Alumni Spotlight Portrait in Perseverance Many college students take an extra year or two to complete their undergraduate degrees. Brad Ebenhoeh, Class of 2003, is one of those taking some additional time. He didn’t make that decision; the decision was made for him.
returned to U. of M. hospital in August 2005.
At age 19, while a sophomore at the University of Michigan, he suffered the unthinkable. In April 2005, while driving with a friend, Brad experienced strokelike symptoms and pulled over. By the time his friend drove him to the hospital, Brad was unconscious, and then slipped into a coma.
At that point, his body was like “jello.” He had to relearn how to breathe and swallow. He couldn’t talk, couldn’t sit up, couldn’t move without assistance. Doctors estimated it would take years of physical rehabilitation to recover from his brain injury. And insurance wouldn’t cover it, because Brad wasn’t in a car accident, nor had he been born with disabilities. Cindy and Bob kept getting denials for physical therapy.
His journey from that fateful April day to the present defies conventional wisdom. And is an incredible “portrait in perseverance.”
High Hopes
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Brad was an accomplished high school student as well as an outstanding musician. He played clarinet, and played piano “for everything” such as school liturgies and the play. When he started Michigan in the Fall of 2003, as an Engineering Physics major, he played piano for the Newman Choir at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Ann Arbor, and accompanied musical theatre students at Michigan as well. On April 15, 2005, he suffered a massive brain hemorrhage (called an AVM) and remained in a coma for the next three months. Despite the coma, he was undergoing physical therapy. Brad’s mother Cindy had always worked parttime, and his father Bob was a Roseville fireman. Together they juggled schedules, one of them always at the hospital with Brad. “We’d get home at 10:30 at night. And then the next day, we’d start all over.” Cindy said In May 2005, doctors told the Ebenhoehs that Brad would be moved to a nursing home. His parents fought back, and found a specialized brain injury rehab center. Doctors brought him out of the coma medically, in July 2005. His parents continually pushed for more acute rehabilitation, and Brad
The Ebenhoehs were unwilling to accept that their son would never improve. They knew Brad’s journey to physical recovery would take years. And that the battle through bureaucratic red tape was just beginning.
The Battle to Recover In November 2005, Brad came home to live, requiring 24 hr. medical care and tube feedings.Brad’s brother Brandon (who now works in the DC area after graduating from Michigan) was a sophomore at DLS; younger sister Alissa was nine. In addition to working to find appropriate physical rehabilitation services for Brad, Cindy and Bob had to deal with the overwhelming medical expenses. “We had to fight for everything,” Cindy says. “No one comes knocking at your door to tell you how to do things.” Brad had progressed sufficiently by 2008 to enroll for classes at Macomb Community College. He took
