In November, Brooks was involved in an accident. Instead of looking forward to Christmas break, Brooks was in the pediatric ICU fighting for his life. Brooks was brought to the PICU after multiple cardiac arrests due to severely bruised lungs and a bruised heart as well as a traumatic brain injury. In order to give Brooks a chance for his brain to heal, the decision was made to put Brooks on ECMO, despite the significant risk.
I had the privilege of being the nurse when he came back from the procedure. There were numerous speciality teams working to ensure the safety of Brooks’ brain and work to improve his heart and lungs. On the 3rd day of being on ECMO, we turned off some of the sedation in an attempt to see how his brain was doing. He opened his eyes, followed commands and gave us all a thumbs up. Everyone in the room was quickly filled with immense hope for Brooks recovery after a long awaited moment. He quickly came off ECMO when his heart recovered and within the week had the breathing tube out and was talking. He had some challenges along the way but showed his resiliency throughout the whole process.
He eventually was able to move to the brand new 10th floor rehab unit, to continue to rehab from his brain injury. Brooks returned home 2 days before Christmas, just in time to spend the holiday at home with his whole family. He has very few memories from his time in the PICU, but slowly learned how incredible his recovery was and what a miracle he is.
This year I chose to ride for Brooks, whose determination carried him through the hardest days and into a thriving life. And I ride to give hope to more patients walking that same road.
