Mark Kasten State Farm

Daryl, Barbara and Rodney at one of the many churches where he spoke and gave his personal testimony about how Christ helped him recover from a traumatic brain injury.

Upon his arrival at Sioux Valley Hospital, Rod was already intubated and a machine was breathing for him. He had suffered a traumatic brain injury and was in a coma. “He looked like he could wake up and start talking to you. He didn’t have any broken bones, he didn’t have any internal injuries, he just had a little scrape on his finger,” said Rod’s mother, Barbara. “I spent 34 days in the ICU where I went code blue three times,” Rod said.

On the evening of day 31 in the ICU, there were about 70 members of Hammerstrom’s rodeo family at the hospital to provide moral support to Rod’s parents and family. “In the waiting room, they all stood in circles, and, going from the outside to the inside back to the outside, they all said oneline prayers for Rod’s healing,” Daryl said. “That was on a Friday night. On Saturday morning, he started coming to.” He was a little more conscious on Sunday and, by Monday, they were moving him to the rehabilitation floor. Barbara said, “He didn’t all of sudden wake up and everything was fine. The pathways sending messages from the brain to the rest of his body needed a lengthy healing time.” When he first started therapy he wasn’t able to communicate any wants or needs, still had a trach in, couldn’t eat anything orally, and was very agitated. The first two weeks were tough and progress was slow. He had to work on just sitting up. He had to re-learn how to open his eyes and focus, move his mouth and move his tongue. Then he had to learn to walk again.

Mark Kasten, Agent 180 N Main Ave Parker, SD 57053 Bus: 605-297-4747 mark@markkasten.com 180 N Main Ave. Parker, SD 57053 Bus: 605-297-4747

368 N Main St. Freeman, SD 57029 Bus: 605-925-7353

mark@markkasten.com

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Bob McPhearson and Rod Hammerstrom after they captured a world championship this summer at RSNC. Photo by Tiffany McLeod.

Five days a week, for an hour a day, he spent time in the therapy pool walking – trying to regain the motion and movement in his hips. He spent 60 days on the rehab floor of Sioux Valley. Brian Iverson, one of his physical therapists said, “One thing about Rod is he was always willing to work hard. He tolerated a lot of pain. We got him up on his feet pretty quickly, but it was pretty much a max assist by two people. His father was here almost every session and was very helpful. The family support made a big difference for Rod. He had a sense of humor even when things were hard.”

MOVING MOUNTAINS

But the nurses and doctors had warned Rod’s parents that every patient with a traumatic brain injury goes through some sort of depression. Rod hit that wall. “My dad came up one morning. When the elevator doors popped open, the nurses met him and told him the depression had set in. Being the optimistic fool my dad is, he thought ‘Oh heck, we’ll beat this.’ He came in the room all happy and joyful. He asked ‘How’s it going, bud?’ and I didn’t move. He then asked me ‘What’s the matter, bud?’ I told Dad ‘I just can’t do this anymore. All the things that came so easy to me, I’ve got to work so long and hard at the simple things. I can’t do this therapy anymore. It’s gotten so darn tough.’” Daryl said he thought Rod loved his life. Rod agreed, but now he felt he had tried everything to recover and he just couldn’t do it any longer. Daryl said, “Just a second there, son. Let me ask you this one more time, have you tried every option? Maybe there is one thing you overlooked. Have you given it all over to the Lord?” Rod agreed to pray. “Fifteen minutes later, I popped my head up and said, ‘Dad, we’d better get to therapy.’” Bible verses which helped him get through his seven years of physical, occupational and speech therapy included 2 Corinthians 12:9 – “But he said to me ‘My grace is sufficient for thee, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” To conquer the mountains he faced daily, he leaned on Matthew 17:20 – “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘move from here to there’ And it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” “So I looked at the mountains that were in my way. The first one was I couldn’t speak. The second one was I couldn’t walk. And you’ll probably admit those are two pretty crucial things in our lives. And the third thing was I knew less than what a baby does coming out of the womb.