Reflections on UGA Miracle Dance Marathon 2017

From 10:00 am Saturday February 18 to 10:00 am Sunday February 19 we as the Murkison Family were one of 72 Miracle Families that participated with the UGA Miracle Dance Marathon (DM).  In that time frame, these college students raised $1.35 Million that was donated to Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) via Children’sHealthcare of Atlanta (CHOA).  Our first DM was in 2015.  That year they raised 683K.  They almost doubled in 2 years.  Certainly impressive.   That number is easy to put in a press release or a website.  However – I must say that $1.35 Million is just one of many things to be impressed about.  Below are the items that are equally impressive if not more IMO:

Miracle Families  

Perseverance:  That is the best word to describe the 72 families that had been helped by CHOA participated.  Any that wanted to share their stories did.  The students and other family members were very respectful and engaged to the stories.   I don’t recall the actual scientific diagnosis of most of the stories, but I remember the stories.  One child, named Parker, is about 6 now.  His story was featured.  When he was born – he had an ailment that pretty much meant that he had a much smaller than normal brain.  Somehow brain fluids were filling his head so much that the brain itself could not form properly pre-birth.  CHOA saved his life and Parker is now thriving.  He runs around and is friendly – and very very energetic.  At the opening ceremony of DM – Miss Georgia gave a welcome.  Parker, came up and in front of the 3000 in attendance, He politely asked Miss Georgia to come sit with him and walked her back to where he was.  Of course she went with him.  We have met that child's family a few times.  They are amazing.  

Another Child was treated at CHOA years ago.  He now sells Ice cream.  Beau Shell is known as Little Ice Cream Dude.  He is a young entrepreneur now.  Beau Shell had an ice cream stand at the DM.  The revenue he made that day went to UGA Miracle.  It turns out, Beau was UGA Jr. Homecoming King this past fall.  

Brian and Beau Shell, "LIL ICE CREAM DUDE"

One family that I met for the first time was the Trip Halstead family.  Trip was only 2 years old in October 2012.  He was playing outside at his daycare center when a large branch from a tree fell and hit him.  He acquired a TBI.  His mom and dad, (Stacey and Mike) have had a very public journey of his recovery since then.  The story has been all over the Atlanta news as well as nationally.  The Facebook page they have created has over 1 million followers.  The way they have handled everything has always been an inspiration to me.  So – it was an honor to finally meet them.

With the Halsteads

We got to know the Hopkins family last year.  Kelli and Mike are the most amazing parents.  They have had four kids.  Three have had special needs.  Sadly, Abe and Mary Elizabeth passed away in 2014.  We met Micaela and Marlee Ann at DM16.  Brian got engaged to Marlee Ann at DM16.  That engagement lasted a few months.  They live in Covington.  For about 6 months, Brian wanted to go to Covington every weekend morning.   We actually did a time or two.  Marlee Ann is 14 right now, and has raised $55 for UGA Miracle.   That is $55,000.  She helped to motivate the group to raise $50 In a 20 minute period to match her total.  The Hopkins spoke Sunday morning.  Awards were presented in honor of Mary Elizabeth and Abe.     

Brian and Marlee Ann - from 2016 Dance Marathon

Brian Photo Bombing with the Hopkins and Hopkins Family  and Family Pals  (Courtesy of Kelli Hopkins) 

We gave our story, and had a very positive response.  My sister happened to be in Athens and came to see our story be told.  It was great having her around.  When we finished, a student came up to me and said she was from Statesboro and that the story triggered some memories for her.  She remembered the story when it happened.  We were able to hear stories from other families we knew from camp TBI as well as thru previous CMN/ DM events.      They set up a family break room, and so family members got plenty of time to get to know each other.  

Theses stories really put things in perspective.    Perseverance and inspiration is something that all of these kids have plenty of. 

Life is short.  4% is not enough:

In 2016 – two kids that were at the DM lost a brave fight to cancer within a few months of the event.  They were both walking around celebrating, sharing, and entertaining in February.  By May – they had passed.  Both were cancer warriors. 

Both families have made public campaigns that only 4% of federal cancer research dollars go towards pediatric or children’s cancer research.    We all know that 4% is not enough.  Grant Gossling was one of the two.  He was a 4 years old boy running around in a cape at DM16.  His family came to DM17 and shared.    UGA Miracle gave an award in Grants Honor.  The Gossling family has created a foundation.  You can link to it here: 

High Expectations.

UGA Miracle raised just over $1 million last year.  Every year the main emphasis of the donations has been the CIRU.  That is the department that we lived in January –February of 2012.  The Therapy gym in the CIRU has now been named the UGA Miracle Gym. 

This year, they made a commitment to raise even more than last year.  Anything above $1 million total would go to the Aflac Cancer Center at CHOA.    

Brian being Bmoney:

Brian has an ultra-ego.  He goes by Bmoney.  I really do not know how it got started.  However – most people at UGA Miracle may say they don’t know anyone named Brian Murkison.  With all the kids that participate, I can see why it would be difficult to know every single one of them.  However – if you say Bmoney, and everyone knows him.

Since it was our third year, I knew that we had a lot of eyes watching out for him.  He would often disappear from my sight.  I never worried about his safety, but felt like I needed to at least know where he was.  Most of the time, he was hanging out and taking pictures with a different set of UGA girls.  They were all taking selfies together or laughing at his jokes. 

Knowing that this group of people love Brian….err..i mean Bmoney was an awesome feeling as a dad.  He was pretty much treated like a rock star.  (See the talent show.)    At one point, of Bmoneys new friends started counting the hugs he gave.  In a one hour period, he gave 168 hugs. 

Talent Show: 

Certainly my favorite event memory was when Brian belted out Journeys “Don’t Stop Believing” in the first talent show.  Brian had about 1000 students watching and singing along.  Most of them got their phone lights on and swayed to the music as well.  In the video below you can hear the cheers for Bmoney.   It is worth a watch!!!!

I think about 9 other Miracle kids performed such things as dancing, joke telling, being a human pretzel, and other singers as well.  One of the moist courageous was a 12 or 13 year old girl that got up and said that she was singing a song in honor of one of her friends from camp that had passed.   I assume that it was a Camp Twin Lakes type camp and that the friend had similar health situations like her.  The song was Ed Sheerans song “Photograph”.    This girl bravely fought back the tears and showed so much bravery in the heart felt words of this song.  I don’t think that anyone that watched it had a dry eye. 

Family Pals:

Our first DM – we had Ashlyn Belding and Peri Levey assigned to us as family pals.  They are students that were assigned to us to hang with us during the DM and also encourage us to come to other events throughout the year.  The second year, Cooper Drose joined us.  This year, Ashlyn and Peri moved to some other leadership roles with the organization.  Caroline Beldon and Lilliana Bardi joined Cooper as our family pal.    These students have become part of our family now.  They have traveled during breaks to visit Brian.  They have also attended concerts for Ben in Athens and hung with us during all of our antics at Braves/Hawks/ Zoo Days/ Trunk or Treat and other times.  Ashlyn and Peri are about to graduate, but we plan to keep in touch.  We are proud and honored to be associated with all five of these wonderful students.    

Peri Levey, Brian, Ashlyn Belding

Lilliana Bardi, Brian, Caroline Belton, Cooper Drose

Run by College Students: 

The President of the University gave a welcome.  Some administrators of the University came and witnessed or are a part because they are Miracle family members.  Outside of that – everything was all about the students.  UGA Miracle has events throughout the year.  The correspondence for the families for the Braves game, the Trunk or Treat, the complex schedule of the DM, the AV for talent show, the coordination with family discussions, the finance folks, all full time students.    I have worked in higher education administration for almost 20 years.  I am not surprised by what students can accomplish.  Certainly the organization as a campus advisor and some required administration.  By all accounts, it is student run.    They have many different committees to join.  They include; Hospital, Finance, Family Relations, and many more.  So – no matter what your skill or desired activity, this has something you can do.  Not sure the number of students that are a member of UGA Miracle.  However, the DM had over 3000 registered students.   

Some of the many students that put this on.  (Photo by Kelli Hopkins) 

330 Nation Wide

So – the Dance Marathon for CMN has been going on at UGA for 22 years.  In 2017, a total of 330 Colleges and Universities are hosting one.  At the same time as the one at UGA, 33 others were going on.  In the next few months, we will be participating in one at both of our employers.  Georgia Tech hosts one on March 4, Georgia State will host its first ever DM on April 15.   We are very excited to participate in these.    

Standing Challenge:

The marathon is 24 hours long.  Many students decide to commit to also participate in the standing challenge.  That is – no sitting for 24 hours.  You can kneel, lean, crawl, but no sitting for 24 hours.    We left Saturday night at around 11:00 pm, and came back Sunday morning around 7 am.  By that time, they had been standing 21 hours.  I witnessed some very creative kneeling and leaning at that time.  Kudos to everyone that did that.   

Faith:  

The organization is solely focused on fundraising and interactions with family and the hospital.  It does not have Christian or religious roots.  However, many of the family members mentioned their faith in God during the presentations.  God is the ultimate healer.  Certainly he had a hand in the recovery and healing of all these families.  That includes ours.  God has a plan for us, and I think he helped lead us to finding this wonderful organization.   

CHOA Hour:

At one point, many CHOA doctors and staffers showed up.  Brian got to see many of the people that helped him in the early days including his Doctor as well as the Music Therapists and many others.  He also saw staffers from the Robotics lab that continually work with him today.    A great way for Brian to say thanks – and great way for CHOA staff to say thanks to UGA Miracle.  

Circle of Hope

Words truly cannot do this part of the event justice.  It is the final event.  After the total reveal, they have all 72 of the families in the middle of a circle.  The students all got a hospital wrist band put on their wrist when they checked in on Saturday Morning.  The families all take a pair of scissors and cut off the wrist bands for the participants.  Lots of symbolism here.  I realize that I can in no way come up with words to explain the emotions at this point of the event. It doesn’t seem to make sense that just cutting off wristbands can cause such a feeling.  I assure you, it does.     

Other Amazing things that happened 

-         In a very unexpected turn of events, one of the Nurses at Ogeechee Area Hospice that cared for Brian in the darkest of days stopped by.  Her son is now a student at UGA, and her Niece is our amazing family pal Ashlyn.   I cannot imagine what her thoughts were seeing Brian (Bmoney) doing his thing. 

A good friend and former supervisor of mine is now an administrator at UGA.  Her son is one year older than Brian.  She followed our story from the early days.  She had shared stories of her son praying for Brian.  Michelle moved to Athens in May.  She met Brian in October, when we came in town for the UGA Miracle Trunk or Treat.  She brought her son Jackson as well as her husband to see our family story talk Saturday night.   After our talk, Jackson and Brian spent a long time chatting.  Jackson wrote a social media post about Brian latter that night.  Michelle shared it with me the next day.  What was cool was that one of Jacksons friends saw the picture, and realized she also had met Brian.    Brian invited Jackson back for the reveal the next morning.  He came.  Jackson and Brian did everything together the next morning and convinced all the parents involved that we should go get burgers after the DM ended.  I do believe that Jackson and Brian bonded.  

Brian and Jackson Howard (photo by Michelle Howard) 

In Conclusion: 

The entire experience was awesome.  In no way can I capture all everything in this post.  When you participate in something that is bigger than yourself, the rewards are bigger than your expectations.  When I see these students doing what they do, and hear the stories of these families, it makes me want to do more to make the world better.  It gives me hope for the future and the realization that many wonderful people exist.   You hear all sorts of things about millennials.   Next time you hear someone criticize millennials, ask them if they ever stood for 24 hours and raised $1.35 million dollars for anything.  Can you imagine, these students are doing this at ages 18-22.  What will they accomplish when they are 30 or 40?  

Thank you UGA Miracle for allowing Bmoney and all the Murkison family to be a part of your wonderful group.  

6 Reasons to give Prayers from Fiji as a Christmas Present

Six Reasons to give Prayers from Fiji as a Christmas Gift

• Everyone needs a little more faith, hope, and inspiration. Prayers from Fiji gives the reader faith, hope, inspiration, and much more.    

• No need to fight the crowds.  It can be delivered to your home.  Order from EllenMurkison.com or Amazon.com.  Also available in e-books for Kindle, Nook and Apple.  

• It starts as a story of a Christmas miracle. It becomes something so much more.  

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• In giving Prayers from Fiji, you are also giving independence.   A portion of the proceeds will be donated to theWalton Foundation for Independence for every book sold by December 15, 2014 on EllenMurkison.com.  The Augusta Georgia organization hosts many activities that promote independence for disabled or injured children and adults. Brian attended Camp TBI (To Be Independent ) in 2013 and 2014.  He is already excited about camp in 2015.  Camp TBI is sponsored by the Walton Foundation.  ​

• Give a personalized Autographed Copy.  Any book purchased by December 15, 2014 thru EllenMurkison.com will be autographed by Ellen, Ben, Brian, and David Murkison.  All you have to do is list the book recipient in the notes section on PayPal when checking out. 

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• Strong Reviews from readers.  Those that have read Prayers from Fiji have had very positive reviews.     One reviewer said "Incredible story! It is sure to inspire you to believe in miracles and the power of prayer!"  You can see others at the Amazon.com review page.

 Buy your copy today.

EllenMurkison.com

Ellen's Post from Caring Bridge today Aug 13

Prayers from Fiji is finally a reality

By Ellen Murkison — 1 hour ago

Greetings to any of you still following this site!  The past nine months have been tremendous not only for Brian and his recovery, but for our family as well.  If our number of journals initially reflected anything it was of the need we had for prayers and support from the many of you following this story.  So it only makes sense that as our life has returned to such a level of normalcy that we don't write much.  In fact, this may be one of our very last Caring Bridge updates, but I will get to more information about that later.

Brian and Ben returned to school this week.  It was staggeringly unremarkable.  In fact, it was so normal, so typical, I can't say much more about it.  They started school.  How different my blog post from two years ago was, when every step Brian took was packed with emotion and meaning to us, and how we watched in trepidation and concern as Ben began a new adventure in middle school (a tough period of the school experience pretty much universally).  Both of them have grown and matured so much in the two years since then, and while not every aspect of school is easy, we have been able to enjoy a much more relaxed start this time around.

Beginning about six months after our accident it became a goal of mine to write a book to share the amazing story that our family had just gone through.  Many of you suggested this to me, in your comments on this page and otherwise, and I felt a calling in my heart.  I had never held a deep seated desire to write the great American novel, or really to write anything more than journals or items for my work.  It was not something that I even knew if I could do to begin with, and I considered it pretty likely that I would fail!  But something wouldn't let me let go of the idea that it was what I was MEANT to be doing.

So two years ago shortly after Brian was able to return to school for the first time, I started to write our story.  As much progress as he had made by then, I thought I was ready, or at least gave it a try.  Maybe three attempts into writing and I had to stop.  It was like reliving the worst nightmare of a parent’s life, and it threw me into an emotional downward spiral.  Combined with a tough period in Brian’s emotional recovery, it was all just too much.  I quit.  Though I sometimes told people I was “going” to write a book, I didn’t touch the project again for months.

In January of that next year I was able to spend some time with a friend who is a professor of English and she gave me some advice on how to construct a plan for the book.  Speaking with her energized me and I developed a chapter arc and wrote summaries of various chapters that I thought I wanted to write.  Wow - maybe I could do this!  But when I would open the document holding these chapter ideas, all I did was stare at the screen.  I felt the familiar sense of procrastination settle over me.  I got advice from my therapist on how to overcome the power of avoiding, and how to just go ahead and write a little something each day….and did the opposite of that advice.  I quit for the second time.  I mean, who did I think I was?  I can’t write a book.  Even if I did, no one would want to read it.  The little voices in my head won out...for a while.

Fast forward to August.  Another school year began, this time we had an expectation that both boys were going to be able to handle the year, and in fact, they both had much better experiences with teachers and in their respective environments almost right away.  I was also ready to begin new challenges in my own life, and put a lot of work into myself.  I began to devote time each day to meditation and quiet.  I worked on my lifestyle and eating choices, and eventually shed almost twenty-five pounds.  I took on a regular volunteer position teaching English as a Second Language to refugees with a local organization.  And suddenly….I couldn’t stop writing.

Even with all the extra activities I found myself doing, I spent time almost every day writing.  The words flowed out of me.  Entire chapters I hadn’t even considered were suddenly clear in my mind, and I just sat down at the computer and out the words came.  I did eventually have to re-live some of the worst moments of my life, but my emotional and spiritual health had become so strengthened, that I was able to endure it.  The tears I cried as I wrote were cathartic.  After nearly two years of our new reality, I was finally ready to share this story with others, and by doing so, it helped me appreciate the beauty of it all the more.  From detailing the first hours following the accident, to interpreting what lessons I had found, I know that God was leading me to express myself for the benefit of others.  Yes, it was a way to chronicle for us (and especially for the boys to read later in life) the events that occurred as I remember them.  But it was more than that.  

That feeling I had to begin with, that calling...it was not my plan that I do this, it was God’s.  My gratitude to him for all he has done for our family can never be repaid by my attempts.  But I do feel it was the best way I could at least try to honor what incredible gifts he gave,and continues to give, us to make the book a reality.

Fast forward to January again, and this time, David and I were meeting with a publisher here in Atlanta, and making the decision to move forward with publishing an actual book.  The editing and design process continued all spring, and into the summer.  Finally in mid-June, I held in my hand an actual copy of my first book, Prayers from Fiji: A Story of Courage, Faith and Brotherly Love.  It felt like a dream!  Was this really happening?  The long journey of telling this story had reached a turning point, and I felt so many emotions: gratitude for having been given the inspiration to write, pride in the format and flow of the book, and amazement that this terrible circumstance in our lives could have turned out instead to be such an amazing miracle that we could share with others.  How fortunate could I be?  

So now the next step in this journey awaits...I do not know how many people will ultimately want to read this book, or if it will be a success in the publishing world. And I am OK with that.  What I was led to do, I did.  What I felt compelled to write, I wrote.  I offer it to the world now but I cannot do more than believe that whatever is meant to happen with it will happen.  If I can say I have learned anything from this entire experience it is that God often has much bigger plans for us than we can plan for ourselves.  So I leave the details to him, and say with certainty, all is well.

I also want to continue to write, and have decided to use a different platform to do so.  You are invited to continue to follow our story by following our blog on www.EllenMurkison.com.  Thank you all for your amazing support, love and faith through this entire experience.  Our family is intact, growing, healing and strengthening every day, thanks to you.

Prayers from Fiji is available on our website, www.PrayersfromFiji.com, on Amazon.com and Shop.BookLogix.com.

photo by Lori Grice

A Full Recovery? Something better.

Brian and some of the other players and coaches in the Adaptive Soccer Practice

Two separate people on two consecutive days last week asked if my son has had a full recovery.  The people were well intentioned in both cases.  This is not a question I get often, but it happens.  That it happened twice in the span of 24 hours got me thinking.   How do you answer that?

Is Brian the same boy that he was Fall of 2011 - before the accident?   No.  Has he recovered physically and cognitively all of the same abilities he had before the accident?  No.  Will he ever?  it is hard to say no, because he continues to make progress in those areas so much.  Truth is, many things will continue to be physically and cognitively hard for him for some time to come.

My answer to the question about a full recovery was as follows.  I don;t think that you can have a full recovery for the type of injury that Brian has.  He will have some aspects of this to deal with for the rest of his life.

Reaction from both people that asked was a look of regret, and they said "I am sorry".  I understand this reaction, and would think how difficult this would be to read if you were a parent of a child that had a recent TBI.  For that matter, any parent that thinks how horrible it would be to go thru such a thing.

However, I think   Sorry?  No need to feel sorry for us.  Our boy survived a hospice and figured out how to walk, talk and eat on his own.  He enjoys life in a much deeper way than he had before.  The boy will dance and sing  any chance he can.  He will strike up a conversation with anyone.  He is usually very respectful to others.  We have had some issues with his behavior lately when it is time for us to leave some place that he does not want to leave.  Ex:  He has so much fun at school that he does not want to go home when it is time.  He will have a fit.  We work on that, but really like that he has so much fun at things.

So No....not a full recovvery.  We adjust to a new normal.  However, we have a greater appreciation for everything that happens.

SOCCER
On Sunday, Brian practiced with an adaptive soccer team.  He played soccer before the accident, and enjoyed the game.  He played well during that season and scored a few goals.  I enjoyed watching him play and interact with the other kids.  That was exactly what I enjoyed seeing him doSunday in his practice.

He scored two goals in the scrimmage, and was very supportive of the other players on both sides.  He was disappointed when his team lost.    But - that disappointment ends quick.  The fun was in the playing.

BASEBALL
Baseball was Brian's favorite sport pre-accident.  Five months after the accident,  The Briarlake Baptists Church youth baseball league asked Brian to come and throw out the first pitch for a game.  He was an honorary member of a team.  "Coach Rusty" along with the pastor Tommy Ferrell of the church visited our house with a jersey for Brian a few weeks before the game day.  That was 2012.  In 2013, Coach Rusty invited Brian to come back for a practice.  Brian was not well enough to go to a practice with the other players.  He did not have enough energy or patience to be on his feet running around with the others for an hour.  Rusty agreed to do drills and practices with Brian after his team practiced.  Another player or two would stay and assist.   Brian was invited to a game, and batted.  He was able to get on base and score a run.  One of the other parents took a picture of Brian scoring, with a big grin on his face.    Brian practiced with Coach Rusty again this past week.  The next step is to practice with the team.  We shall see if playing a game is in the cards this year.

EXPLORING IN THE WOODS
Last Saturday,  our entire family was invited to dinner at a new family friend that we know thru our church. They have a son same age as Brian.  They are in the same Sunday school class.  As I sat on the back porch with the Dad of the family, Brian, and the boy Brian's age went exploring in the woods behind the house.  The boys little sister joined them.

I remember exploring woods behind my friends house when I was in 3rd and 4th grade in Boonville MO.  It is a very vivid memory from my childhood.  We never had parents go with us.  It was just us boys, playing, making forts, finding rock piles and just doing stuff.

Prior to last Saturday, we would never let Brian go in the woods without one of us.  His balance and his limp would have made it easy for him to fall, and gotten hurt.  Also, if he had fallen, his reaction may have been more than what a child should have to deal with.  On this night, the three kids went back, and did the same things I did as a kid.  It was a big deal to me to see Brian doing the things that kids do.   He has not been able to "just be a kid"  much in the last 2.5 years.  It is something that I appreciate when it happens.  It is happening more and more.

SOMETHING BETTER

SO back to the full recovery question.  Yes - I wish Brian had not had to go thru all this.  I wish he was playing regular soccer, ad playing a full season of baseball.  However - when he does get enjoyment from these things, I think I enjoy it more than I did pre accident.  He is truly amazing me every day.

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.

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.