Man Survives Dirt Bike Incident
On April 2, 2009 our lives changed forever. My husband Donald Gregory Jr. got out his dirt to ride and was in a horrible accident. He does not remember it at all, but my 7 year old daughter, Nicholle will never forget that evening.
Donal went to the garage intending to work on his truck but decided to ride his dirt bike instead. Nicholle said he wasn't going too fast and he waved to her as he passed by. After a little while, she no longer heard the dirt bike so she went to look for him. She found him in a pool of blood, turned, and ran to get help. The ambulance came around 6:45 p.m. and they called Metro Life Flight.
He was flown from the old Elyria West High School. I heard Metro Life Flight land and thought to myself, "Wow! That is so close." We usually stop and say a prayer when we see or even hear Metro Life Flight however, this night I didn't! We got a call a short time later informing of us Donald's accident.
We were able to see him around 1:00 a.m. and, it was a horrifying site. He had a chest tube, was on life support, had broken bones in his face and ribs, a punctured lung, and broken left hand. The ICU staff let me spend the night with him and it didn’t look good for him. The doctors said that the next 24 hours were critical.
I remember the staff being so nice to me! It helped me through that long night. I just wanted him to wake up. This was a bad dream that we were in. I was there from morning to night waiting, praying, and talking with the doctors, nurses, and social workers. There were decisions that needed to be made and with the help of the doctors we made them.
I remember that one of the residents told me that we need to talk about putting trach and peg tubes to help Donald along. My husband and I had talked about things like that and had said that if it was our time to go be with our Father, neither of us wanted to be kept alive by a machine.
I would not agree to anything until he was off all medication. I talked to Donald and told him that the doctors wanted to do this and I knew he could still hear me. I left for the evening around 10 p.m. with a heavy heart; knowing the next morning I would have to make the decision.
My cousin Suzie met me at MetroHealth the next morning. The doctors did decrease the medication and Donald started to pull out of the coma. I remember his nurse, Matt, asking Donald to raise his head off the pillow and he did! We spent one more night in ICU after that.
After one full week in the ICU, we headed to the 11th floor. The nurses and doctors on the 11th were just as great as the 5th floor! They carefully explained the long-term effect that this was going to have on Donald and our family. The kids got to visit on Easter and we all cried.
After a week on the 11th floor, Donald was moved to the Brain Rehab Unit at MetroHealth. For the next six weeks this was my second home and family. The staff, Dr. Vargo, and the PCAs were all so wonderful! This was comforting as I had to go back to work - I knew that Donald was in good hands.
I knew that our lives had forever changed. I just wanted to say to the MetroHealth staff: Thank you so much for saving my husband and my children’s father! Without ALL of you at MetroHealth from the front desk staff, to the parking attendant in the garage, Donald would not be here today. Each and every one of the staff was ALWAYS very kind to our family and me. Thank you!!!
Submitted by:
Kelley Gregory
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