putting Austin into the ambulance and
checking out my other son, who had a huge bump on his forehead from hitting the
dashboard. I refused treatment. My husband rode in the ambulance with Austin, and I
rode with my other son Adam. We went to Children s Mercy Hospital in downtown KCMO.
All the way there I did not if Austin was dead or alive. I prayed all the way. 
When we got to the hospital they informed us that Austin was alive, but in very
critical condition. He was not able to breath by himself, and was immediately put on
life support. He was in a comma from the time of impact and his brain was swelling.
When we asked if he would be okay, all they could say was "We will have to wait and
see." He was sent up to ICU and was finally allowed to see him hours later. He had
had a collapsed lung, and burns on his face from the air bag. A neck brace on and
his face and head were swollen. My baby was laying there with nothing but a diaper
on. They did not allow me to touch him. (They did not want his brain to be
stimulated.) 
After the CAT scan we found out that one of his main impacts had affected his brain
stem, and that was why he could not breathe on his own. There had also been severe
shearing between the two sides of his brain. The other impact was to his left side.
While in comma lying there, the only sign of life was the posturing we would see.
(Not a good sign.) 
On Wednesday they wanted to wean him from the life support to see if he could
breathe on his own. They would slow the oxygen flow until there was none. He
immediately started to breathe very hard and fast, 127 breaths per minute. His chest
would rise and fall really hard. It looked like his stomach was touching his back
bone. It was a horrible sight to see. Immediately his lung collapsed again and they
had to put in another tube, and gave him medication to slow his breathing down, but
it did not seem to help. They did not put him back on life support; they did not
want him to become dependant on it. I found out later it was basically to see if he
would make it on his own or not. Thank God he did. He began to stabilize, but was
still in comma. Sunday, 1 week after the accident, he was out of ICU, but still in a
comma, and starting to have seizures. This was a very unsettling sight. They took
him back up to ICU for observation for a day. Then Monday, we saw his eyes pop open,
and then shut just as quick. He was starting to come out of it. Little did we
realize that once he "woke up" he would still be in a comma like state. A week later
he, what we call woke up, but there was no life in him. He stared blankly into
space. Could he see me? Could he hear me? Did he know I had not left the hospital
once since the accident? Did he know I was there? After he came out of ICU, I had
not left his side once. They took him down for therapy, and did test on him, he
responded to pain, but nothing else. They told me that was a good thing. It was hard
to watch. The doctors called a meeting two weeks after he woke up. He was not
responding to anything but pain, and they were not encouraged. We asked all of the
typical questions, Will he come out of it, What will he be like if he does ?,?,?
Every response, "We don't know, we ll just have to wait and see . 
Everyday they kept up the therapy, doing range of motion excercises, and every day
no real response. 
One day, Austin had just fallen to sleep (he would have moments when he was  awake 
but lifeless) when his therapist came for him. I asked if we could skip, so we did.
I was laying behind him, with his back to me. I kept peeking over his shoulder to
see if he was awake. 
When I saw that his eyes were open, I kept peeking over his shoulder to see if he
was going back to sleep.  When I noticed that he was awake, I turned this into a
game. Kind of like peek a boo. I kept peeking over his shoulder and say  boo ! Then
it happened. All of the sudden the most beautiful sight I had ever seen. A smile. 
Austin had just smiled! I hopped out of the bed as fast as I could and found a
nurse. Austin had snapped out of it. I could now play with him and make him smile.
The thought that came to me was,  If he never gets any better than this, I know he's
in there, and I can make him smile.   It was such a relief. He was not able to talk,
but we found ways to ask him questions, mostly yes and no questions. He would answer
by blinking, then opening and closing his left hand. In two weeks he was holding up
his head. It was like having a newborn all over again, watching him with new first
everyday. After 6 weeks they let us go home. Austin was still in a wheel chair, and
not talking. He had to have therapy 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. In December he
said his first word, it was "mom". 
He started walking about the same time, and was fed through a tube for nine months.
That whole year was really hard, but with each new gain we were thankful. 
Update: Austin is 8 years old now and is in the 2nd grade after repeating
kindergarten twice, and barely making it through 1st grade. His right side is very
weak, and uses his right hand only to assist with some things. He walks with a limp,
and hipper extends his knee when he walks. His speech is breathy and hard to
understand even for me sometimes. He never seems to be discouraged by his
disabilities. He is a very happy child, (this helps me a great deal) and wants to do
every thing for himself, no matter how difficult. He has played tee ball, soccer
(with kids younger than him), and doe
s tae kwon do. 
He wants to ride a bike, but doesn't have the balance. He still can not tie his
shoes, and has problems buttoning. He is getting therapy at school, and once a week
at Children s Mercy. Austin has started Hippo Therapy and absolutely loves it.  This
is horse back riding in an arena.  He uses his right hand to brush his horse, and
riding the horse helps strength his trunk muscles.  Anyone who has this accessible
to them should give it a try.  It has been great!  
He will be getting Botox injections in his right arm.  This is because he has
increased tone and his muscles are really tight.  They have increased therapy to 2
times a week, but he is no longer getting therapy at school. They inject the spastic
muscles, and are hoping to increase muscle strength in the others.  Even though it
has been 5 years, with every new treatment, I have high hopes of more recovery. 
He has trouble reading, and hates school. I wonder what challenges will be ahead.
What his life will be like as a teenager and adult. Right now kids in school like
Austin, but has no real friends. Kids his age don't want to play with him because he
can't keep up. He spends most of his time playing video games, computer games and
watching TV. He did learn how to ride a scooter this summer and was very proud. 
Update: Botox injections were not successful.  We have been released from all
therapy.  Doctors said that they have done everything possible, and he has made all
the gains he s going too.  This is really hard to hear. 
Well it's been 3 years, and Austin is now 13 and in the 6th grade. This is the first
year of middle school. He is the youngest of 3 teenage boys.  Physically things are
about the same with Austin.  He hates school, more than ever.  He begs me to home
school him.  He also begs and begs to just stay home.  One night he spent 4 hours
crying and begging me not to send him to school. I wanted to give in, and it was
very difficult not to, but I couldn t give in because that would just teach him that
if he begs enough, he ll finally get his way.  He says it is too hard.  Teachers
aren t listening.  One day he tried to run away from school.  He got half way
through the parking lot when he was discovered.  He has said that he wants to kill
himself, that life is too hard, and he can t take it anymore.  We had to put him on
meds for depression, as he was talking about suicide.   
 
We are trying to find things Austin can do to keep him busy, I called the brain
injury association, and asked about a support group, but they had none.  I did not
get much help from them.  Then a couple of months later they called to tell me about
an event in Kansas City, called  ability camp .  He was able to do some football
activities with the Kansas City Chiefs and other children with disabilities.  He met
another child with a brain injury.  This allowed me to ask them about some of the
things they do to keep busy.  They told me they were involved with Special Olympics.
 This may sound stupid, but I thought that that organization was just for children
with downs syndrome.   
 
He has played baseball, is now playing golf, which he loves, and he will be bowling
soon. 
 
Another exciting thing to add is that we found Austin a bike.  Actually it s a
trike.  He wanted to ride a bike so badly and we have tried several different things
with no luck.  We looked into finding him a bike for children with disabilities, but
the prices were outrageous!  We found a trike that had an old fashioned look to it,
with a basket and everything.  But I just couldn t bring myself to purchase it. So I
scoured the internet until I found a really cool trike.  It is all chrome with a
banana seat and it looks like a low rider.  The expression on Austin s face when he
was cruising around on that trike for the first time was priceless.   What is really
cool is that other kids think his trike is awesome.  He has the coolest bike in
town. 
 
We started up therapy again.  Austin s right hand has become really tight and has
lost function.  I was nervous about going back to ask for therapy because I was
afraid I would be turned down.  Come to find out I was supposed to have follow up
appointments once a year, but I was never told.  Lesson learned, it s my
responsibility to stay on top of things.  I thought when they told me they had done
everything possible for Austin, that, that was it.  I had no idea I was supposed to
follow up. 
 
 
7th Grade: Austin has now been on the meds for a year, and this year has been much
easier on him.  He has more support at school which helps tremendously.  The sad
thing is that they had assigned another child a personal para, but Austin needed so
much help, she found herself helping him more than her assigned child.  I really don
t get it.  The child they assigned the para to has fewer problems and he has no
physical disabilities, and can read and right just fine.  There is talk about
terminating the other student s services, in which case Austin will lose his
support.  I am trying to keep it in place, but I think I am going to have a fight on
my hands. 
 
Austin s favorite activities are riding his trike, bowling and golf.  He still loves
his videos games.  He just turned 14 and is starting to talk about driving and
working.  Lord help me! 
 
Austin has an appointment in St. Louis the end of summer (07)to have tendon release
surgery.  He is looking forward to it.  We are both hoping he will get more
function. 
 
I have created a web site for Austin.  He is always asking me to tell him about the
accident.  I started this site for him, but after talking to several people they
encouraged me to provide others with information.  I try to add content as I can. 
 
I would like to start a blog or something for others to share their stories, but am
not sure how to go about it.  
 
You can visit my site at http://www.braininjuryinformation.com 
 
I would love to hear from anyone who wants to share their story.  I know from
experience it is very therapeutic. 
 
E-mail me at contact@braininjuryinformation.com