LOUIS

On a hot Summer afternoon, Louis left home to join a group of fellow motorcycle enthusiasts for a leisure ride on his custom 1999 Honda Shadow Aero. As he relished the warm breeze and open road a truck towing a horse trailer cut in front of the group, causing the riders to scatter. Louis crashed head-on into the trailer at approximately 40MPH, sustaining multiple severe injuries including a broken neck. Teetering between life and death and in a deep coma, Louis was flown to the nearest trauma center. Friends and family members rushed to his side. “We immediately established a prayer group with more than 300 members all praying for my husband’s recovery,” said Louis’ wife.

After 28 days in the ICU, doctors determined that Louis was stable enough to be airlifted to an acute care center where his recovery journey continued. After two weeks he was transferred to a sub-acute transitional facility where he continued his rehabilitation for the next three months. The next phase of recovery saw Louis returning home to his family who became his primary caregivers. It was touch and go for several weeks when Louis lapsed into a continual sleep semi-coma. His family feared dehydration and rushed him to the ER where doctors confirmed he had been overmedicated.

Back On The Road With A New Outlook On Life

With this problem rectified, Louis returned home to continue rehabilitation. As he progressed and became more stable, relieving the symptoms of his brain injury became the focus of his recovery. Louis saw many specialists who helped him regain his cognitive abilities including neurologists, speech and occupational therapists, neuropsychiatrists, and neuropsychologists, with his wife Lisa managing his care while also tending to their family and working. Needless to say, this was an extremely stressful time for the family.

Little by little Louis recovered cognitively while also adjusting to life without some of the abilities he was used to having. He became involved in the family business again, though not at the same level he had been before his accident. “It has been a balancing act between striving to recover and accepting a new reality,” says Louis. “But there is hope”. According to his family, Louis was determined to get back on his motorcycle and enjoy the open road again. Exactly one year after his accident, he attained his goal and set off on a cross country adventure. When asked if he had any concerns about riding again his response was true to his attitude throughout recovery: “We can’t focus on the past,” he says. “We have to live for today and for the future.”