The story thus far...

I have gotten several emails from people asking how the accident happened, what the injuries were, etc...so I figured I'd lay out the story for those who haven't heard it already.

Late Sunday night (Aug 17th) Marc and his friend Justin W. were headed back to Justin's house on Rt 12 in Hartland (Skunk Hollow Road) from Quechee. It was a foggy wet night and Justin was driving too fast and came around a corner just before the Auto Barn and found himself in the wrong lane, steered hard and overcorrected the car, and ended up in a 4-wheel skid across the road. They hit the bank and a tree facing the direction they had come from. A passing car called 911 and crews were on the scene a few minutes later. Marc had hit his head and was unconscious and Justin was drifting in and out. The ambulance crew called for the DHART helicopter, but they could not land because of the foggy conditions, so he was driven to DHMC in Lebanon NH. He had several broken ribs and a punctured lung, and he had hit his head so hard that there was bleeding in his right ventricle and his brain was swelling. He went into surgery to have a pressure monitor put into his skull and a tube put down his throat (so he could be put on a ventilator), and he was put into a medically induced coma to allow his body time to heal. He could not have any pain meds for his injuries because the doctors did not want to mask his brain function with painkillers. He was sent up to the ICU to have constant monitoring, and to begin the healing process.

(In case you were wondering, Justin had a concussion, broken arm, broken clavicle and some jaw injuries and was released from the hospital after 3 days.)

After about a week the bleeding finally subsided, and he began to be awakened for neuro exams early in the week so they could assess what his brain function was. He immediately began responding to Dad and Mom (not the doctors) by squeezing their hands, and in the few days that followed he started to try opening his eyes and wiggling his toes. That Thursday (28th) the doctors took out the breathing tube and by the next day Marc was trying to talk and was responding pretty well. Late that night they transferred him out of the ICU and into the NSCU, which is a less-intensive but still 24-hour care unit for neuro injuries. We started our blog a few days prior to that, so for the total picture read back a few posts, and we'll keep up the updates as things unfold...

~Becky