Roly Poly saved my life: St. Patrick's Day 2004.

Roly Poly has great wraps.  March 17, 2004 these tasty wraps saved my life.   

OK.....Saying that Roly Poly saved my life in 2004 may be a bit of a stretch.   Roly Poly is a restaurant that serves wrap sandwiches.   Ellen and I moved to Savannah in the fall of 1999.  Ellen and I had lunch at the Savannah Roly Poly on Barnard St. in Savannah.   We made it a part of our tradition to eat at that Roly Poly every St. Patrick's day from 2000 to 2009 when the owners decided to close in order participate in the parade.    2004 was no exception.

The Savannah St. Patrick's day cerebration is one of the largest in the country.  The party scene during the festival are legendary and bring's a ton of tourists to town.  The party scene on river street for Ellen and I was never to much of the story. After the first year kids came into the picture.  The desire for the River Street crazies were limited.  They were not completely eliminated, just limited.  Reflection of the partying would be appropriate for a different blog.

St. Patrick's Day parade accident in Savannah in 2004

THE PARADE
Even with the partying, the parade is the biggest draw.  The grand marshal for the parade is elected a month before and is usually the lead story on the local news.  The real estate on the parade route is premium. The historic squares on the fill up early.  Sleeping overnight on the squares is prohibited. The day of the parade, people line up in the early morning and wait until 6:00 am when a horn is blown and people run, claim, and mark off spots for their friends and family Tents are set up and the parade does not even start for 4 more hours.  I know some families that have done this for years.

In 2004, Our friends invited us to Wright Square.  Ben was one month shy of being three years old.  Ellen was pregnant with Brian.  We had just started telling people that she was pregnant.  In fact, that morning was the first time we told our friends.  The spot we had in the square was a nice grassy area, but it was a little hard for Ben to view the parade due to some shrubs.  Easy to view for a grown up, but not for a 2 year old.  We were prepared.  We brought Ben's wagon, and had a bag chair placed on top of it.  It was secure enough, that we felt comfortable putting Ben in the chair if we were beside him.  He enjoyed the floats and the bands and drummers.  It was warm that day, and at times he would get tired of watching and just want to run around on the grassy square.  In front of the shrub parade watchers 2-3 deep lined the parade route.  So Ben had a great view over the shrubs, and over the folks that had seats on the other side of the shrub.  The parade route was such that it was coming straight towards us and took a left to go around the square.  It is a LOOONG parade.  Four hours at least.  It was a perfect sunny and warm day. The flowers were  in bloom, the fountains dyed green, and the day was starting off perfect.

Two hours in, and we were hungry.  We took our planned walk to Roly Poly.  It was only a few blocks from Wright Square.  Getting out of the sun and the crowd for a few minutes was a nice break.  The plan was to get our wraps, and come and eat sitting in the grassy area.

1996 Chrysler Sebring Ran thru the Crowd in 2004 Parade.  Ran over chairs that we had been siting in.    

THE ACCIDENT:
The streets between the parade route and the Roly Poly were all closed to vehicles.   Pedestrians only. When we were coming back to our spot with our wraps, Ben jumped on and off the curve.  It was not a big deal. He was easily within reach of me and was not going to go anywhere.   A stranger that was walking away from the parade route told me that I should be careful with him because a car just ran into the crowd.  It took me some time to process that.  I asked him to explain what he was talking about.  He said that a car that was carrying people in the parade just run into the crowd.  We noticed a somewhat mass exodus from the route at that time.

I told Ellen to watch Ben and I ran a little toward the route to see what happened.  Police and medics had already arrived.   A 1996 Chrysler Sebring Convertible was now parked in the grassy area where our friends had been sitting when we left.  I was blocked from going to the sight itself, and first thing I did was look for our group of friends.  Nowhere to be found.

I went back and found Ellen and Ben.  I had told them what I saw.  We walked back together and eventually one of our friends had found us and pulled us over to where they had all congregated after the accident.  The only injury our friends had was a cut hand.  Apparently they thought that someone was under the car, so a group of people were trying to lift it until they determined that nobody was in harms way.  Our friend cut his hand in assisting in the rescue.

After a few minutes of watching the police and medics,  the same friend that had the cut hand told me to look at a spot in the shrub a few feet from where the car had gone thru.  It was the chair we had set up for Ben.  The chair had been knocked away by the car and must have flown 4-5 feet and landed in a different part of the shrub.

No words can be typed to express the feeling that I felt when I recognized the chair.  We had dodged a bullet, or better yet, a Sebring.

Thank God for the Roly Poly Tradition.

After a while, the parade was re routed and Ben wanted to see more of it.   We found a side on the new route.  Ben wanted to hear more drums and see more bands.  We stayed way outside of the flow of the parade traffic the rest of the parade.

REFLECTION
Ambulances brought 10 people to the hospital.  No fatalities.  One injury that was pretty serious.   The driver claimed that the accelerator to the vehicle stuck.  Law suites were settled with the manufacturer and the driver.

The AJC had a picture of the Sebring on the front page of the paper.  The accident made national news.  It was also one of the top stories of 2004 according to WTOC news and is listed as part of the history of St. Patrick's Day in Savannah.

The car hit a drummer and  went thru the crowd of people sitting in front of the shrubbery.  In my mind, we would have had enough time to get Ben out of the way before it knocked the chair and the wagon that he was sitting on over.  I often wonder if I would of froze in shock while it was happening had we been on Wright Square at the time.  I will always wonder.  We never had to find out.

In my job in Savannah, Wright Square was often a short cut for me to run errands or go out to lunch.  I could never go thru the square again without the image of the Sebring.  I went back to other St. Patrick's Day Parades after this incident, but we avoided Wright Square.  

WTOC Story
http://www.wtoc.com/story/2745316/wtoc-this-year-saint-patricks-day-parade-accident

Savannah Morning News Story / Archive from 3/18/2004
http://savannahnow.com/stories/031804/LOC_stpwreck.shtml

Was a great grassy area to watch the parade until the accident in 2004.

Wright Square in 2011.  The car went straight thru the shrub.

Brain Injury Awareness Day

March 12 is National Brain Injury Awareness Day.  In Washington DC, a Brain Injury Awareness Fair and a congressional briefing will take place.   A Bi-partisan Congressional Brain Injury Task Force exists Co-chaired by Reps Bill Pascrell Jr (D-NJ) and Tom Rooney (R- Fla).   I have not heard much news about this issue or this day in Washington.  I do not expect to.  However, the fact that people are keeping politicians in the loop and giving a day for the issue to at least be briefed is important.  News may not cover it, and that is ok.

According to the Brain Injury Association of America, 75% of brain injuries are concussion or mild TBI's.

In our case, our older son Ben received a concussion during the accident.  Concussions are not uncommon, and can be over come with the proper medical treatment.  It is when you receive concussion after concussion that the serious problems can occur.  I am a huge football fan, and appreciate a strong hit on the field (well, when it is my team giving the hit).  However, it is hard for me to imagine that anyone would want to get back on the field after getting a concussion.  Hard to imagine us letting Ben play football if he wanted to.  Luckily, he is not interested in doing so.

I was proud to see the Georgia Southern Eagles being proactive in using new technology in  trying to prevent concussions.  They received some national publicity about that earlier in the season.  Here is a link from the Georgia Southern Marketing Department:

Georgia Southern Football Team working to prevent MTBI.

http://news.georgiasouthern.edu/magazine/2013/12/12/tracking-hits/

Certainly the Eagles got a lot more national press for beating the Florida Gators latter in the season.  IMO; preventing concussions is much more important than beating the gators in the swamp (though It is great to do both).

March 12 is also my Birthday.  I look forward to going to a birthday dinner with my family on my birthday.  I know that no matter where we go, Brian will be charming to the waiter/ waitress/ and anyone else that he sees.  Ben will be embarrassed by Brian doing this.  I may embarrass Brian with my singing or actions...and we all embarrass Ellen with our actions.   I would not have it any other way.

I want to finish this post with some additional stats about Brain Injury recovery.   Costs of recovery/ rehab  are staggering.  These do not even include the initial hospital visits.  All I can say is thank goodness for insurance.  Sometimes it has been a pain to keep all the EOB's and bills straight.  However, I can not imagine not having the insurance at all.  Please keep this in mind when you  hear about someone acquiring a TBI or MTBI.

• Average hospital-based acute rehab is about
$8,000 per day
• Range for post-acute residential is about $850 to
$2,500 per day
• Day treatment programs (e.g., 4 hours of therapy)
are about $600 to $1,000 with no room/board
• According to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, in the U.S., direct medical costs and
indirect costs of TBI, such as lost productivity,
totaled an estimated $76.3 billion each year

You Never Know What They Will Say

Society has an expectation of how people should act, react, or behave.  I agree that it is a good thing.  However, when can someone decide to not follow the society norm?  What are the ramifications of that?    Society expects someone to abide by the law.  However - that is not always the case.  If you are on I-285 in Atlanta - and only want to drive the posted sped limit, you better be in the right lane only.  Driving the legal limit is not the expectation of society in this case.    In fact - Georgia is considering some legislation that could ticket the slow drivers in the left lane.

http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/story/24837560/new-bill-will-fine-left-lane-lingerers

I think it is common for parents to worry about what your child says or acts in a group setting.  It reflects on how you as a parent have taught them.  Yet - kids will be kids, so they can be forgiven for some things.   To what point?

Brian loves being the center of attention.  He does not behave the way that social norms would dictate sometimes.  However, he is usually very charming when he does it.  He will talk to anybody at anytime for any reason.  I know to not do or say anything that I do not want shared with others.  I just assume that his teacher and his friends will hear it, and they do.  Not that I have anything to hide...  :)

At our church, the mass we attend most of the time has a children's church time, when the kids come forward and the Father asks them questions.  We have at times tried to prevent Brian from going up, because he answers all the questions....and sometimes will not let the other kids.  Truthfully, most of the other kids are shy anyway.  However, he has revealed that we are going to a party that afternoon, or that we were heading to a place with a hot top after church, or other things, that we really do not care to share with the hundreds of other members of our church.

Today, the guest priest asked what everyone gave up for lent.  One other kid answered the question first, and Brian raised his hand enthusiastically.   The priest called on Brian, and I had that brief second of ohh noo what is he going to say......   Thought of "My dad is giving up beer"  or something like that came to mind.   Or him saying that he is giving up pie.  Brian is known now for saying that he loves pie, but does not eat it when we actually have some.

Well, Brian answered proudly that he was giving up doing his homework for lent.    Father got a laugh - as did much of the church.  For me - I just took a sigh of relief.  That could have been worse.

By the way...we are making sure he does not give up homework for lent.  

Lumosity

I often think about how the technologies these days have helped Brian recover in ways that would not have happened when I was a kid.  I have seen it listed that the 1990's were an era when brain injury treatment improved tremendously due to better technology and better research. I also think that so many things are happening right now that will improve medical treatment and quality of living will improve for TBI survivors.  Soldiers acquiring a TBI and the NFL's campaign to minimize concussions due to law suits are both leading to awareness and research to this topic that can help in the future.

Clearly, the change in computers from the time when I was a kid until today has changed tremendously.  I remember playing a horse racing game on my Dad;s Kaypro Computer, or playing Atari Frogger and thinking that they were great.  Today, X-Box Connect and Wii games have helped keep Brian active in fun ways since he was able to grab the Wii remote.  I posted a Youtube Video of Brian winning a Wii Sports Resort game in March of 2012.  (I have attached the link below) This was just over three months since the accident and 2 months before he was walking.  It felt like such an accomplishment at the time.  He would completely blow away the computer player in that same game today.

Another interesting program that we invested in for Brian was a membership to Lumosity.  In researching TBI Recovery about two years ago, I saw info about Lumosity and checked out the website.  It interested me.  I started hearing adds on satellite radio and latter terrestrial radio.  I could only find positive things about Lumosity.

They advertise that they help the brain improve, but it feels like you are just playing games.  It measures many factors like Speed, Memory, Attention, Brain Performance Index (BPI), Problem Solving, and Flexibility.    We started our membership in July of 2012 and have seen increased progress in each category since.

Brian was 7 at the time, and was certainly young on the scale of users.  Some of the games include solving math problems fast.  Some of the math would be difficult for many 1st graders, and certainly were difficult for Brian.    Some games are like the game of memory, where you have to remember where something was hidden.

Two games in particular exist in which I have enjoyed seeing Brian improve tremendously.    First, is a target game.  For a half a second, a bird appears on the screen somewhere in a landscape and a number appears in the middle.  With the mouse, you have to point to where the bird was and than type the number that you saw.  Soon you have two birds, and a number.  Followed by three and four birds.  Brian's score has increased a lot on this since he started.

The second is a game in which you are a waiter/ server.  You work for tips.  If you remember the person's name and get the order right, the better the tip and the better your score.  The customer orders do not go in order, and you have to remember who ordered what and remember names as the various customers come and go.  Some of the customers are recurring.  You get even bigger tips if you remember the customer name from previous visits.

They market the program for anyone that wants to improve brain skills.  In July of 2012, we were looking for anything that could help improve Brian's cognitive skills.  He may not have been ready for it at that time.
Today, we use it as one of his daily activities. He is very excited when he reaches a personal best.  Seeing continual improvements is rewarding.  It will be a part of his routine for the immediate future.

We have heard of others that have a membership.Not just people with brain injuries either. The games and skills that you could improve are important for all.   Brian has improved in so many ways cognitively since July 2012.  Lumosity has been a part of the reason for the improvement.

Brain Injury Awareness Month

March is Brain Injury Awareness Month. As time goes by, I have wanted to become an advocate for this issue. I hope to do so more in the future. I think it is a sign that national Brain Injury Awareness Day is on March 12. That is the same day as my Birthday. Ellen and I have a stronger awareness of this subject than we ever expected to. I understand how it may be difficult to act around someone that is a traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivor. The idea of someone with a brain injury is taboo for many folks. Yet, everyday I get the privilege of witnessing the spirit and determination of a now 9 year old boy that has surpassed so many expectations and works so hard to do things that most people take for granted.

When you google brain injury or tbi, it focusses on so many things that are negative. I know from first hand. When I first researched it, all I wanted was something that would give me hope. I found very little. I can tell you that I am optimistic about our future. Hope is not lost when a family member has a brain injury. So, to start Brain Injury Awareness Month, I want people to know that hope is not lost and that happiness can be achieved after an injury. I have now witnessed numerous examples of that being the case.

You will see more about this topic from us this month. For now, I leave you with a Brain Injury Fact from the Brain Injury Association of America.

• Just as no two people are exactly alike, no two brain
injuries are exactly alike. For some, brain injury is the
start of a lifelong disease process. The injury requires
access to a full continuum of medically necessary
treatment and community-based supports furnished
by interdisciplinary teams of qualified and specialized
clinicians working in accredited programs and
appropriate settings.

Blue sky ahead for us