Re: Updates on DaniRella's family

Thank you for the update!!! I cant believe how well he's doing!
To you and your family!

Re: Updates on DaniRella's family

Interesting article...its sad how many people (well their families) dont know about this and if they did might have a fighting chance. What a true blessing it was that God has helped Kenneth to be here and on his way to full recovery. Continued prayers!

Re: Updates on DaniRella's family

******** November 20 ********

I have to take a moment to apologize for my absence... I was so busy trying to finish up my college semester early so that I can go on vacation with a clear head that before I knew it I hadn't been on here in about three weeks! I'm happy to report that now, I'm just about done which is about one month shy of the real end of the semester! Now, I can go on my anniversary trip to Jamaica and really enjoy myself. I also took a second job in retail for the holiday season along with my regular day job - between that and weekends with Kenneth things got hectic and allowed very little free time. Now that the semester is pretty much done (I got a 4.0 again!!!) I can have a little breathing room. Kenneth will be so happy to see how I'm doing in school because it was so important to him that I went back and do well.

A big thank you to all of those who wrote to me asking how Kenneth was or who posted on here - it means THE WORLD to me to know that people still care - even six months later. We just passed the six month mark - November 18th (Tuesday). That day, my mom, sister, nephew and I were in Schenectidy for an awards luncheon honoring law enforcement people who combat drunk driving. My brother's inspector nominated him for the award and he won!! We were planning on happily driving the 4 hours there and then another 4 hours back to accept the award on his behalf but then the Commissioner offered to have us driven - which was really nice of him considering we probably would have gotten lost in Albany or something otherwise! The Chief of Police came along with the Commish, the Inspector who nominated Kenneth and the District Attorney, Kathleen Rice, was there to accept her own award. She came with ADA Maureen McCormick who has been so wonderful in taking care of Kenneth's case. It was nice to see all of them, update them and show them pictures of Kenneth.

We now have, in an album, pictures from those horrific days at NUMC up until just last weekend... there are pictures showing his progress on a week-by-week basis. They are all dated and I made it my mission, from the beginning, to take these pictures - as hard as they were to take them then I kept telling myself that ONE DAY Kenneth is going to be better -- and one day he will want to see how far he has come. I also didn't want to ever forget where we came from - where he was - because, as time goes on, you DO forget... now, since he is doing better I enjoy taking the pictures. Looking through that album is UNBELIEVABLE. I made a copy of the album for the doctors at Kessler to show other families who come in --- to give them hope for their loved ones. We now see people come in everyday (their first days at Kessler) that remind us of how Kenneth looked when he first got there -- I remember first going there with him and looking around at how every single person was in better condition than Kenneth. It was so difficult not being able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Now, we look around and Kenneth is doing the most out of everyone in the gym - Kenneth is now the inspiration for other people to look at to say - 'If I keep trying, I'll get there'.

We have seen such a dramatic improvement in Kenneth these past few weeks. Now, the improvements are more rapid (rapid in brain injury world, by the way, is different than rapid in the real world) but for us -- we can't believe how great he looks and what he can do. Everyday, he wheels himself now (in his new, lightweight, wheelchair) -- we remember the days of him not being able to even SIT UP in the wheelchair and his chair back then looked like a BED on wheels... but now, he wheels himself down to the gym and on his day off (Sunday) we'll go past and he'll stop the wheel like he wants to go in and work out! He looks kind of bummed when I tell him 'No, Ken, today is your day off' -- He mouths words like clear as day: Hello, Hi, Mom, Dad, Ball, Pen, Love, You -- and follows whatever you show him. Dr. Fellus said that in all his years he has NEVER seen a patient try as hard as Kenneth -- he has never seen anyone as dedicated as Kenneth is. After therapy in the AM, he comes back and goes to the bathroom -- has his lunch -- goes to the bathroom again and then goes to afternoon therapy. The other day he actually did an entire puzzle, STANDING UP leaning on a table for some extra support!!! ... and he even was able to stand up with a cane while throwing hoops around a cone. The movement in the right arm has come back so much and the leg is a little bit behind the arm but still coming back - and he moves it more and more each day.

After his afternoon therapy he comes back to his room and is eager to get into bed for some rest... He gets in bed with our assistance and moves his bed up where he wants it to be (using the buttons)... pulls over the TV (it is on the wall on a long arm that he can control) and surfs through the channels for his favorite show: Law & Order. Then, he sits there, and watches EVERY MINUTE of it in rapture. He will only give us his attention during commercial breaks lol. He fully understands everything that is happening because he will LOOK at you when something 'big' happens kind of for a reaction... it is amazing. Then, he has dinner, sometimes he'll 'read' the newspaper -- how much of it he is reading we have NO clue but he sits there, like normal, with the paper open (there are no pictures on the page) and I see his eyes going back and fourth like normal reading. I gave him a greeting card he rec'd the other day from a family friend - he scanned it like he is reading it and at the end, when the friend said something funny, he smiled and chuckled. We were like UMM apparently he is reading?! Who knows but it is amazing. If he couldn't make out at least SOME words WHY would he sit there scanning away like everyone does when they read?

He now nods his head yes and shakes it no instead of thumbs up and down -- or he'll mouth YES or NO and he does it so clearly. He is writing with his left hand amazingly well and Dr. Fellus was so blown away by his efforts in speech that he started to get choked up - I mean, the head doc who sees it ALL was getting choked up. Kenneth will sit there and follow whatever his speech person mouths for him - and he is will TRY SO HARD to mouth it back and most of the time - he does. Then, at other times, we get vowel sounds and different sounds (especially when he laughs - we hear his voice every single time) -- it is just a matter of MERGING the mouthing of full words with the sounds. Thankfully, he can mouth words -- some brain injury patients don't even know what a pen is -- or they have no clue WHO mom is -- or if they know their mom they don't understand that THAT person IS your MOM. KWIM?? So, the fact that he does fully understand all of these things is unbelievable - it is just a matter of turning the sound on.

At night he is ready to interact with us -- he plays trouble with Christopher. He will BOP the bubble, get a 3, and move his piece three places - on his own. We also play UNO and he loves to be able to interact with and play with Christopher. At night, after Law & Order, his routine is usually Everybody Loves Raymond re-runs followed by Seinfeld. Amazingly, there is ALWAYS an episode of Law & Order on TV for him to watch and most of the time he watches them back-to-back. The other day, to our astonishment, he flipped through and stopped on an old James Bond flick - James Bond was my brother's favorite movies and when he was younger he had the ENTIRE collection. It is unbelievable that his personality is 100% the same when brain injury to the frontal lobe - where his is - can completely change someone's personality.

The amount of amazing things he does get to the point where I struggle to remember them for my journal -- I keep saying, oh god don't forget that he did THIS. We showed him his award the other night after we got back from upstate with it -- it was beautiful and the Inspector made a touching speech about Kenneth that made my mom, sister and I cry A LOT lol I was not anticipating that. We had countless state troopers and other police officers come up - with tears in their own eyes - to say how much they pray for Kenneth and how often they think of him. We continue to get letters six months later - it is amazing.

Now, we have to go to court tomorrow because the person that hit him thinks it is unfair he has not been let out on a reasonable amount of bail. The reason the the bail is so high is because he is a flight risk -- he has NEVER appeared in court for his countless summons' he rec'd prior to hitting Kenneth -- he has addresses all over the country. He has no job tying him here - so, because of HIS actions and irresponsible behavior he has a high bail. He wants to be able to get out for the holidays. Mind you, my family will be having a Boston Market Thanksgiving at Kessler - which is basically like a hospital. So, WHY should he be let out when my brother is still in his own prison? It just shows the disregard for other people -- and the selfishness. If he gets out, he gets out - but what a disgrace.

Thanks so much for reading - I know this is long

Re: Updates on DaniRella's family

Your updates are increidble and I love reading them. Your brother is making such amazing progress and i can't wait for the day when your post says 'Kenneth came home today!'

I must admit... the end of your post made me angry about the drunk driver and his complete disregard to what he did... it's disgusting. He should spend every holiday for the rest of his life in prison.

continued & for you and your amazing family.

Re: Updates on DaniRella's family

Your posts are inspiring, and I always look forward to reading them...It's great to hear that Kenneth is doing so well!!!!

Lots of to you all!!!

Re: Updates on DaniRella's family

OMG WE HAVE WORDS AND CONSISTENT SOUNDS!!!!!! JUST HOURS AFTER MY LAST UPDATE WHERE I WAS SAYING WE STILL DON'T HAVE WORDS!!!!!!

AHHHH!!!

I can't even believe I am writing this - I didn't know if this day would EVER come!!! I am crying, writing, shaking, etc. ALL at the same time. Meanwhile, I just updated his thread this morning with 'we still don't have real/consistent sounds or words'. THEN, I just called my mom to see how Kenneth is doing and my dad answered her cell. I figured she is helping Kenneth or something - so, my dad says 'Kenneth is - well, he is talking'. I said WHAT?!?!

Then, he said, listen... and I heard: 'oooh. oooh. woow, wow, oooooohh' and my mom is going 'louder Kenneth, do more' and I hear 'wow, WOW, ooohhhhhh oommm, ummmm WOW' almost as if he can't believe he is doing it!

So, my dad said that my mom gave him a tissue to blow his nose - he has been so stuffy lately. And we have been working with him on blowing the tissue w/ his mouth which promotes AIR coming out of the mouth which helps move speech along. So, he thought he was supposed to blow air toward the tissue like we have been doing and my mom said 'oh no Kenneth - this is for you to blow your nose, you are so stuffy from allergies'.

So, she put it near him and SOUND came out so she moved it away shocked. Then, he looked SHOCKED like did I just do that?! All of a sudden, something connected in his head and he started making sounds... even when the tissue was not there. Kenneth had this astonished look on his face like I just figured it out - I figured out how to do it!! That is when I called and my mom was just trying to get him to do it over and over.

With that his speech therapist walked in to start his session at 3pm!! Talk about perfect timing and she walked in to him doing these noises - omg his voice sounds exactly the same!! I'm on the phone with my dad crying and my mom has him do it for Madeline (his speech person) and then I told dad I would call back because I needed to collect myself. Madeline was THRILLED.

With that, I call Vinny and since he was up so early and busy all day this was the first time we got a chance to speak to each other today -- before I can get out what happened he says to me 'Oh I've been meaning to call you and your mom! I had a dream LAST NIGHT that Kenneth spoke!! I know it is coming soon' With that I just started crying and he was like 'what's the matter??' and I told him what happened and then HE started crying!!!

So, I explained to him and called my dad back to tell him about Vin's dream and he picks up and I hear Kenneth -- in the background -- saying HI!!!!!!!!!!! 'Hi, Hiiiiiii, HIIIIII' over and over with Madeline and my mom routing him on!!

I feel like the weight of the world has been lifted off my shoulders - I now believe with 100% certainty that he will overcome this and be the person he was up until May 18th. I am so thankful - I can't even form the words to really express it right now. This is a miracle.

Where is the emote-icon for happy tears?!!!

Re: Updates on DaniRella's family

WOO HOO!!! That is such fantastic news! My dad is retired NCPD, so we've been keeping track of your updates. So glad to hear about the progress he is making!

As always, you and your family are in our prayers.

Re: Updates on DaniRella's family

It's so wonderful to hear the amazing progress he has made!! I pray for him to continue his recovery this way. I agree with Danielle, I understand your frustration regarding the bail hearing!

I was just about to post this when I saw your most recent update. That is so, so wonderful that he is starting to speak!!! Aww, I’m so happy to hear that! This really brought tears to my eyes.

Re: Updates on DaniRella's family

I look forward to your updates every week and I just started crying when I read your last post that Kenneth was able to talk. That is truly amazing! You and your family must be giving him all the support he needs because he's made so much progress! I pray that he continues to get better!

Re: Updates on DaniRella's family

I responded on LIF, but this is tooo good not to post twice!!
I am sooo happy for you and your family. It is a huge accomplishment and you all are so supportive! I wish his more steps like these!

Re: Updates on DaniRella's family

reading the progress on Kenneth is just amazing & inspiring... i am so happy to hear everything and that your family has truly stuck together, & has stayed strong through all of this. One day down the road Kenneth will be AMAZED when he looks at all you have done for him, and sees all HE has done(by reading all the journals/scrapbooking his sister has done )

Continued prayers & blessings for Kenneth, your family, and for a happy holiday season coming up... keep us updated!

Re: Updates on DaniRella's family

OH MY GOSH DANIELLE! i just read the updated post about kenneth speaking i don't know how i didn't see that before - but that is amazing!!! found this for ya

Re: Updates on DaniRella's family

This brought tears to my eyes as well! I am so happy that he has made such amazing progress... he sounds like a very strong willed person. I look forward to your updates and continue to hope that your brother makes a full recovery.

Re: Updates on DaniRella's family

Danielle this is such great news and what a way to start the Holiday Season! You may have to have a Boston Market Thanksgiving but the conversation around the 'table' this year will be so worth it!!!!!!

Re: Updates on DaniRella's family

Danielle I am so glad to hear how well Kenneth is doing!! He seems like such a strong person!! thank you for your updates!!!

Re: Updates on DaniRella's family

Thanks everyone!!!!!!!! We are so thrilled....

Here is a quick court update from today.....

Court Update:

Instead of starting a whole new thread for just the court update I figured I would add it to this... Before I do, my nephew first heard the news that Kenneth started talking last night, after school, when my mom called his mother and said 'Is Christopher there? His Dad would like to say something to him!' So his mother immediately started crying and screaming -- put Christopher on the phone and Christopher (who was eating dinner) said he dropped his fork when he heard Daddy on the other end of the phone!! Kenneth said 'HI' and 'WOW' lol what else?? hahaha So I said to Christopher, what did you say back?? And he said (mind you, he is SIX) 'All I could say was wow too!!'

Anyway - we went to court this morning and I can't tell you how many police came to show their support - I'm guessing around 35-40?? All I know is it was A LOT... When we got there we were told that the defendant was not showing up - that he is 'sick'. So, we waited thinking his family and lawyer should show up because the word came over so last minute that they would have been there - it was about five minutes before it was due to start but nothing? Strange. The judge, angry, called the lawyer who stated he was still at home - running late because his 'wife is sick'. Weird. No family of the defendant?? It was then that we realized this seems a little too planned... if the guy got sick last minute which he claimed the family still would have shown, been told by the court, and left. Then we realized this was all planned because the lawyer realized that a lot of cops and all of us would be there. It is a shame because my sister, myself and Christopher's mom all took a day from work AND my Dad drove all the way from NJ. No apologies from the lawyer who was ordered to appear and came two hours later! He is always late and always trying to pull some stunt... It is in his best interest to delay this as much as possible for a variety of reasons so this is probably why he arranged this. I feel bad for the cops who went out of their way to come.

Once the lawyer came we had already sent the police home because there was no appearance by the defendant... We thanked them very much for coming and I still can't thank them enough for going out of their way for us like that. Kenneth would be - and will be - SO touched by that. Anywho, once they got into court the motion the defendant's lawyer made to have the charges lowered was DENIED! that means the felony assault/aggrivated charge would have been taken away -- but he denied it so we were thrilled... The defendant remains incarcerated!!! ...and we will most likely be going to trial because the DA will not plea bargain and they have nothing to lose with trying their luck in court -- it probably won't go until around February or early Spring. The lawyer wants to put it off as long as possible, the ADA said, hoping that the longer - the more people forget who Kenneth is, his story and the whole ordeal. We can just hope for the best and we know that the case is in good hands. So, today was a good day for us! Plus, I didn't have to see the guy that hit him so yay for that.

Re: Updates on DaniRella's family

Sorry everyone was inconvenienced, but that is great news! Congratulations!!

Re: Updates on DaniRella's family

WOW WOW WOW WOW!!! Your last update just made me cry. Dani, how awesome for you, for Kenneth and your family. Amazing!!!

Your brother has amazing strength and your enitre family is an inspiration to all of us.

Re: Updates on DaniRella's family

OMG Dani! OMG!!! As if the talking alone didnt make me cry, your nephew's and his dad's first words together again put me over the edge.

GOD IS WITH KENNETH ALWAYS, ISNT HE!?!!!

Re: Updates on DaniRella's family

so happy for your family

we will not forget what happened you have all our support! I hope the guy rots