Eric's Recovery

Eric’s Recovery

Jennie Fragale

          Summer in Italy is beautiful.  The sun is always shining and the temperature is always hot.  Wherever you look, there is breath taking architecture.  Sea men go boating on their days off and party.  There is never a dull moment.

            One day, my cousin Eric, who is a seaman in the Navy, was out with his friends.  Eric was stationed in Naples, Italy.  They were all having fun outside in the summer evening.  Eric saw an old wall that came twenty feet off of the ground.  He decided to walk across the narrow edge.  Eric did not make it far on the wall before he fell to the ground from twenty feet. 

            My mom, dad, cousin Malarie, Sarah, Bobbi, Sophie, Aunt Annette, Aunt Nancy, Uncle Pete, and I were all at Chautauqua Lake for the weekend when Eric had fallen.  We had just ended a fun day of boating and partying when my Aunt Annette, Eric’s mom, received the horrible news.

            The hospital where Eric was, called and advised my Aunt Annette and Eric’s two sisters, Malarie and Sarah, to fly to Italy immediately because Eric’s condition was not good.  The doctors did not think that Eric was going to survive through all of the trauma. 

            We packed up our luggage and left the lake to get my Aunt Annette and my two cousins home.  They needed to prepare for their flights. 

            At this point, we only knew so much.  We knew that Eric fell twenty feet off of a wall and that he was in a coma.  The doctors also said that he had severe brain damage, a broken arm, and a broken cheek bone. 

            Although Eric was severely hurt and had a slim chance of waking up, my entire family had a hard time believing that our crazy Eric could not bounce back.  It all seemed liked it was just a bad dream that we could not wake up from. 

            Once my aunt and Malarie arrived in Italy, they were trying to stabilize Eric to transfer him to a better hospital in Germany.  We were informed that the brain damage was in the white and grey matter and also in the brain stem.  That was horrible news for everyone.  We knew his condition was bad, but we did not know how bad it actually was. 

            After they stabilized Eric, they sent him to Germany where Sarah then met up with her mom and sister.  The doctors had sedated Eric in-case he were to wake up.  They wanted to keep him in a coma in order to keep his brain healing itself as much as possible. 

            Eric spent about two weeks in Germany.  While he was there, we were told that the chances of him waking up were very slim.  The doctors also told us that even if he were to wake up, he would only be able to function at a three-year-old level.  They said he would not ever be the same because of the amount of brain damage. 

            Once Eric was stable enough to make the long flight from Germany to the United States, they transferred him.  Eric was transferred to a military hospital in Bethesda, Maryland.  The hospital is called Walter Reed Military Medical Center.  My mom, dad, my brother, Michael, and I went to Maryland to see Eric soon after they arrived.  It had not even been a month since the accident. 

            We arrived at the hospital in the late evening.  My Aunt Annette met us in the lobby and she had some great news.  My aunt told us that for the first time, Eric had his eyes open and was sitting upright.  She also told us that he was responding to his name a little bit. 

            We went upstairs and Eric was sitting up in a chair.  We were all overwhelmed with emotions for multiple reasons.  He had just started to sit up right before we arrived.  I could not help but feel that he knew we were coming and did not want us to see him helpless in bed. 

            When Eric saw my dad, his face lit up.  Eric had a ball and took turns throwing it at all of us.  It was a huge break through for Eric considering he was not even supposed to wake up.  I asked Eric if he knew who I was and he nodded yes.  We asked him that same question about everyone in the room and he nodded yes to everyone.  It was unbelievable because of the damage that his memory center had gone through. 

            Eric’s energy did not last long.  He started dozing off and the nurses put him back to bed.  We went to dinner then settled into our hotel for the night.  We were very anxious and excited for the morning’s visit with Eric. 

            The following morning, afternoon, and evening, Eric did not do much of anything except sleep.  The nurses explained that he had tired himself out the night before.  Luckily, we were staying for a couple of days.  We hoped that we would see some improvements during our visit. 

            The following day, nurses came into Eric’s room and suggested that he start physical therapy.  We woke Eric up and put him into a wheel chair.  When Eric realized that we were going somewhere other than his hospital room, he just kept smiling. 

            Eric did really well at physical therapy.  You could tell that he kind of thought it was dumb.  They practiced his motor skills with a small ball and practiced standing and walking.  Eric got the hang of it real quick and stood up on his own.  When he stood up, his feeding tube got pulled out of his stomach.  This was really bad because you cannot keep inserting a feeding tube through the same spot in the stomach.  It causes many problems. 

            The doctors discussed Eric being transferred to a rehab center in Richmond, Virginia but it would not be for a week or so.  We had to leave right when Eric was going into surgery for his feeding tube.  I was upset to leave because I wanted to keep watching Eric improve.  In just a few days, Eric had shown so much improvement.  It was a miracle that he was alive let alone walking and improving. 

            Shortly after we got home, Malarie called to tell us that Eric had started to talk.  We knew it was going to take Eric a long time to fully recover, but we believed that he would.  He was doing so well within a short period of time.  It was amazing. 

            A week later, Eric was transferred to Richmond.  He was walking, talking, and functioning.  He was not one-hundred percent by any means or back to his normal self but it was better than nothing. 

            Weeks passed and we were all back in school.  My aunt and my cousin, Malarie, took off of school and work to help Eric improve and heal.  He was in multiple physical therapy sessions everyday for not only his motor skills but also his memory. 

            It was almost my birthday and I wanted to spend it in Richmond with Eric and my family.  I went with my Aunt Nancy, Uncle Pete, my three cousins, Sarah, Bobbi, and Sophie.  When I first saw Eric, he hugged me and told me happy birthday.  He looked tired but it was amazing how alert he was.  We were told he would never be able to function past a three-year-old level. 

            To this day, Eric still has therapy sessions for his memory.  He has made amazing progress in the almost two years since his accident.  He is still in the Navy and is currently stationed in Bethesda, Maryland.  Eric is able to drive himself home on weekends to visit.  We never gave up believing that Eric would fully recover but it still amazes everyone that he is functioning as a normal person after all of the trauma.  Eric shocked not only our family but also the entire community.  I admire Eric very much because through all of the challenging obstacles, he never gave up.