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so they could constantly monitor his well-being. The injury’s impact on Kearse’s mouth and nose required him to use both a tracheal tube for breathing and a stomach feeding tube for a liquid diet. As a result, “He lost a lot of mass,� says Frank, whose son, a big 250 prior to the incident, dropped 80 pounds, resembling the much slimmer build he carries today. Only 10 of Kearse’s teeth remained intact, all of which fell out in the first month and a half. He has two of his own today. Kearse wasn’t able to speak a single word for the first nine months following the accident, communicating with his family and doctors by scribbling on a notepad. He had to start from scratch with facial expressions. “I remember my dad making a comment on how he could tell [only by how] I wrote if I was upset or calm,� he remembers. From 16 to 18, Kearse was stuck in his house, switching to home-schooling and making return trips to the hospital multiple times, both for planned surgeries overseen by a team of craniofacial, soft-tissue and dental specialists and for unforeseen problems, such as ear infections exacerbated by the trauma. Between then and now, doctors have performed a total of 23 surgeries on Kearse, follow-ups that involved everything from taking bone grafts from his hip to multiple skin and tissue grafts that rebuilt his mouth and lips. Today, he’s
fully adapted to it — he eats, drinks and kisses his girlfriend like anyone else. His primary hindrance is his speech, which can be muffled and difficult to understand if you’re not accustomed to listening to him. “There was a large focus on his needs,� says Frank. “The rest of the kids were always being careful not to disturb or jar him. But that wasn’t that big of a deal. It was trying to help him deal with the emotional aspect of it all. Trying to find the positive.� Starved for a pursuit to occupy the massive amounts of down time he spent in hospitals and at home, Kearse found that positive in food. He began tearing through cookbooks, watching cooking shows, researching online. “I couldn’t go out on a date. I couldn’t go out with friends. I was thinking about [my condition] too much,� he says. So instead he channeled his energy into documentation. He still has notepads from those days to go along with a collection of more than 400 cookbooks. “I don’t know if it’s how I was raised, or what happened to me,� says Kearse of his unwavering focus. “But take life seriously and it’ll make you who you are. I don’t know if the accident set the tone for how I am, but it sure helped.� A big, hungry family was his ideal proving ground. “My mom would give me free rein on what to cook for dinner,� says Kearse. “I cooked six nights a week for everyone. It was my outlet
[between] being home-schooled and all the surgeries.� And his family couldn’t have been happier to support that outlet. Kearse remembers the time they launched an all-out search party for mascarpone cheese because he wanted to try his hand at tiramisu. The most remarkable irony of this time in Kearse’s life was that, for a large chunk of it, he was unable to actually consume the food he’d become so attached to preparing, medically relegated to his feedingtube diet — a chef literally unable to eat. But though his sense of smell has been permanently damaged by the accident and its aftermath, his taste wasn’t altered in the least. “I didn’t eat for a few years, so I had to relearn how,� he says. “[But] my taste and tongue weren’t affected. I honestly think that solidified my path.�
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