Miracle Michele

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the O'Donnell Family

2011-12-25T12:22:00.002-05:00

2011 was an incredible year for the O'Donnell family. Our new year started with Michele returning home on the 25th of January after a miraculous 1 year battle to survive. Michele did not settle for just surviving though, she has worked very hard to overcome most of her disabilities. Michele is back in the kitchen where she loves to be making meals for her family and friends. She is walking with the limited assistance from her cane. We recently got her a spinning bike for the house so she can work on her leg strength every day. She runs the house with all the kids coming and going and loves being back in charge. Michele's beautiful hair is growing fast and she will soon again have her long hair back. We are working on solving her double vision problems with prism glasses in hopes we can avoid surgery. Michele still battles with nausea and we are working on that as well.

In February we sold our home of 11 years in an effort to get our lives back on track. We then purchased mountain property in March in hopes to build a home to meet Michele's long term needs. After many months of work we started building our new home on October 1st. We are expecting completion by May 1st 2012. We can’t wait!!

June found us traveling back to Cancun with the kids and close friends for some much needed rest. Since Michele had no memory of her last visit to Cancun, she convinced the rest of us that she wanted to go back and hang out at the pool and get some sun. We all had a wonderful vacation.

John now has time to refocus his efforts on work and is in the process of rebuilding what was lost over the last 2 years due to the economy and being out for a year helping Michele recover. Every weekend John is in the mountains working on the new home.

Billy joined the Navy in June. After his 6 weeks of boot camp, Michele, John, JJ and Jordan all went to Chicago to see Billy graduate. We are all so proud of him. Billy got 10 days leave in July and all he wanted to do was spend time with his family up in the mountains at our property. The 1st day back he asked Jordan for her hand in marriage. Billy and Jordan will have their ceremony on July 28th 2012. Billy left this week from California on the USS Abraham Lincoln on a world tour. He should return to Virginia next June just in time for his wedding. The whole family spent Thanksgiving in LA since Billy did not have time off. We had so much to be thankful for this year and we had a wonderful time celebrating both Thanksgiving and Christmas as a family once again.

There is a "BABY" on the way. Tana is expecting our 1st grandchild this June and we are very happy and excited. Tana will finish high school this month and start working for her Father and try to fill her Mothers old position with the company. She will take a year off from school but will return to college in 2013.

Alyssa started high school this year and has been busy socializing with her new school friends. She keeps telling dad she needs all the time she can get with her friends before we move to the mountains and a new school district next year. It will be tough for her but she is a resilient young lady and we have no doubt she will find many more friends at her new school.

JJ is in heaven going to the mountains every weekend with Dad. He cannot wait to move and already has friends near our new home. He is Dads right hand man and is quickly learning how to build and is picking up the trade very quickly. John looks pretty good with a cowboy hat and boots and fits right into mountain life. John has also become a very good pool player and has even won 4 games this year against his Father, an accomplishment his brother did not make until he was 18 years old.

We hope you all have a safe and wonderful holiday.
Love,
The O'Donnell Family

Pinnacle Leasing
7584 WEST 66TH AVE SUITE 300
Arvada, Colorado 80028

'Miracle' Michele O'Donnell ready for next chapter in life

2011-12-24T14:00:00.000-05:00

'Miracle' Michele O'Donnell ready for next chapter in life

Erie mom makes remarkable strides two years after devastating brain injury
By John Aguilar, Camera Staff Writer
Posted: 12/24/2011 02:00:00 PM MST

ERIE -- Michele O'Donnell is on a steady climb out of a dark place -- a place of dashed memories and jumbled months, a place of lost words and tangled emotions.

Or as the 43-year-old mother of four puts it, she's back from a time when she slept. A lot.

"I don't sleep all day -- I can't. I don't want to," Michele said, sitting on the couch of her brother-in-law's home in Erie on a recent morning. "I'm doing a lot now."

A lot includes cooking meals at home, texting her children, leaving simple love notes for her husband, walking longer distances without her cane and perhaps soon getting behind the wheel of a car for the first time in nearly two years.

"I think I'm great," she said, exuding confidence with a wide smile.

Great is a relative term for someone who has been through what Michele has been through. Silent months spent in intensive care units, agonizing days when death was just a failed breath away, grueling months devoted to rehab and the slow, inexorable march from the pain and horror of a cataclysmic brain injury.

"Michele would show signs somehow, some way that she was in there," said her husband of 20 years, John O'Donnell. "We looked at what type of person she was and we never gave up."

Now Michele is ready to move on with the next chapter in her life.

She no longer lives in the Superior home she spent so many years in. Lost work and staggering medical bills -- the family has had to spend more than $100,000 out of pocket -- forced her husband to sell it and move in with family in Erie.

But John is building the family a new handicap-accessible house in Park County, which he hopes will be completed in the spring.

"We have a lot to be thankful for," he said. "If you had seen her every day, you'd definitely think it was a miracle. We honestly didn't think she'd make it. It has made us stronger."

'She's a fighter'

Jan. 27, 2010, won't be a day the O'Donnell family will soon forget. It was the day Michele slipped on a wet bathroom floor at her family's vacation timeshare in Cancun, Mexico, and struck the back of her head on the floor.

She underwent nearly six hours of surgery that evening to relieve pressure on her brain. She slipped in and out of consciousness and breathed on a respirator. And that was just the beginning.

Michele spent week after week, then month after month, at a dizzying series of hospitals from Cancun to Miami to Denver, lying listless and largely unresponsive as doctors and specialists tried to reconnect her with basic life functions. She had to be resuscitated on an emergency basis twice when she stopped breathing.

"Looking back at the pictures from then, it's amazing how far she's come," said her 15-year-old daughter, Alyssa. "It proves her power and strength and how miracles can work every day."

As she continued to show signs of improvement, the family dubbed her Miracle Michele and began preparing for a homecoming like no other. Balloons flew and friends gathered in January as Michele said goodbye to Boulder Community Hospital and hello to life back at home.

Now she cooks chicken, pasta and rice for her family, supplementing her work in the kitchen with down time watching "The Rachael Ray Show," "The Price is Right" and "Let's Make a Deal."

"I'd come home to four things in the fridge with my name on them," said Tana, her 17-year-old daughter. "It's a big change. It's nice to come home and see what she made today."

In June, the family returned to the same timeshare in Cancun where Michele had sustained her injury. She walked in the pool and tried her best to strengthen muscles that had atrophied over a year of being bedridden.

"It was her decision to go there," John said.

Over Thanksgiving, the family went to Los Angeles to see off eldest son, Billy, as he deployed on an aircraft carrier with the Navy.

Recovery for Michele hasn't come to an end. She still has special lenses on her glasses to keep her double vision in check and she doesn't go far without her cane. Her speech is simple and her sentences clipped, but she can express what she wants.

Dr. Alan Villavicencio, a neurosurgeon with Boulder Community Hospital who has tracked Michele's progress, said Michele has surprised everyone in how well she has done.

"She's a fighter, for sure," Villavicencio said. "She's given it her all, all the way. Because of her personality and drive, she has excelled better than we expected."

But the doctor said Michele's recovery will probably plateau in a year or two and she could face challenges later in life, such as muscle rigidity.

"Some of it is a permanent injury," he said.

Family is everything

Michele isn't worried about what could happen down the road. She likes where she is now and wants to keep taking small steps forward. Doctor visits are few and far between and the waves of nausea that used to plague her on a daily basis are largely gone.

"It doesn't hurt," she said. "So it's good for me."

For Michele, family comes before everything, and in that arena, she is richly blessed. Not only do her two daughters and youngest son live with her, but a grandchild will soon be in the mix, too.

"My kids are here -- John -- that's what I want," she said.

John said he relied on his Catholic faith to get through the darkest moments of the last two years and celebrate the most joyous ones. He is endlessly grateful to all the medical staff who brought his wife back from the brink so many times and to all those who helped his family in countless ways as he struggled financially and emotionally.

And he cherishes every extra day that he gets to be with Michele.

"If it came down to losing my wife, I would be thankful for all the days that I had with her," he said.

Contact Camera Staff Writer John Aguilar at 303-473-1389 or aguilarj@dailycamera.com.

Michele O'Donnell is about to get a kiss from her son, Billy, in the family s former Superior home last January. ( CLIFF GRASSMICK )

Michele O'Donnell, right, gets a kiss from her daughter, Alyssa, while her son, John, and sister Amy McAlister, left, sit with her in December 2010, shortly after she was moved to Boulder Community Hospital to continue her rehabilitation. ( MARTY CAIVANO )

'Miracle Michele' has much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving

2011-11-22T17:26:00.004-05:00

'Miracle Michele' has much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving

By Kimberli Turner Colorado Hometown Weekly
Posted: 11/22/2011 03:59:43 PM MST

One of the most poignant memories to return to Michele O'Donnell in the last 60 days is from her month-long stay in a hospital in Mexico nearly two years ago. She recalled lying in her hospital bed one day, waking to find her son Billy O'Donnell by her side. "Billy was rubbing my leg and rubbing my back and he was with me," she said Monday, Nov. 21. Another memory that has also surfaced was the image of her daughter, Alyssa, crying when Michele stopped breathing once in the same hospital. The two memories bring Michele to tears but, for the most part, she's been recalling only the good times from before her January 2010 accident.

Michele slipped and fell in the bathroom of her family's Cancun timeshare and she hit her head, causing a brain hemorrhage. She was in a drug-induced coma for a week during her hospital stay in Mexico and was moved to a Florida hospital where she suffered a second brain hemorrhage.

Michele was moved to Colorado in April 2010 and was in a comatose state for 45 days before doctors at Denver's Kindred Hospital adjusted a shunt that controlled the drainage in her head.

Last year at this time, Michele, who was in Boulder Manor recovering from her head trauma and receiving physical therapy, started with baby steps by coming home for Thanksgiving and a sleep-over at Christmas. This Thanksgiving, Michele, dubbed 'Miracle Michele' by her husband, John, said she has much to be thankful for. "I have John. I'm going to cry," she said Monday night at her brother-in-law's Erie home. "I love him so much, 25 years we've been married. "And then I have my babies," she added, looking at three of her children, Tana, 17, Alyssa, 15, and John John, 9, seated on the couch next to her.

Her son Billy is stationed in Los Angeles with the United States Navy and is preparing to embark on a six-month worldwide tour in December.

Michele and John sold their Superior home within two days of Michele's January homecoming and moved into her brother-in-law's home in February. The O'Donnells are having a house built in Park County which they hope they can move into by May 1.

Since January, Michele has been working on walking around the house on her own and getting back to her daily routine.

She no longer uses her wheelchair or walker and, in the last couple of months, Michele has gone from using a cane with a four-pronged base to a regular walking cane. "John said to me, 'You're done with that, walk with this,'" Michele said of her cane. "I kind of forced it upon her and I said, 'Isn't it time?'" John recalled.

But Michele was ready for the next step in her rehabilitation and she said she tries to walk around the house cane-free most of the day.

Her goal is to walk completely on her own by New Year's Eve and John hopes to buy an elliptical machine for his wife once they move into the new house. Michele has also returned to doing the laundry and other housework and she cooks for her family every day. In a means to hone her speaking skills and help her put sentences together, Michele also texts and emails friends and family daily. The memories of Michele's life are slowly coming back to her, and John said because Michele knew her family's names and faces early on, he didn't initially realize how much of her long-term memory was missing.

She now recalls her wedding day, family trips and events with friends among many other things. "I think it's ridiculous how much she's overcome," Tana said of her mom's progression. "We come home and she's busy in the kitchen and I remember when she was laying in the hospital bed. I can't wait for next year to see how she's improved."

Though Michele still has a ways to go in her recovery, John said he's thankful for every improvement she makes. "It's a lot better than the alternative a year ago," he said. We'll take on anything now. We've already been through the tough stuff."

UPDATE 2/2/2011

2011-02-03T13:50:00.004-05:00

On the move again
Superior mother returns home one year after accident caused brain hemorrhage

By Kimberli Turner

Colorado Hometown Weekly

When Billy O’Donnell was told to bring home one fireworks fountain for his mom’s homecoming celebration, he brought home four.
And it wasn’t just Billy, 18, who was excited about the return of his mother, Michele O’Donnell — a crowd of friends, family and Superior community members waited in the O’Donnells’ Rock Creek driveway on Friday, Jan. 29, to give her the welcome she deserved after being away for just over a year.

On Jan. 27, 2010, Michele slipped and fell in the bathroom of the family’s Cancun timeshare, which caused a brain hemorrhage that required an immediate operation.
She was in a drug-induced coma for a week of her monthlong stay in a hospital in Mexico, before moving to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Florida, where she suffered a second brain hemorrhage. Following a two-month stint there, Michele came back to Colorado and went into a comatose state for 45 days at Denver-based Kindred Hospital before traveling to other rehabilitation facilities for treatment and physical therapy.

Michele’s husband, John O’Donnell, and their children Billy, Alyssa, 14, Tana, 16, and John John, 8, nearly lost her eight times. But each time, they said she fought to recover, and John could finally do what he had wanted to accomplish for a year.
“I brought my girl home,” he told a friend at the celebration.

Following a lunch in Boulder, John drove Michele up to their home on Alma Lane, where more than 50 people were waiting to release purple and white balloons.
When Michele got out of the car, she took step after step with a walker to greet the crowd and, in the background, the first strains of singer Katy Perry’s “Firework” began to play.
Then Billy got to set off his fireworks display, alerting the community that his mother was finally home.
“It means everything. I’ve been waiting for her to come home,” he said Saturday. “It’s incredible.”

Michele’s sisters, Cindy Skerjanec of Brighton and Amy McAlister of Longmont, were also there to welcome Michele.
Amy said the sisters cried a lot in the months following Michele’s accident, but now they laugh a lot, knowing the worst is over.
McAlister and her nieces and nephews flew down to Jackson Memorial last Easter because they thought they were going to have to say goodbye to Michele. But Michele, who had last rites read to her several times, had other plans.
“I said, ‘No way,’” she said.
And through the ups and downs of her recovery, the ups finally became more frequent, especially during Michele’s time at Boulder Manor, McAlister said.
“There was definitely a feeling when I thought the floor wasn’t going to drop out from under us,” she said.
McAlister and Skerjanec said they finally started to feel optimistic about Michele’s recovery when she got to Boulder Manor this past fall, and they believe music therapy really helped in Michele’s healing.

Michele’s best friend, Karen Long of Florida, agreed.
“She loves her music. From the beginning John had her iPod in her room,” she said. “Even in intensive care we played it all night long.”
While Michele was having difficulty relearning how to talk, she had no difficulty in singing along to the music, Long said. And, eventually, the words came, too.

Following her stay at Boulder Manor, Michele moved to the Mapleton Center in December, where she learned to eat a meal and walk down a hallway and up and down the stairs.
And now, with some help, Michele practices walking up and down the 14 stairs in her home.
“The (first) time I did it by myself, I almost fell,” she said. “I went all the way up and all the way down. It’s weird, but I do it.”
Because of the mounting medical bills, John was forced to put their home up for sale.

The O’Donnells plan to stay in Superior for another year or two, and then John hopes to build a new home on a piece of land outside of Fairplay.
John said the house doesn’t matter, though, and the family got back what was most important to them:

“It’s truly a miracle she’s here.”

UPDATE 1/28/2011

2011-02-01T13:54:00.002-05:00

Michele O'Donnell, mother of 4, returns to Superior home after a year in hospitals

SUPERIOR -- A cruel irony will be at play at Michele O'Donnell's homecoming this weekend.

There will be balloons, fireworks and hundreds of friends, neighbors and well-wishers at her Alma Lane home in Superior on Saturday to welcome her back from a year of hospitals, rehab centers and five surgeries on her brain.

But the home where Michele has lived with her family for 11 years won't be hers for long.

The travails of having to keep the 42-year-old mother of four alive after she slipped and smashed her head in Mexico one year ago have resulted in months of missed work for her husband and piles of medical bills that have whittled away the family's savings.

Mortgage payments were missed, the house briefly fell into foreclosure last month, and now the place must be sold.

John O'Donnell, Michele's husband of 20 years, said the family will "downsize," rent a place nearby and work toward their long-term goal -- buying some property in Park County and building a modest home there.

"We'll live well below our means for the next couple of years until I can save up some money," John said. "I can rebuild, and I will. The two things I have to do most is take care of her and get back to work."

The stress of the O'Donnells' ordeal over the last 12 months was evident earlier this week. Tears welled in John's eyes as he stood on the upstairs landing of his Rock Creek house, where two showings were scheduled for later that day.

His recent handiwork -- a handicap-accessible shower and toilet stall that he constructed to make it possible for Michele to use the bathroom -- denoted a more auspicious time.

"When I had to pack up the very first box, I couldn't," said John, who owns an equipment financing business in Arvada.

But he refuses to let the accident pull him down.

Despite the troubles that have befallen his family since his wife slipped and struck her head on a wet bathroom floor at their vacation timeshare in Cancun on Jan. 27, 2010, John takes pleasure in the progress of Michele's recovery from near death.

"The good news is we got her, and all the rest doesn't matter," he said. "I got my girl back."

Michele, who left the Mapleton Rehabilitation Center in Boulder a week ago after a six-week stay, has gone from someone who was unresponsive and hooked up to an endless tangle of feeding and oxygen tubes to someone who smiles, laughs, jokes and teases her kids and husband.

"No way, dude," she said to John on Thursday, when he mentioned the impending move out of their home.

Like any mother might, she challenged her eldest son's plans to join the Navy, saying "maybe" when he talked about heading to boot camp.

"I remember the way she was on day one and halfway through it, and I'm so proud of her," said Billy O'Donnell, 18, who has regularly visited his mother at the seven hospitals and rehab facilities she has called home for a year. "It's a good feeling seeing her every day and night."

In the short time that has passed since the Camera profiled her story in late December, Michele has made remarkable strides forward.

She walks hundreds of feet at a time with a walker, converses in short sentences and phrases, and motions to her family members animatedly. She has lost the eye patch that served to counter her double vision, and her hair is slowly growing back to the shoulder length she desires.

Michele dresses herself, brushes her own hair and teeth and can make it up the stairs in her home with the help of a cane. Her cocktail of 15 medications has been reduced to just three.

"I do it all myself," Michele said, beaming from a chair in her family room. "Do it all -- I have to."

Her husband hopes she'll be able to return to her true passion -- cooking -- as soon as possible. She's already telling him where in the local Safeway he can find the ingredients for dinner, he said.

Amy McAlister marvels at the progress her sister makes each day.

"She says things she couldn't remember yesterday," said McAlister, before being overwhelmed by emotion and a stream of tears. "So many times along the way we thought, 'This is it.'"

Whether Michele truly recognizes that she will soon be leaving the home that she has always taken great pride in running isn't entirely clear. But she knows exactly -- without hesitation -- what she likes best about being back home.

"Him and my kids," Michele said, pointing to her husband and son. "That's what I want."

MIRACLE MICHELE IS COMING HOME!

2011-01-15T16:38:00.002-05:00

MIRACLE MICHELE’S HOMECOMING!

An entire year has passed and Michele is finally coming home! She has endured multiple surgeries, drug induced comas, numerous infections, and intense physical therapy to bring her body and mind back to a condition that she is finally able to go home to her husband and children.

PLEASE JOIN US TO WELCOME MIRACLE MICHELE HOME
Saturday, January 29, 2011 - 1:00 p.m.
1856 Alma Lane, Superior CO 80027

A GRAND CELEBRATION WITH BALLOONS, FIREWORKS, FAMILY, FRIENDS & THOSE WHO HAVE SUPPORTED AND PRAYED FOR MICHELE AND HER FAMILY THIS YEAR

UPDATE 1/8/2011

2011-01-09T16:13:00.003-05:00

Hi Everyone,
I got a call this morning from Michele and she asked me if I was coming for lunch today and I said yes. She said that she was going to walk up 18 stairs with her therapist, Bill and they were going to do it at 11:30 so I should come early. I got there right as they were ready to get started.
She kept saying "I can't" and "I'm freakin' out", but off we went. She got herself up from a lying position in bed and stood up all by herself and grabbed on to the walker. Off she went out the door, past the nurses station and sat down for a minute before she was off to the stairs.
Oh boy, when she saw the first set of 9 stairs, she started in with the "I can't" again, but Bill has a way with her and she started to climb, holding on to the railing with her right hand, which is her weakest. When she got to the landing she really said "I can't" but kept going. Bill had a chair at the top of second set so that she could rest before they headed back down again. She said "How am I going to get back down?". You know what Bill's answer was.
So she stood up and complained all the way down, but she did it. She grabbed on to her walker at the bottom of the stairs and walked back to the chair in the hall for a break. Then when she was ready, she walked back to her room. Instead of getting back in bed, Bill told her to sit in the wheelchair to eat her lunch with me. She complained about it, but she did and we had a nice lunch together.
She got back into bed for a little bit, but she was off to speech therapy at 12:45.

Sue

Michele O'Donnell Fights Back After Brain Injury

2010-12-26T15:49:00.000-05:00

BOULDER DAILY CAMERA 12/25/2010

2010-12-26T15:36:00.003-05:00

'Miracle Michele' prepares for a return to Superior home
Mother of four's life forever changed after freak accident in Mexico
By John Aguilar Camera Staff Writer
Posted: 12/25/2010 04:53:29 PM MST

Michele O Donnell, right, gets a kiss from her daughter, Alyssa, while her son, John III, and her sister, Amy McAlister, left, sit with her outside her hospital room at the Mapleton Rehabilitation Center at Boulder Community Hospital earlier this month. Michele suffered a severe brain injury when she slipped and fell during a family vacation in January. ( MARTY CAIVANO )

How to help Donations to the O'Donnell Family Fund can be made in person or by mail to:
1stBank
500 S. McCaslin Blvd.
Louisville, CO 80027
Account No. 868-290-1625

Visit http://www.miraclemichele.blogspot.com/ to read about Michele O'Donnell's life over the last 11 months. Donations can also be made on the blog via PayPal.

Michele O'Donnell has been trying for 11 months to get back to her Superior home.
The journey has been slow and wrenching: Michele, 42, has been through seven hospitals in two countries, undergone five brain surgeries, and twice came within a whisper of death.
But her family says the dream of having the once-vibrant mother of four back in "her domain" on Alma Lane could finally come true next month. That's when she's expected to be released from Boulder Community Hospital's rehabilitation wing, where she's trying to re-learn the most basic living skills after suffering a critical head injury when she slipped and fell during a family vacation.
"I can't quite say the home runs the same without her," said John O'Donnell, Michele's husband of 20 years, who has barely missed a day visiting his wife since her January accident. "She loved to entertain, she loved to cook, she loved to take care of her kids."
On a recent afternoon, Michele pointed and smiled at her two daughters and two sons as they milled around her hospital room. Her husband and eldest son helped her from a wheelchair to a bed, where she folded one hand over the other and looked longingly at her family.
Each day brings improvement and reason for the O'Donnell family to hope that everything will be a little closer to normal again. Michele can eat solid food now, string together rudimentary sentences, and even walk a few dozen feet with help. She smiles and weeps and

Michele O Donnell gives her husband, John, a thumbs-up after he helped her into bed at the Mapleton Rehabilitation Center at Boulder Community Hospital earlier this month. At left is their son, Billy. ( MARTY CAIVANO )

responds to her husband during talks on the phone -- a far cry from the listless months where she would stare joylessly straight ahead, or not open her eyes at all.
But she has a long way to go to become the person she once was.
Dr. Julie Stapleton, a doctor at the Mapleton Rehabilitation Center who has worked closely with Michele, said Michele's injury -- an acute subdural hematoma -- was severe, and the complications she endured during her long recovery have taken their toll.
"She won't be 100 percent again, but I can also promise she will get a lot better," Stapleton said.
She said Michele's chances for significant additional improvement are bolstered by the amount of attention and love her family has shown her.
It's a level of love and commitment her family plans to continue giving her as long as she needs it.

'I heard a crack'
On Jan. 27, John O'Donnell was resting in the living room of his family's timeshare in Cancun, Mexico, when he heard a sound he'll never forget.
"I heard a fall and I heard a crack," he said. "Then nothing."
He rushed into the bathroom and found his wife lying on the granite floor bleeding profusely. She had slipped on a wet spot and landed on the back of her head.
Paramedics rushed Michele to the local hospital, where she underwent 51/2 hours of surgery to relieve pressure on her brain. She slipped in and out of consciousness and breathed on a respirator.
"She was fighting for her life," John said.
That fight continued for the next month in Cancun and the next two months at Jackson Memorial Trauma Center in Miami. Some days were better than others, and some were simply horrible.
In late March, Michele had several seizures and her brain began to exert five to seven times its normal pressure. She didn't wake up for three days. Doctors removed an abscess from her brain and she lapsed into critical condition and remained unresponsive for weeks. She had to wear a mouth guard to keep from biting her tongue.
The next month Michele stopped breathing while her 14-year-old daughter Alyssa visited with her. "We almost lost her twice," John said. At

Michele O Donnell gets a kiss from her son, Billy, as she receives acute care in a Cancun, Mexico, hospital about a month after slipping and striking her head on the floor during a family vacation. (Courtesy of the O'Donnell family)

the end of April, Michele was finally stable enough to fly to Colorado, where she entered the neuro-intensive care unit at St. Anthony's Central in Denver. Spring dragged into summer and summer into fall, and Michele was moved to Kindred Hospital in Denver, then Swedish Medical Center in Englewood, then Boulder Manor, an intensive nursing care facility.
In mid-December she was admitted to Mapleton Rehabilitative Center in Boulder.
Michele's body has been under incredible wear and tear during the last 11 months. For most of that time, her head has been shaved of her long blonde hair to make her brain accessible to surgeons and doctors. Part of her skull, which had inexplicably been lost by medical personnel at the hospital in Miami, has been replaced with a titanium flap. She takes up to 15 medications a day to stave off brain headaches, pain and seizures.
For Michele's sister, Amy McAlister, the tragedy of Jan. 27 brings her deep sadness. She remembers a person who never had time to rest or be idle. Aside from running a busy household and overseeing four children ranging in age from 8 to 18, Michele worked with her husband at his business and equipment financing firm in Arvada.
"The girl never sat still," McAlister said. "If it wasn't doing stuff around the house, it was doing stuff for others. She always had lists, always had things she had to get done."
While Michele has been stilled from her busy life, her family and friends have taken delight in the improvements of the last couple of months.
Steve Smith, a family friend, said he was floored this past autumn when he noticed Michele express emotion for the first time in eight months. She winked at him as he read the newspaper to her and smiled ever so slightly, as if she could understand what he was saying.
"It was almost like she re-entered her body," he said.
Since then, Smith has seen Michele, who now has a short crop of golden hair, take her first steps and crack her first jokes.
"There's a fight inside of this lady that you can't believe," he said.
Astronomical bills
But the fight for life hasn't been cheap.
John's business has had to take a back seat to his wife's well-being. Meanwhile, the medical bills for Michele's care have climbed into astronomical figures. The O'Donnells' home in Superior was foreclosed on in mid-December.
"I've had to take care of her medical needs, so I had to let the mortgage go," John said.
Despite the foreclosure filing, the family hopes to remain in the house for the foreseeable future. John moved ahead with renovations, making the bathroom and master bedroom wheelchair accessible. He is trying to figure out if he needs to install some kind of lift or elevator in the home.
"He's wiped out," said Smith, who fears that his friends won't be able to remain in the house for much longer.
Even so, John recently took over for Smith as president of the Rock Creek Homeowners Association, a move Smith described as his friend's way of staying busy and staving off depression. John also started a blog called "Miracle Michele," in which he documents the struggles, and the increasing delights, that have unfolded over the last 11 months.
John said he places his trust in God and draws off his Catholic faith for inspiration and the will to go on. The result is a man who greets everyone with an infectious energy and warm smile -- the rare person who seems devoid of pessimism.
He said his wife -- and high-school sweetheart (Michele graduated from Boulder High while John graduated from Regis Jesuit High School in Aurora) -- supported him when he lost a kidney to cancer. Now it's her turn to receive his undying love.
"She never left my side and I will never leave her side," he said. "We'll figure it out. If I have to get five jobs, I will."
John said his children have been instrumental in keeping the household running in Michele's absence. Their oldest son, 18-year-old Billy, has had to shoulder much of the burden of caring for the family. The Monarch High senior, who is bound for the Navy, said his mother's accident thrust him into adulthood sooner than he could have ever guessed.
"We help each other out to make meals, to get to school," Billy said of his siblings. "I'm glad this was pushed on me. It made me grow up."
Going home a year later
Now the family thinks of nothing but bringing Michele home. If she is released from the Mapleton center in Boulder at the end of January, as expected, she will have spent a full year away from home.
"We're all excited for her to be here at this next level," said John, caressing his wife's arm outside her hospital room as she sat up straight in her wheelchair. "Normally you don't want to see someone crying. But in this case, it means you're living, you're getting better."
John has asked friends and family to wait until 3 p.m. every day before visiting Michele so she can put all of her focus on getting better.
McAlister said her sister walks farther and farther every day, pushing herself through the pain and frustration of making her body work again.
"She cursed and screamed and cried through the whole thing, but she did it," McAlister said of a recent physical therapy session.
Smith said he doesn't know how long it will take, but he's confident that one day his friend will be her old self again -- funny, buoyant, tireless and ready to welcome someone into her home for a delicious meal and an evening of grand conversation.
"The truth is that I believe that Michele will recover 100 percent," Smith said. "I think she'll amaze everyone."

Contact Camera Staff Writer John Aguilar at 303-473-1389 or aguilarj@dailycamera.com.

Read more: 'Miracle Michele' prepares for a return to Superior home - Boulder Daily Camera http://www.dailycamera.com/news/ci_16933998#ixzz19BWvG9ec DailyCamera.com

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE O'DONNELL FAMILY

2010-12-23T13:31:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas from The O'Donnell Family

As you all know 2010 brought our family a tragedy that has kept us on our toes throughout the entire year. We started out the year with "Hope". Hope that our Mother and wife would make it through the day, week, month and ultimately the year. Our Faith kept us strong during trying times when we just were not sure what the outcome would be. Our Love for each other grew even stronger than ever before and when you add them all together we ended up with a year of Faith, Hope and Love that resulted in a Miracle from our Lord. Our Family is truly blessed this year.

Billy now 18 has grown up so much this year and has become a gentleman. He recently finished high school and is preparing to head off to the navy early next year. Billy is a waiter at local restaurant and enjoys skiing twice a week.

Tana is 16 and now has her drivers license and is a Junior in high school. She has a boyfriend and works at an Ice cream store at the mall, babysitter and hangs out with her friends.

Alyssa is 14 and is in 8th grade. She has been doing great in school to prepare for high school. Alyssa is also a babysitter and enjoys hanging out with her friends. She is still our little artist of the family and she is painting many pictures. She has taken a special interest in her Mothers care and I will not be surprised to see her someday working in the health care industry.

John is 8 and still the smiling joy in our house. He works hard at school work and plays every spare minute with the neighborhood boys. Legos, dart gun wars, Xbox, WII are some of his favorite things to do.

I spent the entire year in hospitals praying next to my wife. I watched her for 6 months as she continued to get worse and worse and while I never gave up Hope I continued to pray by her side and ask God to give her back to her family. I watched my children grow up quickly this year and I was amazed and proud on how well they responded to every battle we faced as a family. They flew out to Florida the week of Easter as I felt that their Mother may not make it and all of them handled it well and the week we spent together in the hospital will never be forgotten.

Michele will attend Christmas Eve mass with the family and she will be home Christmas day to spend the holiday with her family. Michele should be home on January 27th exactly 1 year after her fall and we are blessed to have her back.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Miracle Michele, John, Billy, Tana, Alyssa and John John

UPDATE 12/22

2010-12-22T17:30:00.002-05:00

I can't help but write a little note about my visit with Michele this afternoon. I arrived at 3:05 today, and Michele was grinning from ear to ear, telling me that she just got her feed tube taken out 10 minutes ago! She showed me her bandage (see the great pic), said that it hurt, and also said that she was supposed to have PT any minute . . . and that Dr. Stapleton told her just to rest for the remainder of the afternoon. She also just got her period, so between that and the feed tube removal, she was NOT going to PT. (You know what I was thinking . . . WE'LL SEE!)

Heather, the physical therapist came in right on cue and Michele got very upset saying that Dr. Stapleton told her to rest. Heather checked this out and told Michele that Dr. Stapleton had not said this . . . and then the real fun began! Michele got very upset, but after Heather calmed her down, and I told her that maybe I could watch her session and see what she could do, she started smiling and looking to prove herself. I said that there was no way she could be in enough pain that she was smiling at the same time, so she whipped her legs off the side of the bed and pushed herself up so that she was sitting on the side of her bed. She sat up very tall on her own and I was just amazed to be able to see this progress from December 9. She was supporting herself completely, with feet on the floor. Very cool.

Heather first stretched out Michele's right foot and leg, which was really tight. The two of them had a conversation regarding the tightness and the fact that this leg was looser than it was just yesterday. Then, Heather put her wheelchair in front of her, with handles facing Michele. Michele tucked her feet in a bit and with just a little of Heather's help, stood straight up, holding the handles. It was beyond amazing. There was no crying . . . only smiling! I wish I had my camera to show you how she did this. Her hips are still a little tight so her butt was out a bit, but the rest of her body was straight and tall. After standing for about a minute, she reached back towards the bed and sat back down. Then, it was up again to a standing position. She did this three times and on the third time I stood in front of her . . . looking at her eye to eye . . . something I told her we hadn't done in a year! It was so cool and she was smiling! She said "I'm going home to be with my girls and boys!" That's the truth!

After she got back to bed I told Heather that this is Michele's new bar - that she can work through ANYTHING, even the pain of her period and after having her feed tube yanked out! Her headache was only at a 4, which was lower than I've seen in a very long time. She looked great and obviously felt great. The only thing that's bugging her now is that darned eye patch. Amy came in and then an old family friend, Ann Williamson who volunteers at the hospital on Tuesdays. Michele was very talkative and it was a great visit! I left at 4:30 so Amy could give Michele her manicure treatment. And did I mention, NO FEED TUBE!!!!!!!

Cindy.

UPDATE 12/19

2010-12-19T17:27:00.000-05:00

Well it has been just over a week at Mapleton and Michele is doing great. This transition to the 7th and hopefully the last hospital has been one of the hardest. You would think we have this down by now but each new phase she goes through gets tougher and tougher with this one being no different. The family had to come to terms with the fact that it is best that we are not at the hospital during the day as Michele has work to do and we would only be in the way. This is tough as we all have spent so much time with her and know her routine and what she wants and needs, however this is exactly why we needed to stay away. What we were used to is what Michele has to now learn on her own. No more speaking for her, no more getting the tissue box, no more helping get dressed, no more helping to eat. All of these things we all take for granted and Michele has to learn them again as if she was a new born baby. I can proudly say she can now walk over 60 feet with a walker, dress her self, bathe her self, eat, take her meds by mouth, brush her hair and teeth and much more. She does not always want to do the things she is being made to and that is why I made it mandatory that she has no visitors during the day until after 3pm. It is very hard to watch as she trys to say no to therapy and no is not an option. This is her job and she only has a limited amount of time. Because of this she is really progressing very quickly because she wants to come home. Today she started to use the stairs which means she will walk to her bedroom when she finally returns home. Our goal is for her to return home on January 27th which will be the 1 year anniversary of her accident. I have a calendar on her wall and we mark off each day getting closer to our goal. I had Michele's shunt moved again this week as she has lost the ability to say her childrens names and I think the adjustment just may do the trick and we will see over the next few weeks. Michele will be fitted for prism glasses for the time being and we will have her 6th nerve operated on in the future to fix her double vision. My sister Brenda came to visit and helped me with the transition to the new hospital.

John

SPECIAL UPDATE 12/15

2010-12-15T17:12:00.005-05:00

A very special request for my sister Miracle Michele and her family:

Dear Friends and Family,

I have a very special request of you this holiday season. If you know me well, you know how much my sister Michele means to me. This past year has been more difficult than I could ever imagine, for myself… but more importantly for my sister and her family. There are several people I know who can’t live without her, me being one of them.

As you shop for holiday gifts over the next few weeks, please take the flyer below into department stores and grocery stores. Ask to speak to the manager and tell them Michele’s story. Tell them about her children and husband, and what they’ve all endured the past year. Many stores have an alottment of gift cards they can give away for charitable reasons. How great would it be for us to present John and his family with a stack of gift cards to make this a great Christmas!

Regardless of the lifestyle any of us lead, the O’Donnell Family needs our help right now, and I for one am not ashamed or embarrassed to ask for your help. I would do anything for them, so please help me with my fundraiser! John has no idea I’m doing this, but I think he’ll catch on when the gift cards come rolling in.

Please send the gift cards to the address below. On the outside of your envelope write “Amy’s Fundraiser”.

THANK YOU ALL!!!
Michele’s Partner in Crime, Amy

The O’Donnell Family – 1856 Alma Lane Superior, CO 80027

For those of you out of state, our local grocery stores are Safeway, Alberstons, Whole Foods and Kroger Stores.

PRINT FLYER BELOW

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On January 27, 2010 Michele O’Donnell fell and suffered an acute subdural hematoma, requiring emergency surgery to save her life. She was in Cancun, Mexico on vacation with her family, and spent the next month in ICU fighting for her life in and out of comas, and enduring a multitude of infections in the hospital in Mexico. Her husband John was by her side the entire time.
When Michele was stable enough to fly back to the United States on a Medivac flight, John was by her side when they landed on US soil. It was an emotional day for her entire family. Although the family lives in Colorado, the closest flight from Mexico was to Miami, Florida, as Michele's safety was priority. She spent the next 2 months in ICU, enduring another hematoma, several surgeries and another round of infections. There was no real prognosis of Michele’s recovery, it was a constant waiting game and there were no clear answers or solutions to her injuries. John remained by her side in Miami, and flew the kids down during Easter when things looked like they were taking a turn for the worse.

In April, Michele was stable enough to make the trip home to Colorado on another Medivac flight with John. She endured another surgery, replacing the portion of her skull that was removed and discarded in Miami. She spent another 2 weeks in ICU before being transferred to an acute care hospital for 5 months, a skilled nursing facility for 2 months, and is currently going through intense physical, occupational and speech therapy for 50 days in a specialized rehab facility for patients with brain injuries.

Michele O’Donnell is the mother of 4 children, Billy 18, Tana 16, Alyssa 14, and John John 9. She is married to her high school sweetheart, John of nearly 20 years. Michele has always lived her life to the fullest and truly enjoys being a mother and wife. She loves to cook, and created her own cookbook for friends and family of recipes that she has created over the years. Her home is her domain, and is a place where Michele entertains friends and family often, for any occasion.
We hope that Michele regains the ability to walk and talk, so that she can lead the life she deserves to lead. As before, her life will be dedicated to raising her children and enjoying a fulfilling marriage with her husband. Her husband and 4 children are clearly her purpose for living. YOU MAY FOLLOW MICHELE’S RECOVERY AT http://www.miraclemichele.blogspot.com/

UPDATE 12/8

2010-12-09T14:38:00.001-05:00

It has been some time since my last email but the action has not stopped regarding Michele's recovery. Every day is a new day and full of accomplishments. I have spent the last 2 weeks planning Michele's next step in her progression towards her ultimate goal of returning home for good. Michele needs to go to an Acute rehab facility which means she needs to participate at least 3 hours a day. This is a tough task for someone that has spent 10 months without moving at all however I do believe Michele is ready for the next step in her recovery and when I ask her if she is ready she says yes but she is scared. Her therapy is hard and changing hospitals brings new chalanges and more work. If you know my Michele you all know she is a hard worker and she will make it ovr time. She is not one to give up easily and over time she will get used to her new schedule. I have included below the last 2 updates from her sisters to let you all know what she has been doing the last few days. Michele will be discharged from the Boulder Manor tomorrow morning at 9:30 AM and heading to Mapleton Rehab Center located in Boulder. This facility is close to home and gives the family a chance to help in her rehab on a daily basis. You will see below what progress Michele has made recently as she has discovered the "PHONE" I get a call 3-4 times a day and I cant tell you how excited I am to talk to my wife during the day no matter where I am. I have spent the last 11 months making an effort to go to the hospital to kiss my wife good night EVERY night and I still do for the most part but this new communication takes us to a new level as I can actually have a conversation with her over the phone and it is like when we were teens. You know the story! "I love you! I love you too! ok you hang up first, no you, OK on the count of three we both hang up. 1,2,3 are you still there of course I am you did not hang up, but you agreed to hang up, so did you. Ok lets try this again on the count of 3 we will hang up. OK? Yes.

I feel like a kid again! John

12-06-10 by Amy McAlister

Michele had a great evening... she was REALLY talkative! It's amazing that now she can almost talk in full sentences. AND she's HILARIOUS!!! We were laughing pretty hard. One of her favorite things to do is talk on the phone, and boy did she ever surprise me yesterday!!!

Michele called my work phone around 12:50 yesterday. I was so surprised when I answered! Although we used to talk every day, she was actually the last person I expected to hear on the other line. I asked her if Cindy was there and she said, "no she just left". So I asked if Cindy wrote down my work number for her and she said, "no, I remembered it!". WOW!!! Amazing!!! I called her again when I left work to tell her I was on the way and ask if she needed anything. It's really cool that she has this new connection to the outside world!

Billy called to chat with his Mom for awhile, and Michele also talked to Karen at length.

We practiced names earlier in the evening, and it really upsets her when she can't get names right. When she holds up 4 fingers I know she's referring to the kids. It's a relief when she laughs at herself when she gets the name wrong, and she's determined to get it right.

Overall, Michele had no complaints last night, other than her meds were late. She called Lindsay in to ask for them. Dinner was ordered, and when it arrived, she ate quite a bit - pasta with a light meat sauce. She seemed to enjoy it. Amy.

12-08-10 Cindy Skerjanec.

I write this report today with mixed feelings . . . thinking about how far Michele has come at Boulder Manor, and getting the news today that she will move over to Mapleton Rehabilitation Center TOMORROW MORNING! Yes, John was able to work some magic and get her approved to move quickly. Michele is a little nervous about it (she keeps thinking that she needs to be walking on day one) but everyone that came in and talked to her today, or said goodbye, told her that she was going to do great! She had a sweet and tearful goodbye with Carla, as she told Carla that she loved her and thanked her for everything she did. There wasn't a dry eye in the room.

She was in good spirits and even sent me out (with Carla's approval) to McDonald's to get her a plain cheeseburger since she had missed the lunch tray earlier in the afternoon. Carla worked with her on speech while John worked with the wheelchair guy on fitting Michele's wheelchair with some new bells and whistles.

Michele pointed to the pictures and practiced names as John carefully removed all of the pictures from the walls and the closet door. He got everything boxed up and ready to go for tomorrow, taking most of it with him in his car. The room is pretty bare now, which made the reality of it all hit home. We have all gotten so comfortable with the staff, knowing each person by name and by their quirky personality traits, and knowing her schedule to a tee. Now all of that is going to be new again, which I think scares Michele a little, too. She had that place hopping!

Her head was itchy, so when Liz came, she and I washed Michele's hair in her bed and she said it felt much better afterwards. Billy was going to stop by and have dinner with Liz and Michele in her room, which she was really looking forward to.

Hard to believe that we are on to a new adventure again . . . one surely to be filled with many more exciting advancements! John said that the staff at Mapleton will need some time to evaluate Michele, and get her routine and schedule down before we all make our plans to visit. Stay tuned for more information as we work to accommodate the new facility and the new rhythm of Michele's schedule. We will get a new schedule together once everything has been established, but I'm guessing that next week will be a family-only week as we set the stage for this new stepping stone for Michele. Cindy.

Our Miracle does not seem to stop and only gets better by the day. Michele and I spent the evening last night going over her complete story including pictures of what she has been through. Yes all the gory details I have told her and shown all pictures. She was amazed, emotional and in wonderment. She asked why am I alive? This was really bad! Why am I still hear? I told her she was a true Miracle and we all need to appreciate the wonderful gife that has been give to us and use our new gift of life to the fullest potential. She agreed and we vowed to work together to make the best of the miracle that has been bestowed upon our family. Michele is determined to get better and continue her life with her family and friends. It is only a matter of time now.

John

UPDATE 11/25

2010-11-25T23:05:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Our family has a lot to be thankful for this year. Michele came home today from 1pm to 8pm and we had 16 people at the house. I cooked my first Turkey and it turned out perfect. The rest of the family brought dishes and help out to make this a wonderful Thanksgiving feast. Michele is normally the one in the kitchen as cooking is her passion. Today was my turn to do the cooking and she kept calling me over to tell me she was bored. I could tell she wanted to help but she is not ready for that yet. Michele did have dinner and ate half her plate. Last night I spent the time to write our prayer for thanksgiving and I though I would share it with all as it really does have a common factor between all faiths. "The commitment to life" Again our family has a lot to be thankful for and we will never forget it. I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

John

Thanksgiving Prayer 2010

Lord God we pray to you in rejoice of the life you have spared upon our family. Our petty living and abundance's have separated us from our true vision in your eyes over time but you have always shown us the true way to "love life and prayer" in your name. We are all thankful for the true miracle you have bestowed upon us and we vow now to never let that miracle be forgotten and we promise to use this opportunity to help others in need.

Your servant our Pope Benedict XVI has ask us all to join him in prayer this weekend of Thanksgiving Saturday at dusk, to pray for the commitment of life that has been given to us all by you our savior. How appropriate for a nation wide prayer after 500 years from a Pope to pray for life that is of all race, creed and religion in common. Our family has only one prayer and it is yours, one of life love and family. We pray to you for continued blessings upon our family and we continue to pray to you to continue your work to help our dear Miracle Michele as she struggles in her recovery by your guidance.

Bless our food and our family as we are thankful for the life you have given us all.

UPDATE 11/24

2010-11-24T12:44:00.000-05:00

"Projects" as we call them in the O'Donnell family are often events were us men have nothing else to do but to tear down something and build in the new. It is often a hobby and keeps us busy and out of trouble. Over the years I have learned my share of handyman talents mostly from my Father as well as my Brother and Uncles. Since Michele and I bought our home we have just about renovated every part of the house but our bathroom. I wanted to do something special for Michele before her arrival home for good as in her condition she would never be able to use our current master bathroom including the shower, tub and toilet. What Michele needed was a handicap accessible bathroom that she cold use when she return home.

Well with that said about 4 weeks ago I got out the tools and started demolition. The usual trusted and steady helpers followed immediately, Brian, Billy and John John. After a week of demo and reconstruction I started to feel the work wearing on me. I forgot one helper that was always by my side, telling me to stop for the evening, feeding me and messaging my muscles for the next day "Michele". My point was I would go non stop with out Michele. I was truly wearing myself out for the first time in my life with a "project". This was not like me but I had to call in the troops. Other than my Father who would have been at my home in a moments notice the next best and most trusted carpenter I know showed up within a week to help with the project. Jim O'Donnell my Uncle, my fathers brother as well as Brians father came to the rescue. His wife Kathy came to keep us all in line, cook wonderful food and help with being a caregiver to Michele. Brian and I had most of the construction done before Jim arrived and honestly I had never done tile work before. I guess that was the one thing my father never taught me in construction. I can tell you though that from the tutelage of his brother Jim I have now learned the art of tiling. Jim upon his arrival decided on the pattern we should make and OH! it just so happens it is one of the toughest patterns to do. I feel like I can tile the world now after learning what we did. As you can see from the Pics below Michele now has a wonderful 35 square foot shower with 3 shower heads and a seat. she can operate the shower from a sitting position or from a wheelchair. Her toilet is handicap approved and she has handle bars all around where needed.

After 4 weeks of non stop work in the evenings till 3AM at times the work was done. My fathers brother came to the rescue and I thank him and Kathy for that. My trusted right hand man Brian never left my side and my 2 sons learned something from this that my father was never able to teach me. My wish was for Michele to see the finished project and that has yet to come. She is unable to get to the upstairs without being carried and she is not ready for that. She has seen the Pics and is waiting for the day to see the unbelievable job done by the trusted O'Donnell boys.

Thanks guys and this one is for the scrap book!

John

UPDATE 11/22

2010-11-22T12:37:00.000-05:00

Last week we had a very nice visit from the Local 7th and 8th grades from Eldorado Elementery School where John and Alyssa attend. The event was so nice and Michele enjoyed it very much as well as much of the residents of the Boulder Manor. I would like to thank the children and the parents that made this happen and a specuial thanks to the music director of the school Mr Call. They made this night a very special one and Michele was once again enjoying her music and beat to the rythym.

Dori Ariniello attended this event and I asked her to give her perspective.

"During my visit with Michele this past Tuesday, Alyssa, Michele's youngest daughter, brought her in a wonderful surprise. Mr. Call and the El Dorado school choir came to the Boulder Manor to surprise Michele and the other residents with their beautiful voices. Since I already knew about the surprise, I brought Annalise with me. We got Michele all ready and in her chair by 4:30 and shortly after Alyssa, John and John John arrived to deliver the news. Alyssa rolled Michele down into the Community room where a lot of other residents had already gathered and put Michele right up infront of the choir. I sat on the side and took pictures most of the time while I listened to the wonderful children singing their hearts out. The one thing that captured my attention while taking pictures was the look on Michele's face. The way she looked at Alyssa and John John, the love she has for them was written all over her face. She motioned at one point for John John's hand. He reached up and put his hand in hers and her smile could light up the room. She then started tapping their hands together to the beat of the music the choir was singing. It was a great experience. After about 4 or 5 songs, they asked the choir to come out to the cafeteria where there were several others waiting to hear them sing.
Love, Dori"

Life passes us by so quickly and special events like this usually only open to us by special circumstance as in our case. I first hand experienced the wonder of the faces of the residence and how much they truly enjoyed these children singing with all their hearts. It was enlightining to witness and I hope to withness and be involved in more similiar special activities for those in need in the future. I have said in the past, Michele and I will spend a life time paying our good fortune of health and happiness forward to others. Miracles are not often given and we will not waste the one that has been bestowed upon us.

UPDATE 11/17

2010-11-17T22:23:00.002-05:00

A quick note from Micheles sister Cindy.

I arrived at 8:30 this morning, surprised to find Michele awake. She greeted me with a smile and a wave. She said she was feeling good and we talked about her headache. She said that she was fine and I asked her what she thought she got the headaches from. She pointed to both her eyes and then covered up the right one and then the left one. I asked her if she could see me fine with each one and she said yes, but as we know, has a hard time focusing with both eyes. I guess that would give me a headache, too. I mentioned to her that I had a conference call at 9:30 that I had to take, so I'd probably slip out of PT for a bit to be on that call. I asked her if she was ready to get changed, but my sister has a schedule. She wanted to get ready at 8:55 so that Sonja and Donna could get her at 9:00. Fine with me!

She was feeling her left temple and I asked her if her head hurt or itched. She shook her head no and was trying to say something as she rubbed her temple. I felt her temple and it was indented a bit. Since I don't normally touch her head, I don't know if that is a new indent since the shunt adjustment or not. Just thought I'd make a note of it.

At 8:55 I asked her if it was OK that we get her ready now, and she smiled and said yes. JWe got her in shorts quickly and the CNAs were in like clockwork as well to transfer Michele. Sonja met us in the room and we headed down to PT. Sonja said that she was going to do the bike today and Michele wasn't thrilled with it, but in Michele style she worked through it. The bike has a regular seat, and she can push with her legs and push/pull with her arms (see attached photo). She was told do pedal for 5 minutes. When the 5 minutes were up (and 11 calories burned) Donna asked her if she'd like to continue or stop. She shrugged, didn't miss a beat, and kept pedaling away! Shortly after, she looked at the clock, and pointed to me and the clock and started saying something. Of course, she was telling me that it was time to get on my conference call. Always looking out for everyone else!!!!

I left and took the call in Michele's room. The three of them came back at about 9:50 and said that they had Michele standing up on a special walker and she took 5 steps! They had to support her a great deal, but she did it! Donna took a couple more pics for me and I will send them when I get them. Michele asked for her eye patch and we watched Price is Right as I put some lotion on her legs and got her situated with a nebulizer treatment. She wasn't sick all morning and didn't pinch her nose once. Dad came in at 10:45 and I left at 11 just as they were getting her ready to move back to bed.

Michele is a Rock Star!

Cindy

UPDATE 11/10

2010-11-14T22:22:00.002-05:00

This is an article on the front page of the Colorado Home Town news paper.
John

Road to recovery

By Kimberli Turner
Colorado Hometown Weekly

The Superior mother of four has always been the rock of the family, someone her children and husband, John, could turn to for anything.

But now, it's their support she needs.

Michele is in a wheelchair and recovering at Boulder Manor from the head trauma she received while vacationing in Cancun on Jan. 27.

Michele slipped and fell in the bathroom of the family's timeshare, and hit her head, causing a brain hemorrhage that required an immediate operation.

She was in a drug-induced coma for a week during her month-long stay in a hospital in Mexico.

Michele was then moved to a Florida hospital for two months where she suffered a second brain hemorrhage, which doctors said was rare, John O'Donnell said.

John said he flew the couple's four kids down to see her during Easter week following the hemorrhage because she was on life support and he was afraid she was going to die.

"She was just barely hanging on," he said. This was one of eight times the family faced losing the woman who had always been the family's strength. "When (nearly losing your wife) happens multiple times, like a roller coaster, you just keep fighting," John said. "I have a wife who won't quit fighting. If she won't quit, I won't quit. We will continue our family."

Following Michelle's initial injury, her family did its best to fill in for her.

Her 18-year-old son, Billy, who was not in Cancun at the time, flew down to retrieve his sisters Alyssa, 14, and Tana, 16, and his 8-year-old brother, John John, while his father stayed to look after their mother. "After this event, we've become a lot closer in helping each other," Billy said.
"It wasn't hard," he said of taking care of his siblings, with help from Michele's mother. "I took them to school, made sure they ate, that they didn't kill each other," he said.

When Michele finally returned to Colorado in April, she spent five months at Kindred Hospital in Denver, where she remained in a comatose state for 45 days.

John said after doctors adjusted a shunt that controls the drainage in Michele's head, she began responding.

"It took me 45 days to get the right doctor to say what I wanted him to say," he said. "It was like watching grass grow in the beginning. She would move one finger one day and move another finger three days later. Now I see progress every single day."

Every movement means she is a step closer to her road to recovery.

Michele has been home for a couple hours twice since the accident, and was able to present the coin toss at John John's Mustang football game Saturday, Oct. 30, in Superior.

John John was thankful to have her at his game. "It felt good," he said with a big grin.

John said he hopes to have Michele back at home in January, nearly one year after her fall, and he has constructed a wheelchair ramp and an accessible shower for her.

They will start with baby steps, he said, bringing her home for Thanksgiving, and a sleep-over at Christmas. She will also undergo intense physical therapy at Craig Hospital in December, and John is hopeful he'll soon bring his "Miracle Michele" home for good.

"I'm convinced she's going to walk up the stairs to her bedroom," he said. "That trip might be exhausting, but that's our goal."

Michele, who also had lung punctures, a blood disease and received a tracheotomy in the last nine months, is still working at speaking. She can say a few words, but her eyes say it all when she looks at her husband.

When John asks her what her favorite thing to say is, she responds with, "I love you."

To help with medical expenses, donations can be made in person or by mail to the O'Donnell Family Fund, 1st Bank, 500 South McCaslin Blvd., Louisville

UPDATE 11/11

2010-11-11T15:06:00.001-05:00

Michele attended her first outdoor adventure in the last nine months. Her son John has been playing for the Mustang football league and they ended up divisional champions. Michele wanted to see one of his playoff games before the end of the season and we were invite by coach Steve to not only attend but as he stated we would do something nice to honor her hard work and perseverance. He hinted as to having Michele do the coin toss at the beginning of the game. Michele worked hard to practice her coin toss all week in preparing of the big day. During this time of the year you could have sunny 80 degree weather or it could be snowing. We were blessed with the most beautiful day and Michele even got a little color.

When we arrived early the boys were practicing before the game and coach Steve asked to do a team photo, presented Michele with a hat signed by all of the players and coaches, a team roster and roses. Much to our surprise this was a wonderful gesture by the entire team. Michele listened while the boys chanted her name and the team name.

Well game time came quickly after that and we were prepared to go out to the center of the field with the refs and 3 team managers John being one of them from each team. Well again much to our surprise all of the team members including coaches from both teams all came out to the center of the field and took a knee all around for Michele to make the toss. Michele had her moment and did a great job.

I want to thank all of the Mustang players as well as all of the coaches for making a very special moment for "Miss Michele" in a difficult time in her life. Not to mention what it will do to a small 8 year old son named John. I also want to thank the Mustang organization as John would have never had the chance at this experience without the donation from the league presented by Steve Smith.

Did I mention the Mustangs won 5 touchdowns to 1 to a very good team in the league. As we left the game the entire team chanted as we walked to the car to leave. What a wonderful day and a wonderful experience prresented by a wonderful team of young boys and dedicated coaches.

John

UPDATE 11/3

2010-11-03T13:44:00.002-04:00

Tuesday

When I arrived this morning at 8:45, Michele was sleeping soundly. She woke up a little later and was very stiff and it looked as though she had spit up on the sheet to her right side. Shannon came in at that point, so we changed Michele's clothes and got her all freshened up. Donna and Shelly (PT) told Michele that they were going to put her into her chair with the standing lift (they had a special name for it, but I don't remember what it was called.) Michele didn't like that one bit, but we pressed forward. They strapped the belt around her waist, and lifted her up to a standing position with the machine. Then, they pivoted her and sat her down in her chair.

Niki came in to give Michele her morning "cocktail"" of meds, which as of last night no longer includes Robitussin, the brucella antibiotic, one of the stimulants and the folic acid. She's still on the anti-seizure meds, and John wants to keep her on them since she is doing so well. Don't want to take a step back. While in the chair, Michele began rubbing her left temple and pinching the upper part of her nose - like she had sinus pain. Niki gave her Tylenol with codeine, and PT began in front on Michele's mirror at her sink.

While sitting there, Michele put her fingers up to her trach hole and was looking at it. Shelly told her that it is healing up really well. Shelly had her brush her teeth, brush her hair, put deodorant on, and put chapstick on. Michele was having a hard time unclenching her right hand. She can do it - Shelly was just new to Michele's situation, I think.

Donna mentioned to me that Michele doesn't always get up for afternoon PT in her chair, and that in order for us to get to the next stage and get her to Craig, she needs to tolerate more chair time. I told Michele that in order for her to reach our goal, moving to her chair twice per day is so important. She promised me she'd do it, but Caregivers, please help Michele with this process in the afternoon. While sometimes she might be super sick (where you might want to cut her some slack) most of the time she can certainly tolerate it. John is going to talk to the staff about not asking Michele in the afternoon, but telling her that it's time to move to her chair. I know this seems harsh, but it's the only way we're going to get her progressing steps closer to getting home. It's much easier to lie in bed, but she has definitely proven that she can work . . . read on .

We went to the PT room and Michele sat on the side of the bed near the bars, facing them. Shelly was trying to physically open up Michele's right hand, but Michele was frustrated by this. I told Michele to just relax and stretch out her fingers like she always does, and this amazing person stretched out her fingers on her own, beautifully. Shelly was amazed and said that this was "active" use of the hand and not just relaxation. Michele was also proud of herself.

Her feet were nice and flat on the floor, and we got her all prepped to stand up while holding the bar. Of course, I didn't have my camera this time, but let me tell you, it is so amazing to see her stand! I know how much muscle strength it takes her to accomplish this, and even though she shakes just a little, she pushes through it. (Heather from Kindred would be so proud!!) Donna and Shelly were supporting her, so I got in front of her - eye to eye - and reminded her of our goal. She nodded her head "yes" and I told her that this is how we were going to get there.

Then, she sat down and Shelly asked her to support herself on the bed with her hands. Shelly moved away from Michele, and Michele supported herself in a seated position for a FULL 5 MINUTES while we talked about her and John, among other things. I was right in front of her again, just watching how she used her core strength to keep herself balanced. She would often self-correct and lift up her head and body so she was sitting up straight. It was quite amazing to see. I said, "see how I told you that you can do this" and she gave me some "Michele attitude" back, like "yeah, yeah, yeah." Priceless.

She stood up once more, and then she was back in her chair. She was using her legs to push herself back into her chair, so she is definitely gaining muscle strength. By then it was 10:00 - just in time for Price is Right, so we zoomed back to her room to get us there in time! JShe asked for her eye patch, and at 10:30 asked for her nebulizer treatment. That girl knows her schedule! We called the nurse in at 10:45 (as I had to leave) so we could get things in motion to get her back to her bed. Since I was on a time crunch, I put the call button and the bucket next to her in case she needed them and told them to push the button again if they weren't in there in 5 minutes. John was coming to take her to her appointment this afternoon. She did SOOOOO well today.

Thursday

I had a great morning with Michele. She worked VERY hard today! Donna and Sonja came in at 9:15 and moved her to her chair - without the board. Michele put her feet on the floor for a few moments to aide in the pivot and transfer. We got to the PT room where Carla joined us - it was a big group effort today!

Michele sat unassisted for a bit . . . what a great accomplishment! (see the first picture - that's Donna behind her trying to get out of the way while I snapped the photo - Michele is supporting herself on her own!). She also put deodorant on for herself (after saying "deodorant" and removing the cap herself), brushed her own teeth, brushed her own hair, washed her own face, and put chapstick on. With each of these tasks, she had to say the word . . . like brush, or chapstick before she used the item. She did REALLY well. You can see her grimacing in some of these photos since she was obviously working hard! (Amy her nails look FABULOUS in the pic of her putting the cap back on her chapstick) - that takes a lot of dexterity and she did it with ease! Sonja thought that in the next week or so they could try doing these things by her sink in her room so that she'd have her mirror and all of her supplies in front of her.

Carla fed Michele some thickened water from a spoon and also had her try some vanilla pudding. She didn't like the taste of that, but was able to FEED HERSELF NUMEROUS TIMES! It was amazing to see the control she had as she lifted the spoon into her mouth. Absolutely incredible. I told her that soon we could go across the street to that Gelato shop! JCarla is working on getting the swallow test scheduled for next week. She's ready.

We were all amazed by the progress she has made in just the last few weeks! After the session, Michele and I headed back to her room to get our sunglasses before going outside. Tracey came over for a surprise visit, so the three of us headed outside to soak in some sun. Michele took her sunglasses out of her case and put them on herself! The three of us were out there 'til 11, and then Michele got to bed at 11:15, got some Tylenol with C at 11:30 (said her head was hurting) and I put her boots on shortly after. She's looking really good, and the two of us made a secret agreement that she'd be walking by the end of November. She said she thought she could do it by then . . . I have no doubt!

Friday

Without a doubt, Michele is on a completely new track. When I walked in at 2:55 today, I pointed at the clock and she pointed at the clock with a huge smile. It's Dr. Phil time! Before I turned on the show I reminded her of our "walk by the end of November" goal. She smiled and nodded her head. I reminded her how much her muscles had atrophied, so we decided to put together a workout plan for my visit. During each commercial of Dr. Phil and more than half of Oprah, we did leg exercises. Not much at a time, just 5 sets on each leg each time, but she did it! She would lift each leg and touch my hand with her foot. (See the picture of her workout move, attached). She is much stronger with her left leg than she is with her right. Then, I had her bend her knee and straighten her leg as she pushed her foot against my hand. She's got a lot of strength. She's also got a very strong will, so with this goal in mind, I know she's going to work hard.

Kenzie called and she talked to her on speaker, and Mom called and she spoke to her by holding the phone up to her own ear. She said very clear words to both of her callers. Mid-Oprah, Donna (RN) came in to change out Michele's food. Donna was getting ready to leave and Michele looked over at her and said something to her. I said, "Donna, Michele wanted to tell you something." Michele started waving her hands and making lots of noises. I was getting ready for the frustrating game of trying to figure out what she wanted but that didn't happen. Donna asked her if she wanted Tylenol, and Michele shook her head no. I asked her if she was in pain, and she shook her head no. She was pointing to her mouth and I said, "Oh, is it time for your nebulizer treatment?" She said yes! It was a great accomplishment for us to figure this out so quickly. Donna told Michele that she could have more than 2 treatments per day if she wanted to . . . good to know.

There was a portable toilet in the room but Michele said she hadn't used it. Perhaps they are getting ready to start working with that. I had Michele try and work the remote . . . she pushed channel 5 with the greatest of ease (that's The Price is Right and Dr. Phil!!) Funny!

When I was getting ready to leave I asked her if she knew if John was coming tonight. She shrugged her shoulder so I decided to call him and put him on speaker. As soon as he started talking, she got a huge smile on her face. He asked her if she wanted him to bring her earrings to wear so her holes wouldn't close up. She said, loud and clear, "no". I said she'd be home soon enough and she could wear all of her jewelry. JI left shortly after 5 and she wanted to listen to her music.

She is going home for the day on Sunday again. If you are coming by next week and want to drop off some bagged candy, the Manor is having trick-or-treating for kids, and the residents are giving out the candy. You can just leave a bag or two at the front desk.

Love,

C

UPDATE 10/19

2010-10-19T13:53:00.000-04:00

Michele has had a great week so far since being back from her day trip home on Sunday.

Today, we took the van to her appointments, and she was able to travel by wheelchair. We visited with the Neurologist (Dr. Zacharias) and the Ophthalmologist (Dr. Utlaut). When we returned from the appointments, Cindy was waiting for Michele in her room. I gave her the updates as Michele nodded her head to agree with what I was saying, occasionally rolling her eyes as I told about the various problems we had to deal with during our visits. Overall, the news coming out of the visits was very good. Here are the highlights:

• The 3rd nerve in Michele's left eye has some damage. The nerve will heal on its own as the brain continues to make connections and she continues to heal.
• Michele can wear the patch on her left eye as needed to help her see the TV, pictures, and the computer better.
• In a couple of weeks they will assess whether a shunt adjustment needs to be made. The doctor agreed that moving the shunt up will allow them to see if Michele makes additional progress. If it for some reason sets her back, they will move the shunt back to its current position.
• She does not have fluid on the brain which they were concerned about a few weeks ago.
• When Doctor Z asked her to move her legs she was able to lift each foot all the way up. Dr. Z said that
because of her ability to move this way, she
will very likely walk again.

Michele is all caught up on emails and enjoys listening to them, but is not yet ready to respond to them herself . . . but keep them coming! It is great to hear what you are doing and how you are thinking about her and praying for her.

She is really doing some amazing things that show her personality shining though. Today, I was talking to Alyssa on the phone about her plans for the afternoon. Alyssa was planning to go to youth group, but wanted to visit Jordan in the hospital. I told her that it seemed like visiting Jordan was a good idea and Michele was nodding her head in full agreement at my decision.

Cindy put her ear buds in so she could listen to music during her nebulizer treatment. As she was getting her treatment, she was tapping her finger away to the beat of the music.

Yes that is me doing nails in the last picture! I found that I am good at many more things than I though I was even able to do. The motivation is very simple. What my wife wants and needs she will get if I have anything to do with it. As I tell her every day I love her with all my heart and I will never diviate from that not even for a second in time.

John

UPDATE 10/16

2010-10-16T13:52:00.000-04:00

I have been busy so below is an email from Cindy about her visit with Michele on Thursday.

John

It was a really nice afternoon with Michele!

She got her food turned on at 12:15 and I put her boots on at 12:30. She and I both napped from 12:45-1:15, and she continued napping 'til 1:45.

I gave her a facial and we turned on some TV. On a commercial I asked her if she remembered what John's cell phone number was . . . I was wondering if she could write it on her board. She moved her left hand around as if to say "I'll write it" and she wrote 303-665-9157. The first "5" could have easily been an 8. She smiled when I told her that was right and that she was amazing.

Carla came in at 2:30 and first did 5 swallows of pink lemonade. (By the way, I mentioned the acidity of the OJ from Wednesday, so she is going to steer clear of that in case it was heartburn). Carla was making her work on quick swallows - not leaving it in her mouth too long so she wouldn't accidentally choke. Michele did FANTASTIC. Then, Carla had Michele say the days of the week. It was AMAZING how clearly she said all of them . . . especially FRIDAY! We all laughed when I said that it must be her favorite day of the week. Carla then had Michele name everyone in her family. She named everyone. Her mouth movements were perfect, although most of the names were in whispers . . . until she loudly and clearly in her own voice said "Mom" and "Dad". We laughed and cried and Michele was obviously happy with hearing her own voice so clearly as well.

Carla then did 5 more lemonade swallows with Michele and moved on to sisters. Carla said you have two sisters - who are they? First, Michele said "Cindy". Carla said right, who's next? Michele said, "Michele". We both smiled . . . Carla said, right, there's Cindy, Michele, and who else? And Michele said, "Amy". Carla said, let's try nieces and nephews and Michele shook her head no. I said that one of her nieces visited her yesterday with her boyfriend. Carla said, oh, what is your niece's name, Michele? Michele looked up and tried to think about it and then looked at me. I said, well, that's a hard one because we all call her Kenzie but her Aunt Michele always calls her by her full name, MacKenzie, and that is a long one. But, Michele took a deep breath and said MacKenzie in a whisper. Beautiful. She also said Taylor.

Carla gave her 2 more sips of lemonade and told Michele that she is going to have to set her goals higher because Michele keeps exceeding all of the weekly goals she is setting! Michele was very happy and worked very hard. It was amazing to see. We also talked about Alyssa's upcoming birthday and Michele told Carla that she was going to be 14 (she said 14). Carla asked her what type of cake Alyssa liked. Michele was struggling to say it so she wrote "Bunna". Carla repeated the letters to her and then Michele said "Banana". I don't know if that's the kind of cake that Alyssa really likes, but at least she said it!!!

After Carla left I got Michele comfortable and told her it was time for me to go. She started trying to say something to me but I couldn't understand what it was. I asked her to say it to me one word at a time but I still couldn't understand. I went through all of the body stuff to make sure she was comfortable, but that wasn't it. We were both getting frustrated. I said does it have to do with your music or the TV? She clearly said "Yes". OK, now we're getting somewhere!!! I said would you like me to turn your TV on? She said a clear "Yes". Sweet! Now we're making some progress! I said, "do you know what channel you want it on?" She also said, Yes! I flipped on the TV and then went through each channel slowly. She was moving her left hand around as if to say, "keep going, keep going". I finally ended up on Dr. Phil (the show we always watch together) and I say OH, DR. PHIL?!?!?! She smiled BIG and said YES! I said OK, so say Dr. Phil for me so I know how it sounds, and she said it perfectly. Whew! We were both sweating up a storm trying to figure that one out, but she really smiled at me when I finally got it! I said that Dr. Phil would be on 'til 4 and then I think Oprah is on . . . to which she closed her eyes and nodded her head. She already knew that.  I told her that Amy would be there mid-Oprah.

I really do try and keep these emails short . . . but they just get away from me. Lots of great accomplishments - again - today! Overall, a wonderful afternoon! She gave me the I Love You sign when I left, and when I kissed her on the cheek, she kissed me back.

Love,
C

UPDATE 10/11

2010-10-11T13:55:00.000-04:00

Below are 2 emails written today by family. I think they speak for themselves.

John

AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING!!! I couldn't believe my eyes AND EARS tonight! Michele was absolutely entertaining this evening!!! John was there when I arrived, painting her nails. She was so annimated, smiling, raising her eyebrows, and yes - she stuck her tongue out at John again (at his request) and we all laughed. The look of accomplishment on her face is overwhelming.

She said "I love you" and "bye" to John. Just before she is going to say something, her eyes get really big and she's really thinking about saying something, then she takes a big breath, and out come the words.

After John left, he eyes got really big again, so I got close to her, and she took a breath and said, "I like your hair" pointing to her head. I couldn't believe it! I had my hair colored yesterday and was waiting for someone ALL DAY long to notice... and there it was. My sister... my amazing miracle of a sister told me with a smile that she liked my hair. Instant tears. Mike RN walked in and asked if everything was okay and I told him what happened.

Michele was AMAZING all night tonight! I put some new songs on my IPod and she turned her head from left to right bobbing in a groove to the music!!! Then she strummed her leg like a guitar and was wiggling her toes. I kept asking her if she liked the song that just played and she can shake her head YES like I've never seen before. Dr. Horton came in and she answered all of his questions, as well with Mike RN discussing what kind of meds she wanted. She completely lifted her right leg off the bed while I took the boots on/off.

When I left, tears in my eyes kleenex in hand, Mike caught me in the hallway and said "are you still crying?" We both agreed that Michele is a different person today. She has turned a corner. She is truly amazing.

On my way home, I called John and Cindy to tell them the amazing things Michele did. It wasn't like off and on, she was ON the whole time I was there. Cindy told me that before she left on Sunday, she said the rosary out loud to Michele and they both prayed for a miracle. Cindy begged Our Blessed Mother, as Michele is a Mother herself, for a miracle. That prayer was answered.

Hail Mary full of Grace the Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, AMEN!!!

Michele's sister Amy

Oh my Gosh!! I'm changing Michele's title to Amazing, Miracle Michele.
When I got to the manor, Michele was resting before her trip to BCH to get her tube changed. We headed out a little after 2 and then waited and waited at the hospital till they were ready for us. Michele's toes were just dancing while she was laying on the stretcher. I said to John, "look at those dancing toes" and she started to do it even more and had this big grin on her face. It was so cute.
Today she told John "I love you" and she said "Mom" "No" and "Bye". It's so exciting. You have to remind her to take a big deep breath before she tries to say anything. She also stuck out her tongue at John--he asked her to!!
We got the tube changed--back to the same one that Dr. Chetham put in two weeks ago. The one that Dr. Miller put in last week was definitely the wrong one and one of the technicians even said that it was the only one they had in stock, so that's the one they used. WRONG!
The big issue is the lack of flushing the tube before and after the feeding tube is put on or taken off. I suggest that each time a caregiver goes to the Manor, we ask the RN to come in and flush the tube. Even if they said they did it a half hour ago, get them to flush it again. That's the only way we will keep it flowing.
It was a good afternoon, even though we did a lot of waiting at the hospital. The procedure only took about 15 minutes.

Michele's Mother Sue

UPDATE 10/9

2010-10-10T20:53:00.005-04:00

It has been a busy week. Michele's feeding tube was clogged again last Sunday right before we were to travel home for a visit. She has 2 tubes in one and the smaller one that is for her food was clogged therefore we just used the medicine tube to feed her until we could go to the hospital on Monday.

So we were not going to let this little problem spoil our trip home. I was at the manor at 9am and Michele was dressed and ready for go when I arrived. The yellow cab van was on time at 10am and off we went for our 8.5 mile trip home for the first time since January 19th. I sat in the back of the van talking to her and explaining what to expect. She was in her wheel chair and could see outside the front window of the cab perfectly and when we turned onto our street her eyes opened wide. Since I was facing her I did not see what she was looking at until I turned around to see for myself. We had about 60 family, friends and neighbors covering the street holding purple and white baloons. Many were written on with note of love and encourgment. I asked the van driver to back into our garage so we could unload Michele on an even surface and once she was out and the van left she got a big cheer for everyone. "WELCOME HOME MICHELE" words cannot explain the overwhelming emotion of appreciation I felt to see so many people routing for my wife. Michele was given her own baloon and I asked her to release her first and she did and the rest soon followed. Michele spent a few minutes outside so she could see everyone then when she was ready she motioned that she was ready to go inside. Once inside she did get sick for a moment and soon it was over and we got her in her recliner and she relaxed for the next 2 hours. She had a wonderful time and within 3 hours we were heading back to the Manor.

When I returned home I ate lunch and went to my room while many guests were still at the house and I slept for 3.5 hours. I think I hit my pinacle over the last 8 months and my body and mind just gave up on me. I have been pushing and working to help Michele for so long that once I got her home and all went well it was like someone turned my power swich off. I cannot even remember walking to my room or laying down. When I woke up I went down stairs and everyone had gone home.

Now that i know we can do this and she did great i will be working to take her home every other week. Next Sunday we are going to try for 4 hours however we will not have the fan fare we had last week. It was great for the first time and I want to thank everyone who attended as it was a wonderful experience. We even received pictures of my family in Florida that did baloons at the same time.

Michele will start working on her computer this week and she will start sending emails very soon. If you would like to help her please send her a quick note so she can reply. Please do not expect to much and she will be typing her own emails and they may be hard to understand at times. I want her to work hard on this so i will not be making changes to her emails. What you get is what she will be typing. This will be part of her therapy. So please send emails to her at miko@pinnaclelease.com and she will reply as soon as she can. Again if you have a picture of yourself so she can put a face to the emails that would be helpful but not required.

UPDATE 9/28

2010-09-29T06:24:00.003-04:00

"STOP THE PRESS"
"Michele is going home"

Yes this is correct. Michele received a therapy pass to visit home this weekend. That means she will come home this Sunday for a 2-3 hour visit. I asked her last week before we started this venture if she was ready and she gave me the thumbs up. I explained that this was going to be a short visit and she was not able to stay long and that she would have to accept this before we even asked for the visit. I wanted to make sure she understood and she did not get the wrong impression as she will probably want to stay once she gets home but that is not good for her long term healing. The reason for the visit home is to help motivate her and spark her mind to get better for the ultimate reward of being home with her family.

I have a van scheduled to pick her up Sunday morning at 10am in her wheel chair and we should be at the house by 10:30am. I think it would be great if everyone possible in the Denver/Boulder area could come and support her first visit home. My hope is to have a strong presence of family, friends and neighbors outside the house when she pulls up in her van. I have arranged to have ballons for everyone so each person can write a note or well wish on them and when she gets out of the van we will release all of them to the heavens. Michele's sisters Amy and Cindy are working to arrange this home coming celebration and they can be reached by email at: Amy.McAlister@emersonprocess.com
email.cindy@comcast.net

I would love to see everyone at the house Sunday morning to help my family and I welcome Michele home for the first time. This of course will be very overwhelming to Michele and therefore I cannot invite everyone into the house but we will spend some time outside in the front yard for everyone to have the opportunity to see and speak to Michele if you wish.

Michele had her hair colored today and she is ready for her visit home. I do not want to create a situation that she cannot handle. Michele is aware of everything we are doing so that nothing suprises or scares her. The goal is to make it a very positive experience and to help motivate her to work hard and get better. That is why everyones participation is greatly appreciated. Just imagine how she will feel to see so many people showing up to support her. That alone will help her in so many ways.

I look forward to seeing everyone that can make it this weekend. This will be the pinacle of Michele's last 8 months and I want her to share it with everyone that can make it.

John

UPDATE 9/24

2010-09-26T09:19:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the wait but this week has been a very long week and very eventful in many ways. I received a call last Friday that Micheles feeding tube was not working and she was on her way to the Boulder Emergency room. Last minute struggles from work took me some time to get going but I made it to the hospital about the same time Michele did. Her feeding tube has been giving her trouble for the last 2 weeks and I felt this was going to happen. This is of course her second tube at this time and she and I have been through this already 4 months ago. Once she arrived at the hospital I asked for a long term solution and not a "Band-Aid" solution. This meant she needed an operation to replace her feeding tube. After several hours the doctors in charge of the procedure to fix it were not available over the weekend and it would have to wait. This is the story of our lives as we have yet to meet a doctor that actually works on the weekends or holidays. It appears that in less you are close to death the sick do not get coverage on the weekends or holidays.

Well enough of my complaining, Michele got her feeding tube cleared on Friday and we were out of the ER and back to the Manor. By Sunday her feeding tube was cloging again and Monday found me calling the doctors to find that she could only get a visit with a doctor in 2 weeks. Tuesday morning I got the call again that she was cloged and off we went again to the emergency room and this time it was for good. We were not able to unclog this time and she needed a new tube inserted. After a long 10 hour day her tube was inserted and I am happy to say she is back at the Manor and well.

This recent experience was very difficult for Michele and the family as we tried so hard to do what was right for her to only hit a brick wall at every turn we made. I felt that she truely had no medical doctor that cared for her well being and she only got pushed aside for the appropriate time. This has occured several times over the last 8 months and it is very frustrating.

Last night was probably the most wonderful time I have spent with Michele in the past year. I got a call that she was going to have a shower and I rushed to the Manor to help. Once I was there I worked hard to get her ready and off we went to the shower. Michele was ready and willing to participate and she held her bowl of soapy water while I washed her. Once back to the room I got her nestled in her bed and began to speak to her as I usually do but last night she was very interactive. It is hard to explain but she was Michele! She challenged me during conversation using her hands in sign and really showed interest in everything I said and did. She gave me a big hug and rubed MY arm and back and conforted me while I was expressing my feelings to her. We talked about what she needs to do and what her medical concerns are and she acted like she was going to take it all on and overcome her challlanges. It was like we were having a conversation but without her speaking. I knew what she was thinking and she of course knew what I was saying to her.

I have a bathing suit at the Manor for when I help Michele shower and last night when Michele was back in bed I began to change from my suit to my jeans. While trying to do this quickly before a nurse came in the room, jumping up and down like a kid putting on my jeans with wet feet made Michele laugh. It was so nice to see her laugh and apparently all the staff and family now know about my "strip tease" and it is the talk of the Manor. I told everyone I will only do it for my wife though so dont look for it on Utube yet. Last night by far was the most amazing I have seen her respond and it made my night.

The pictures below are right before her operation to replace her feeding tube. She was a trooper all day even though she was unable to have any meds since her feeding tube was cloged. She just struggled through 10 hours of discomfort and pain and barely made any complaints. She truely is the strongest woman I know.

John

UPDATE 9/15

2010-09-16T06:07:00.004-04:00

Michele has moved to "The Manor" which is a skilled nursing facility just 8 miles from our house. She has a wonderful large room and it feels like home. She moved on Monday and yes as normal we had many issues with getting her settled in but after 2 full days I think she is all moved in and ready to start her next journey to recovery. Michele will have much more therapy at her new place and she will be pushed every day to get better. I have included some picture of her new pad as well as a few of her working out the first day. Yes she is sitting with her feet on the ground.

Her daily routine right now is to get dressed in the morning to get ready for her therapy. She has her workout clothes which include a tank top, shorts or long sweats and socks with the little grips on the bottom for traction. She gets her teeth brushed and her hair brushed and she gets lifted into her wheelchair. All of this right now just about wares her out but then she has to do 1-2 hours of therapy after this. It is a little hard to see what she has to go through and the fact she would just rather lay in bed but we all know this has to happen and she needs to be pushed each and every day.

Michele has increased her range of motion quite a bit in the last week and her legs are moving quite a bit. I will not be surprised if she can walk in the next 60 days. I hope and pray I am right and we will have to wait and see.

What Michele needs now is visitors. If any of the local friends could take the time to stop by and say hi it would mean a lot to her and myself. If you want me to be there on your first visit please contact me and I will work out a time to meet you there. She is at the Boulder Manor off of baseline road and she can have visitors from 9am to 6pm. She is in room 106. If you do stop by please write you name and any info you wish in the 3 ringed note book in the room. It has a green cover and help the family keep track of who visits. You can add comments of you visit. Please remember Michele cannot communicate very well but she can answer yes or no questions by shaking her head or doing the thumbs up "Fonzie Style".

Michele is starting a new milestone and therefore I have decided to change up my format as well as my emails were starting to get blocked by the network since it thinks they were spam. Please also know you can always go to the miraclemichele.blogspot for all my past emails to catch up or just for your ready pleasure.

Thanks for all the support during the past 7.5 months. I hope and pray we are in the final stretch.

John

UPDATE 9/9

2010-09-10T05:51:00.004-04:00

Today was a great day! Michele and I headed out at 8:30 am to visit her brain surgeon and get her shunt adjusted as well as an x-ray to verify that we did the adjustment right. Go figure the doctor does not do the adjustment instead it was the PA, myself and Michele’s father had assisted to get the job done. Like I said before if I only had access to the machine myself this would never be an issue as it is a very easy process. The good news it is finally done and she is adjusted to 160. We will see over the next few days what this really means and if we are actually going in the right direction. Like I have noted before either direction is the right direction as it will not hurt her but we learn each time we adjust her and my hope is to make as many adjustments as needed to get through this learning process.

I called the hospital this morning to alert them to get Michele dressed in full gear for the first time and ready for her trip in the ambulance. When I arrived she was fully dressed in her workout pants, tank top and fuzzy socks. Michele was actually brushing her teeth when I arrived and was soon ready to hit the road. I have also included a few pics from the other day with family and Michele showing her wave.

When I returned to Kindred around 11am Michele and I spent some time reading emails. One in particular made a big impact today. Someone sent a song to Michele and I told her I would play it. I turned it on and within 5 seconds Michele started to wave her head from side to side to the beat of the sound and looked right at me and smiled. She knew the song and loved it. Myself of course took a few more seconds to even recognize the song but I do remember this is a song that she loved. Her emotions were something I have not seen to this date and I know she had no way of doing what she did before today. I do believe the shunt adjustment was already showing its results within 1 hour. I laughed at her and praised her for what she was doing then I asked if she could sign the song and I got a very sad face real quick. So I said lets work on that later lets just enjoy the song for now and she started moving her head again to the beat and grinning at me. I can tell you that this is the most emotion I have seen from my wife since January 29th before she took a turn to the worse. She has been able to tell me she loves me through her eyes but this is actually the first time since then that she has actually smiled at me and acted somewhat silly on purpose.

The other really good news is that Michele should be leaving kindred on Saturday and heading to Boulder Manor. I will have more on this once I get the final word but my sources tell me it will happen with any luck. I also added a picture of the 4 mile canyon fire we recently had to show how close it was to our house. The pictures I took are on the road back from Denver and are still 2-3 miles from my house.

I spent the evening today paying my respects to a dear friends Mother that passed last week. I participated in saying the rosary and at the end of the ceremony I made my way to the deceased to find that she was wearing a beautiful saint bracelet. I know Michele has touched so many lives during this tragic time but our family has also been touched by so many by the love, prayers and acts of kindness. Just to see someone wearing one of these bracelets is overwhelming.

John

UPDATE 9/5

2010-09-06T07:56:00.003-04:00

Well it took the doctors 1 full week to just read Michele’s last CT scan to only find out exactly what I said in my last email that her ventricles are too large and she needs to be adjusted from 180 to 160. No kidding! If I had the machine I would have done it myself a month ago. Michele is scheduled for this Thursday to have her shunt adjusted as the doctors are all on vacation and apparently it is not a rush to them. Yes Michele had to wait 2 weeks for a procedure that should have occurred in the radiology room at the hospital within 5 minutes. Once this is done she will be ready to leave Kindred within 2 days. Michele will be heading to Boulder Manor which is a skilled nursing facility. Michele will continue with a more enhanced therapy schedule to include 7 days of physical therapy, and 6 days of speech and occupational therapy. Once Michele can master her therapy for more than 3 hours a day at Boulder Manor she will then head to Craig for 30 days of intense therapy prior to heading home. This is 2-3 months out at this time.

Yesterday my family celebrated my Fathers birthday as we normally do by getting a balloon for each person, writing notes to Dad and PaPa and sending them off into the sky. Our once a year ritual is a way for the children to express their love for their grandfather and to keep his memory alive in them. This year’s ritual seemed a little more important as we as a family have spent the last 7 months asking for my fathers help in watching over Michele. You will notice only 5 balloons in the sky as John John’s popped just after he finished writing on it. So I help him write his note on mine as well and we sent them all up in the sky. Michele held on to hers and let it go last as she normally does.

Today Alyssa, John and myself went to the hospital to get Michele dressed up and pretty. Alyssa painted her nails her favorite color purple and I brought a tank top from home so Michele could get into some clothes for the first time in 7 months. Once she had her shirt on I asked her if it was ok and she quickly gave me the thumbs up to say it was good. We are going to try other clothes this week to help her feel more comfortable.

For those of you that have not seen the website for Michele please take some time to check it out www.miraclemichele.blogspot.com Michele’s best friend Dori Ariniello has taken the time to add every email I have ever written as well as all the pictures I have sent. You can order the saint bracelet on the website and also add comments that go directly to Michele’s email account. My emails are often blocked as spam and the website always has my latest email on the 1st page. It is a good way to keep updated and you can check it anytime.

John

PINNACLE BUSINESS CAPITAL

2010-08-31T10:30:00.002-04:00

Pinnacle Business Capital is the name of our business and we provide financing to small and large companies looking for capital equipment. Examples are a restaurant adding a new stove, fitness company adding a new tread mill, a hospital adding a new CT Scan, the federal government adding new computers to the social security administration, a school adding on a new wing and needs desks and chairs, a farmer needing a new John Deer tractor or accounting software for a Doctors office. Yes it is just about anything a business would purchase. In this economy businesses need help and the banks are not being very helpful. My company has the lending ability to help all forms of companies from small mom and pop organizations to large companies like IBM, federal government, schools, municipalities and non profit companies. All of these entities burrow money every day and need my type of services to survive.

I would like to graciously ask that I get the opportunity to be a subject of conversation to your employer, purchasing agent, owner, friend anyone that may be a potential person that I could help by providing the best that my industry has to offer. I am confident in my products and services and I will treat every opportunity with utmost respect and professionalism. The truth is Michele and I do need help and my business is the only way I see it fair to ask for that help. I am good at what I do and can prove it and would like the opportunity to do so. My web site and business email is below and will be posted on www.miraclemichele.blogspot.com .

I am also interested in new sales representatives. This position is a commission only job that can be done from a home office therefore anyone with sales experience would qualify and would need to send me their resume by email.

John O’Donnell
johno@pinnaclelease.com

Pinnacle Business Capital
http://www.pinnaclebusinesscapital.com/

UPDATE 8/27

2010-08-28T08:05:00.002-04:00

7 months today! I really had thought we would be in our home stretch at this point in time but for some reason God has decided otherwise. I guess I will understand his plan eventually but for now we continue to fight to keep Michele in a positive direction. It is hard not knowing what to expect, no prognosis, no case studies to compare to and no real direction to follow. I continue to have Faith, Hope and Love to fight this battle and that will never go away. Michele had her CT scan today and everything went well. I will get the results early next week and I expect to have her shunt adjusted one way or another. I have the disk of the scan and I have gotten good at looking at the scans to know that her left ventricles are a little large. So I suspect that the doctor will adjust her from 180 to 170 but what do I know. They could do the opposite and honestly I will be fine with either way as all I want is progress in either direction. That means we could possibly go in the wrong direction but we will learn from it and change it in a matter of time. This is expected and it could take some time to get it right. I just want to move on it and not sit still as usual. Michele had her trach taken out on Monday and it was as simple as taking off a band aid. It was 30 seconds and I actually watched her throat slowly close on its own to a pin point. We put a bandage over it for a day and now it is just a small wound with no bandage over it. In time you will barely notice she ever had it. Michele is experiencing some irritation in her throat due to this but this should only last a week and she should be fine.

I have finally been able to get back to work full time. Since I have been home I have only been able to work for a few hours a day due to the fact of helping Michele and dealing with the children and the new life we have without Michele around the house. I mentioned it a few emails ago but you really understand what your spouse really adds to your relationship when they are no longer around and I can tell you all that Michele was an incredible worker and always got the job done weather it was with the kids school, cooking for a fleet of kids and neighbors, handling business or being a wonderful wife and mother to her family. She was always on the go and always had things done without the need for help from others.

This brings me to a point that I would like to explain what Michele and I do for a living. For the past 19 years we have owned and operated a finance company that specializes in lending money to businesses. We lend money to companies that need new capital equipment or software. We started this business 1 month after we were married and just like most entrepreneurs we have gone through the good years and bad but we have always stuck with it and always prided ourselves in our service to our customers. I can tell you that while I ran the company as the president, Michele was our operations manager and one of the top sales representatives. This tragic event of course has put us in a serious financial crunch since both Michele and I work together and both of us have been a large factor in our company wide sales each and every year. Michele will never be able to work again and even if she could I do not think I want her to as I want her to spend her time healing and with her children. I would like the opportunity to explain in more detail what we offer to businesses in hopes that I can earn referrals. I do not expect any hand outs and I do expect to earn business in the proper form of proposals just like anyone else. However I would appreciate the opportunity as my company provides financing to all businesses therefore anyone that works for a living in America is a potential customer to us.

Pinnacle Business Capital is the name of our business and we provide financing to small and large companies looking for capital equipment. Examples are a restaurant adding a new stove, fitness company adding a new tread mill, a hospital adding a new CT Scan, the federal government adding new computers to the social security administration, a school adding on a new wing and needs desks and chairs, a farmer needing a new John Deer tractor. Yes it is just about anything a business would purchase. In this economy businesses need help and the banks are not being very helpful. My company has the lending ability to help all forms of companies from small mom and pop organizations to large companies like IBM, federal government, schools, municipalities and non profit companies. All of these entities burrow money every day and need my type of services to survive.

I would like to graciously ask that I get the opportunity to be a subject of conversation to your employer, purchasing agent, owner, friend anyone that may be a potential person that I could help by providing the best that my industry has to offer. I am confident in my products and services and I will treat every opportunity with utmost respect and professionalism. The truth is Michele and I do need help and my business is the only way I see it fair to ask for that help. I am good at what I do and can prove it and would like the opportunity to do so. My web site and business email is below and will be posted on www.miraclemichele.blogspot.com

John O’Donnell

johno@pinnaclelease.com

Pinnacle Business Capital

www.pinnaclebusinesscapital.com

UPDATE 8/25

2010-08-26T08:00:00.002-04:00

Thank you from the O'Donnell's

I would like to state again that I appreciate everything that everyone has done for my family and my wife Michele. Every card, well wishing, prayers, food, charitable donations, care giving, flowers, emails, child watching, car riding, church going, school attending, pat on the backs, phone calls, understandings, pictures, cd’s, places to stay, medical advice, airline tickets, visits to see Michele and many more that I cannot recall at this moment. My strength that so many speak of is only strong through the help of all the loving people that have been by my family’s side throughout this tragic moment in our lives. I am thankful for the friends and family that have continuously been there for Michele, my children and myself as well as the people that we don’t even know that have been a support through email and prayers that we receive everyday that mean so much. I am thankful to all the medical staff that has continuously taken care of Michele. My children have been through so much over the last 7 months. They have grown so much in this time and matured past their age due to this tragedy. They deserve much more than this in their lives and my only hope is for a blessing to be bestowed upon each of them as they truly deserve it. I am also thankful to God for giving my wife the strength and the will to fight this battle. I am most thankful to my wife for keeping her love of her family that continues to strengthen her. I am truly blessed to be her husband.

John

Wow! This came so fast. I was never expecting to have to grow up and take on so many responsibilities so fast. But I stepped up to the plate and did everything I could to make sure everything went smoothly for my self and my siblings. I can only hope I did well enough with my lack of experience. The main thing I have learned throughout this journey is that family is number one. Also, I abruptly found out that my parents are always right. I wish I would have learned this sooner so there wouldn’t have been so many stupid, pointless fights and at this point all I want is for my mom to come home and for her to tell me that she is not mad or she forgives me for all the things I have said that may have harmed her. I want to thank all the people who have thought about my mother and family during this hard time. Every single prayer, dinner, email and act of kindness means so much me and I know without all of your support, this all would be a lot harder. I love my mother and can not wait to have her back at home. Thanks again for everything. I am so grateful.

Love Billy

As all of you may know, at the most important time in my life I have lost the one person to help me through my teen age life, my mother, my friend, my sounding board. She is still with us but I have lost that daily relationship that I truly need from day to day. Reading emails and prayers, receiving cards and delicious food, and getting calls or text is very much appreciated. It truly does make a difference to know that so many people are here to support my family and my mother. Its very heart warming to know that my mother has touched so many people and I am very thankful for that. I want to thank all of you for putting in your time and effort to help us in anyway possible. Please keep following my mother throughout her journey and please keep the emails and prayers coming as they mean so much to me and my family.

Thank you!
Tana O’Donnell

This has defiantly been such a difficult time for me and my family. I can’t even begin to express my feelings for all of the things everyone has done for my family and my mother. Thank you all so much for helping us find our way through this storm! I will continue to stay strong and stand by my mother’s side.

Love,
Alyssa

My name is John John and I want to tell everyone thank you for all the prayers for my mom and family. Thank you for all the emails and letters that you send to my family and my mother. Thank you for all delicious food that you have brought over. My mom gets many flowers that are very beautiful but not as beautiful as she is. Thank you all for wearing the bracelets for my mom as I wear 3 of them every day. I want to thank God and everyone that has supported me and my family and my mother.

Thank you,
John John

UPDATE 8/22

2010-08-23T13:00:00.001-04:00

I had a meeting with the entire staff at Kindred on Friday. We discussed Michele’s future for the next 3-4 months. Michele will have her Trach removed on Monday at 1pm and I will attend as I did when she had it inserted. I was told it is simple to remove and the wound will heal by itself in a matter of a few days without stitches. They simply remove it and cover it with gauze until it closes over a 2 day period. My wishes are that this helps Michele speak but honestly this has nothing to do with her speech other than mind over matter. Her inability to speak is solely due to the motor and speech functions in her brain and it will take a long time for that to heal if ever.

Michele is doing well medically and is on the fast track to leave her present hospital. Over the next two weeks Michele is expected to work her way out of the “Acute Care” to a “Skilled Nursing” facility. That means that she will be closer to home, without continued medical care but enhanced physical therapy. The goal is to get her to Craig Hospital over time but she only has 30 days at this hospital and she needs to have it at the proper time to make sure she gets all the help she needs.

Michele will not have her shunt adjusted at this time as the doctor decided to wait and see what happens over the next 2 weeks. This is very frustrating as I have been told several times that the shunt is and would be adjusted in certain directions to only find out that it has not been done. I cannot explain why this occurs, other than this is what the doctors say and it can change at any time. I will have to just hold my feelings and hands to my self until this is all over.

I am working to get Michele 2 procedures, Accumputure and Microcurrent which have been approve by her insurance but I need to get the right doctors to perform these procedures. I believe these both will help her in her healing.

I want to thank all of you that have sent emails over the last 3 days and I am reading all of them to Michele. I have not been able to read them all yet as they keep piling in but I want to ask that anyone that has not sent one in yet please do so as it is a project of mine to get everyone to respond so I can show Michele how much support she has. Please respond to this email even if you do not have a picture as she listens to every email with complete attention whether she knows the sender or not. Even a simple “Hi I’m from Colorado” will do just to show your support!

**Please know that ALL and ANY comments posted to this BLOG get copied directly to John**

Thank you,
John

UPDATE 8/19

2010-08-19T21:08:00.000-04:00

Michele is becoming a master at sing language this week. She is learning the alphabet this week and can sign the 1st letter of most of the family’s names. Michele’s CT scan determined that her ventricles were a little large therefore were are now going to lower her shunt to 170 instead of increasing it. This will take place next Tuesday and if all goes well her trach will be removed by next Friday. We hope this will allow her to expand on her motor skills. In the past 3 weeks her mental awareness has grown but the motor skills have diminished or stayed the same. I have a meeting this Friday with the entire medical staff at Kindred to discuss our plan of attack over the next month. My goal is to start some alternative medicine to help aid in her recovery and get her closer to going to Craig for her extensive 30 day rehab treatment.

Please remember to send an email to Michele by simply replying to this email, she truly loves to listen to me read her emails and she loves pictures. If everyone would send just 1 email with a picture it would keep her busy for the next month because I know and suspect that about 3000 people read this each and every time I send out an email. I challenge each and every one of you to send an email for her to see the support she has. Yes all of you not just the ones on my list but all of you that are forwarded to. I hear so many times of all the people that read and follow my dear wife’s struggles. Please email her to show support.

You can also add your notes to the following blog that she also gets. This blog has over 24000 hits in the last 4 months. It has all the emails I have ever sent and also includes her favorite songs as you read. http://www.miraclemichele.blogspot.com

Thank you very much for your prayers, love and support,

John

UPDATE 8/16

2010-08-17T08:01:00.002-04:00

I have been out of town for the past week attending my God Mothers funeral; she passed away after a 2+ year battle with stage four lung cancer. Upon me return I was excited to see for myself the weeks improvements but unfortunately Michele has not progressed very much in the last week. I feel this is because she still needs her shunt adjusted and I have not been able to convince the doctors to make this last adjustment. Michele had her CT scan done on Thursday but I still do not have a reading on the scan. I also hope to have her trach taken out early this week. Michele can still move both hands and feet and she continually tries to sit up and act like she is trying to say something however nothing will come out of her mouth. It seams to aggravate her that she cannot talk. She tries so hard to speak and nothing happens. I will be setting up a meeting with her doctors this week to try and get some answers and progress. I have attached a picture of Michele’s head. This is the first one I have sent just to show how well she is healing and how good it really looks. Her hair will grow over her scar and soon you will never notice she had 5 surgeries in the same place over a six month period. I hope to have more and better information later this week.

John

UPDATE 8/6

2010-08-06T16:48:00.001-04:00

Well Michele continues to get better each and every day. Her range of motion continues to expand and she is actually moving her right hand now. It has been quite some time for this but she seems to be getting all of her movement back slowly. She can hum but cannot speak yet. This very well may be the last thing that returns but I feel it will in time. We have the smallest insert in her Trach to allow her to speak. She will keep her trach in for a while longer since she has a history of choking. We do not want to loose the ability to suction her when needed until we are certain she can handle it on her own. Michele is again aware of her surroundings and enjoys the emails and pictures each of you send. Even the complete strangers are no longer strangers to our family as we have received many emails that have lifted our spirits from all. Michele is due for another CT scan on the 12th and we are waiting on her final shunt adjustment. Yes they told me it was at 200 but it is actually only at 180 right now. I feel once they move it Michele will start moving even quicker.

The children finished up their Junior Golf league this week and all of them took home trophies. John for 1st place team scramble, Tana 2nd place team scramble and Alyssa 1st place parent putting contest. Yes I am actually a good putter but Alyssa got 2 hole in ones. This has recently been Michele’s favorite sport and she enjoyed seeing her kids do well and she enjoyed playing with her kids. I keep telling her that she will be able to golf next year but she has to work hard to accomplish this. I know her well and I know she will not stop trying until she is able to once again golf with her family.

This week I also had to register all four kids in school which was a daring task for someone that normally leaves this task to his able wife. Being in 2 places on once “2 schools” is possible I just did not know it until I had to do it. Last year Michele had to register all 4 kids in 3 different schools and some how accomplished it. All of the children helped out completing forms and showing me the way but at the end of the day we all did it as a family and they are now ready for school. Have you ever thought of trading places with your spouse and whether you could do it better! Let me tell you now it’s not something you want to try even though it has been rewarding for our family. Never think you can do it better just say thank you for their effort.

John

UPDATE 8/2

2010-08-02T12:57:00.003-04:00

Michele was moved back to Kindred Hospital Thursday afternoon. She was not ready to move however the hospital she was at needed the room so we had to move a few days early. Michele is still getting settled in her new room including all new check ups and evaluations. It is like she was never at the hospital. She is treated like a new patient and all the test that come along with a new patient. Once it is all done I will get an update as to what is going on. The medical records showed she got the Brucellosis back however I do not think this is a correct diagnosis and I will get the straight answer Monday afternoon. If all goes well Michele will have her trach out sometime tomorrow. She can move her left hand and right toes just like she did when she last woke up. She seems to be a little more depressed right now and I will be talking to the doctors about that tomorrow. As you can see in the pics Michele has 2 TV’s in her room. The one on top continues to play the same picture “It a love story” and the one below came from home so she can actually see the TV. Michele and I have 10 orchids in our house but they have never bloomed since we first purchased them over the years. For some reason they are all blooming this year so I took a picture of 2 of them that are currently blooming. Michele loves her orchids. I continue to read all email to Michele so please continue to send them. If you have pictures please send as well, she loves to look at pictures and really concentrates on them.

John

UPDATE 7/27

2010-07-27T15:06:00.002-04:00

I have not sent any updates out lately since Michele’s condition has not changed very much over the last week. Michele continues to be in ICU and the doctors are trying to battle a urinary infection as well as getting her shunt adjusted properly. Michele has had about 3 adjustments to her shunt and as of yesterday she was at a 200 level which is the max setting and it is basically in the off position. For the doctors to stop the flow anymore would take an operation to actually stop the flow through the shunt. This was all expected even before we put the shunt in. It was always expected she would only need it for 3-6 months. Michele is awake again and can understand when spoken to. She can move her left hand a little and toes every once in a while. So for her to take a step forward with her new bone flap it was obvious she had to take a few steps backwards again. She will need to relearn to move even what she could do just 2 weeks ago. This time though there are going to be no more set backs, she is going to bet better each and every day until she can go home to her family and walk through the front door. I expect this will take her another 3 months but we will see. Our goal is for her to be home for Thanksgiving.

Thank you all for your continued prayers.

John

** Today marks 6 months since Michele's accident **

UPDATES

2010-07-21T22:08:00.002-04:00

I apologize to all for not updating sooner but I was actually out visiting Michele and was completely 'unplugged' for 6 days.

Below are all of the updates since her operation. She continues to fight like only Michele can and trust me when I say, she has earned every ounce of that title, 'Miracle' Michele. Her courage, and strength go beyond words.

I am blessed beyond measure to have the honor of calling her my Best Friend! I love you Michele!

UPDATE 7/19

2010-07-21T22:03:00.001-04:00

Below is an update from Cindy on her visit this morning. Brian, Alyssa, John and myself visited this evening. Michele’s eyes are open and she is aware. She could not move very much at all and her head was swollen. I asked my usual question if she loved me and she closed her eyes to say yes. This has always been my one way to see if she is aware. I can tell she is tired and does not have a lot of fight in her right now but the doctors and nurses are doing most of the work right now getting her better and in stable condition. The meds and operations just completely knock her out and it take weeks for her to gain strength again. Michele will stay at Swedish Hospital until she is back to the base level she was at before the bone flap operation. This could take days to weeks to get her at this level. I have a few pics of the kids while we were waiting for the operation to be done as well as a few of Michele from tonight.

John

“I arrived this morning to find Miracle Michele wide awake. She is still groggy, but responsive. Her left eye and left side of her face is not nearly as swollen as it was yesterday but the side of her head has expanded out a bit more than it was yesterday. Dr V came in and said that this morning's CT scan looked good. Ventricles are a little bigger and fluid looks good. The brain is slowly adjusting to its new protective space and that will all happen on its own schedule. She was lying flat this morning and Dr V said that he doesn't want to move her back to Kindred until she can sit up. He said that if she continues to progress tomorrow he'll probably hold off on another CT and just let the brain do its work. PT came in and Michele followed commands very well. She moved her head towards Johanna and then towards me. She wiggled fingers on both sides but not toes this morning. Johanna asked her to stick out her tongue. I told her to first open her mouth which she did, but no tongue action yet. Michele's left shoulder is very tight so Johanna worked on it and opted to let that arm rest flat on the bed without a pillow prop so that there wouldn't be so much rotation in the shoulder. Her right arm is no longer swollen. She went to sleep right after PT and slept through most of my visit. When I called Amy I put her on speaker and Michele opened her eyes. Whenever I'd ask Michele how she was doing she'd open her eyes. I debriefed Mom and Dad and am heading out. LLPP!”
Cindy

UPDATE 7/17

2010-07-21T22:02:00.000-04:00

Michele is now completely off the ventilator and the drain tube has been removed. Her bandages are off to let the incision heal. The bleeding was not in her brain, but a hemorrhage around the bone flap which was caused by air around the seal of the flap. The doctors are now working to regulate the CSF and the pressure in Michele’s head from the difference of not having a bone flap to having it closed up now. This is the reason that Michele is not responsive, but Dr. Vollmer is confident that this will be under control in the next day or so, adjusting the shunt as needed.

The shunt was adjusted today from 120 to 140 letting less fluid drain. Michele is responsive to reflex testing, when the nurse pinches the bed of her finger/toe nails, both left and right legs/arms move. She opens her right eye occasionally, during each 4 hour suction. Michele was experiencing a lot of muscle tension, clenching her hands and all muscles being tight. She is now on a non-sedative muscle relaxer and it is helping. She is having light PT in ICU to help the tightness.

UPDATE 7/15

2010-07-21T22:01:00.000-04:00

This morning I was up around 4am to take my Mother to the airport. Right as we were getting in the car I got a phone call from the hospital. As you know any call at 4:30am is not a good one. Michele was in the operating room having her bone flap removed due to bleeding under the bone flap. This was caught by the nursing staff as Michele was becoming less responsive throughout the night. An emergency CT scan revealed the bleeding and the start of the emergency operation. I just received a call from the surgeon that everything went well and he washed and put her bone flap back in. He added a drain so that any continued bleeding will be removed as it happens. Michele is back on the ventilator just for this morning and after another CT scan she will be taken off. Michele will stay in ICU for 2 days now until she is more stable.

John

UPDATE 7/14

2010-07-21T22:00:00.000-04:00

Michele and I headed out at 5 am this morning by ambulance. Her pre-opp took about 2 hours and she was off to surgery at 7:30am sharp. She was back to post opp exactly 2 hours later and fully awake 15 minutes after that. She is responsive to questions, waives her left hand and can move both legs. Basically everything she was able to do before the operation. We have yet to see improvements but it is too early for that anyways. Michele will be watched closely for the next 7-10 days to make sure she does not get any infections causing us to have to remove her bone flap. Michele will have a CT scan tonight and will be released from the hospital tomorrow if all is well. She will be going back to Kindred for more rehab over the next few weeks in hopes to eventually get to Craig for intense 30 days of therapy. Michele should have her Trach taken out sometime tomorrow or Friday. Im sure she will love that being out of her throat.

Thank you for all the prayers for Michele they seem to be working.

John

UPDATE 7/13

2010-07-14T05:46:00.002-04:00

Hello everyone, tomorrow as you may have heard my mother is having surgery to put her bone flap back in. With how far we have gotten im sure you have all realized that my mother is extremely strong, so I know that she will make it through this fine. Although I am very positive with how things will turn out I ask you to pray for my mom. We all need her home and I know that those prayers will help a lot. Tomorrow morning I will be there to tell my mom I love her before she goes in to have surgery and pray until she gets out.

Alyssa

As you read above, my mother is having surgery very early in the morning. Tomorrow morning, I am taking John and Alyssa to see our mother before and after her surgery. As she continues to get better, this is another step to a new start. We are all hoping that the result of this surgery will help her to work harder so she can come back home to her family. We are not a full family without her. I pray everyday that my best friend is going to walk out of that room fully recovered, and I know she will. All the prayers we can get are truly helpful and thankful.

Tana

Every night, me and my mom played the “I love you game.” What we do is mom says she loves me more than something and I have to beat it. My mom says “I love u more than…” and then she says something in the world that there is a lot of. I love my mom more than all the stars in the sky and can you please pray that many times tonight for her.

John John

Well I cannot top what the children have written. I plan on being at the hospital at 4:30 am and Michele and I will take an ambulance at 4:45 am to Swedish Hospital. Michele is ready as I have told her everything to expect and how important this surgery is. She trusts me when I tell her that it will make her better and I pray that I am right. She let me shave her head the other night to get her ready as I do not want others doing so. She was hesitant at first but she trusts me so much that she let me do it. She has had a few problems with her eyes lately and last night I had a friend Linda to see her and check her eyes. I am glad to say that all her issues seem to be common for her injury and should correct themselves overtime. Along with Linda came Bob who was the creator of the Miracle Michele benefit that was held 2 months ago. Bob was the lead singer in the band and he brought his guitar last night to sign some songs to Michele. Yes she got that smile again and yes it was another guy and not me. It was so nice to see her smile and I could care less who it is for as long as she is smiling. Bob, Linda and I sang a few songs to Michele and she listened and clapped with her left hand against her right arm. Can you see Michele’s thumb in the picture!

My darling wife has fought now for almost 6 months, she approaches her last surgery, she is aware of what she is about to encounter and she is ready for the challenge. She wants to come home and is willing to do whatever it takes to do so. Please pray for her tonight and tomorrow as she truly needs every bit of spiritual help she can get. I will be by her side until she heads to surgery and I will be at her side when it is done. I will probably spend a few hours in the chapel reflecting by myself until she is ready for her new awaking.

Thank you,

John

BIRTHDAY POST! 7/8

2010-07-11T08:11:00.007-04:00

Michele had a great birthday. She had about 40 visitors and 10 phone calls. Lots of emails, cards and flowers. She even smiled for a few special visitors, Kelly McAlister and Fab Pela. These are the 1st smiles since the 1st week in Miami back in March. I have to mention the last and only smile until yesterday was for Greg Long. Is there something I am missing since she smiles to all her guy friends? I was so happy to see her smile again and it tells me she continues to get better. I have attached a bunch of pictures of her birthday. As I was leaving her room the night before her birthday I stopped at the door as I usually do and turn around to waive and say goodbye. I said “I love you with all my heart” and Michele picked up her left hand and tapped her heart.

Michele is scheduled for her final surgery to put her bone flap back in next week on the 14th at 7:30 am. The only possibility of delay is either Michele is not ready due to infections or the bone flap does not come in on time. If either of these happens the surgery will be on Friday the 16th.

John

A DAY OF LOVE

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR MIRACLE!!!

2010-07-08T08:20:00.001-04:00

My Mother, John, Alyssa and myself went to see Michele this evening to decorate her room for her big day tomorrow. Michele has a big Happy Birthday sign, balloons and new pictures all over the room. Michele watched us while we set her room up and then we showed her all the new pictures we brought for the room. I’m sure she will have more pictures and flowers brought by other family members tomorrow but we wanted to get the room ready. I have a camera in the room so everyone that visits tomorrow can take a picture with her so we can send them out in a few days to all. Michele is doing so well and every day she is doing more and more. Again I have copied an email from her sister on today’s visit.

“I arrived shortly after 11 this morning while Thelma and Billy were visiting Michele. Dr. Yeager was on the phone with John. Not sure what that discussion was about because as soon as Dr. Y got off the phone, he left the room. After Thelma and Billy said their goodbyes, Heather and I moved Michele to her chair. Michele was able to lift her head completely for Heather to get her Princess Crown on! She coughed a bit when we moved her, but that was it.
During PT, Michele gave Heather a “high five”, the thumbs-up sign, lifted her pinky, and gave the “I love you” sign – all with her left hand. Michele was able to squeeze Heather’s hand with her right one. Michele did her leg exercises by herself. It was so awesome – especially watching her do these things on her own after we’ve been doing them for her for so long. Oh, man. It was amazing. Michele separated her knees for Heather on command, and then pressed in with her knees against Heather’s hands, about 10 times. Then, Heather put her hands on the outside of Michele’s knees and Michele pushed out against Heather’s hands. I got all choked up watching her do these amazing things. She is really working hard! Cindy”

Michele’s final surgery will be in the next 7-12 days and the date should be scheduled by the end of this week. Please email Michele if you have a chance and I will read her emails to her. I will send pics out on Friday with an update and hopefully a date for her final surgery.

John

UPDATE 7/1

2010-07-02T10:34:00.000-04:00

It has now been 5 months and 2 days since Michele’s fall. Michele and I have spent 1 month in Mexico, 2 months in Miami and 2 months in Denver. Michele has been through 3 brain surgeries, 1 disease and I can’t count how many infections from head to toe literally. Michele has been medically revived 7 times and she continues to surprise us every day. I always knew I had a special wife and a very strong willed partner. She has proven this over the last 5 months and I do not think anyone that knows her is surprised at all. I will caption a few emails from the family today so you can hear what Michele has done today.

“Michele had a very active morning. When I arrived Michele was in her bed and Terry, speech therapist, was working with her. Terry was giving Michele ice chips and asking her to chew them and swallow which Michele did very well. Terry also asked Michele to shake her head yes and no. The no was clearly visible but the yes was a bit weak but recognizable. Terry also asked Michele to raise a certain number of fingers and she did. Heather, PT, came in and did oral hygiene on Michele. She also exercised Michele's hands, arms and legs. She repeated the yes/no exercise and Michele did fine. She picked up Michele's head and asked her to hold it there for the count of 10 which Michele did. Heather asked Michele to wiggle her hands and toes which she did. We asked Michele if she wanted to be moved to the chair and Michele clearly put her no head motion into action. Tom, Chaplin, came in and we said a prayer for Michele
After all this Michele closed her eyes and fell asleep. Dad”

“Thelma and I went to see Michele at 1:30 today and found her watching TV, wide awake and in good clean condition. She seemed to have an issue when I arrived and wanted to tell me something and tried very hard but could not get the words out or give me any clue as to what she really wanted to tell me. She is moving her left hand more and more and closer to her face. She can move her hand from side to side to say no which was a first for me anyways. I understand she did not want to go to her chair earlier today when her Father was with her so I spent a few minutes telling her how important is was to go to her chair everyday no matter how she felt. I asked her to trust me and do it. We moved her to the chair for 1.15 hours and back to bed without any issues. The nurses are instructed to take her feeding tube out 30 minutes prior to moving her to the chair as well and keep it out while she is in the chair including 30 minutes after she is back in bed to help keep her stomach settled. Michele was able to move her left toes on command as well which is also a first for me. Michele was also able to lift her right knee alittle I heard today from heather. I also saw her move her right arm which I have seen in the past but it looked a little more deliberate today when I asked her. I also spent time today explaining what her next surgery was about and how it can help her and what to expect. I have calls into the doctors to get a time frame as I know all of us are on pins and needles waiting for this as we all know it will benefit Michele tremendously. John”

The family has no doubt that Michele will continue to work hard to get herself back to normal or as close as she can make it to normal. The children, family, friends and myself have spent the last 5 months working with Michele to help her on her journey to recovery. We all are determined as well as Michele to succeed and fortunately we are really beginning to see the fruits of that determination.

I would like to state again as I have not done so recently that I appreciate everything that everyone has done for our family and Michele. Every card, well wishing, food, charitable donation, care giving, flowers, emails, child watching, car riding, church going, school attending, pat on the backs, phone calls, understanding, pictures, cd’s, places to stay, medical advice and many more that I cannot recall at this moment. My strength that so many speak of is only strong through the help of all the loving people that have been by our side through this tragic moment. I am thankful for the friends and family that have continuously been there for Michele and I as well as the ones we don’t even know that have been a support in many ways especially through email and prayers that we receive that mean so much even from complete strangers.

This week is a special week as it will be Michele’s birthday on July 8th. My Mother came to Colorado in hopes to see Michele at home for her birthday but that will not be. However I truly believe we will all experience a rebirth of a truly loving person over the next few months. Michele is obviously not giving up and continues to show her remarkable strength to live.

I am blessed to be her husband.
John

UPDATE 6/27

2010-06-28T06:10:00.002-04:00

Michele is doing her best to get better. She has good days and a few bad days. On the days she is not feeling very well she says no to sitting in her chair. She just wants to lay in her bed and watch TV. She tried very hard to tell me something today but she just cannot speak yet. I can see her frustration that she just cannot get the words out. She hums quite a bit and points around the room as to what she is thinking of. It could be the TV, a picture on the wall or the window shade she wants drawn. Today it was John John she was pointing at as he was a bit bored so he kept putting Michele’s protective princess crown on his head and I think she did not like it or she was saying look at the idiot with the crown on. I was not quick enough to get a picture of it today but I have added a few pics of Michele so you can see how she looks. We cannot get her to smile yet or maybe it is just me! Michele’s birthday is on the 8th and we plan to have a birthday party for her at the hospital that will last all day long. Our plan it to decorate the room first thing in the morning then family and friends will go by to see her throughout the day at different times to make sure she is not alone a bit the entire day. Im sure she will be worn out by the end of the day. We will make sure to take plenty of pics to share with all. As Michele would want me to announce to all she will be 29 this year. Again!

UPDATE 6/22

2010-06-23T06:11:00.003-04:00

It has been long over due but Michele got a chance to have a visit from her puppies. Michele loves her bulldogs and I requested pet therapy which was approved today. Michele can have her dogs in the hospital any time to help her in her recovery. I have attached a few pics of the visit today. Fizzy got the first chance to see Michele and she almost jumped on the bed with her. She could smell her hand and tell who it was even through Michele could not talk to them. Allie the Mother was a little more subtle and did not want to jump on the bed but did smell her hand. Yes Fizzy has a purple circle on her rear from hair dye that all of the tens did to their hair in support of Michele. I mean all of Tana, Alyssa friends and even Jordan. They all have a small amount of purple hair since it is Michele’s favorite color. They have plans to do my hair as well when I am asleep but I am a very light sleeper these days so we will se if they get me involved. Michele still has her trake plugged off and no oxygen and she is doing great. Two weeks ago she stopped breathing and now she is pushing all limits and doing very well. Her therapy is progressing but we are really waiting for her last surgery to replace the bone flap. This should be a major advance in her recovery and we cannot wait. I still do not have a date and when I do it will be quick. We just have to be patient and wait for the time to come. I am currently trying to get Michele a kitchen pass to come home for her birthday o July 8th. We will see if I can pull this one off and if so we will have a small birthday party at our fouse for her to enjoy her family and friends.

John

PUPPY THERAPY!

UPDATE 6/21

2010-06-22T07:00:00.000-04:00

Michele had a busy weekend with many visitors as well as continuing her therapy. Michele was taken off of oxygen this weekend and she has done well without it. Yesterday her trake was capped off and she has handled this as well. She is breathing on her own without any help at all. I spoke to the doctor today and she is ready to have the trake taken out this week but I asked to leave it in for her surgery which should be in about 2-3 weeks. I will not have a date until her prosthetic is done being made. Once it is done we will schedule the surgery right away. The doctor feels this will help her tremendously in her rehab. I told Michele tonight all that is going on so that she is not surprised with anything we are doing. I even asked her if she wanted to see any pictures of the last few months of herself and she said no by shaking her head. She understands that she has a head injury but does not want to see it at this time. Below is an email from Michele’s sister Cindy explaining her day with Michele. Also please be reminded that all of my past emails, golf tournament info and saint bracelet ordering info are all posted at http://www.miraclemichele.blogspot.com

“Michele had a great morning! When I arrived at 9, Terry the speech therapist was working with her – Michele was still in her bed. Terry had a cup of ice chips with her, and she put a few on a spoon and began to put it towards Michele’s mouth. Michele opened her mouth and sucked on the ice chips. She even seemed to be chewing on them a bit! She did this three or four times. Then, Terry asked her to hold the cup of ice chips. Michele tried to open her hands to accept the cup. Terry helped her grip it and she held onto it well. Then Terry said, “take a drink, Michele.” Michele moved her head down to look at the cup and tried to move it up, but couldn’t quite do it. So, Terry held the cup up to her mouth and they worked through the motion of taking a drink. Then Terry asked Michele to give her the cup back and Michele released it. Terry said that the releasing motion is a much more complex task than grasping (you know how babies grasp and hold on to everything and then won’t let go?) so that was very good progress.

The best news is that they capped off her trach temporarily to see how she would handle it. It was so awesome! She was breathing on her own – without the aid of oxygen and through her mouth and nose all morning! That is a really good sign as AJ the Respiratory Therapist from this weekend was telling me that they often take the removal of the trach in tiny steps like that to see how she tolerates it.

Michele did vomit a bit when we moved her from bed to chair, but when we moved her back to her bed she did very well! I just kept telling her to relax and think about her breathing. Tracey came in at around noon and Tana was scheduled to arrive around 1. It was a great day!”

I have started a new email since this one is getting too long. This will be the start of the 3rd email chain.

John

UPDATE 6/14

2010-06-15T05:13:00.000-04:00

I was not able to see Michele today so I am going to let Billy and Jordan explain their visit to you all.

John

Today was another good day for Michele. When Billy and I arrived she was wide awake and watching TV. Michele wiggled her right toes for us as well as moved her left arm quite a bit as we talked to her. You could tell that Michele was extremely happy to see Billy as she could not take her eyes off of him and when she did she would frequently check that he was still right by her side. She held his hand very firmly and would move her fingers and arm as if she was reaching for Billy’s hand again each time he let go. Michele was very talkative, humming a lot, and clearly has SO much she wants to tell us. As we are working on Michele’s tongue and mouth movements to get her talking again, we asked her to wiggle her tongue a few times which she did slightly but definitely to the best of her ability. She continues to amaze me with her daily improvements and even though it is little by little each thing is a large step towards her complete recovery.

UPDATE 6/13 - PM

2010-06-14T07:00:00.000-04:00

Michele has been on a fast track now for the last few days. She is wide awake during the day and tracks everyone in her room to see what is going on. She can now watch TV and she is starting to move more and more each day. Her Father arrived today and said hello as he walked through the door and Michele said hi back. This was a good sign as she did not even have her speaking valve in. Michele lifted her entire left arm up this evening and waved goodbye to me with 2 of her fingers. Her right toes move on command and she is working on her left leg. I can tell that this week will be a week of a lot of movement. Michele should be able to accomplish a lot this week with the help of the rehab staff. Michele tried to talk this evening as well but she needs some help with her tongue and mouth movements. She should have speech therapy early this week and I think she will be talking soon. She is able to lift her head and turn it in both directions. She enjoys looking at pictures and listening to emails that have been sent to her. I will start taking more pictures this week so everyone can see her progress.

UPDATE 6/13

2010-06-13T07:46:00.000-04:00

It has been a long week trying to get answers to what happened on Sunday and what is our next step. The best I can describe is that Michele had too much fluid “flem” in her chest and it grew to a point to infection. We can call it bronchitis or pneumonia but both are not really confirmed. It was a slight case but enough to stop her breathing. The good news is that this episode does not stop us from proceeding on her bone flap operation. Today Michele had another ride by ambulance to Swedish Medical Center for 2 CT Scans and 2 MRI’s. The 1st CT scan is to look at her brain to see how her shunt adjustment went. Well Dr John has the disk and from what I can tell it looks good. Don’t hold your breath on me though as it only took me 40 days to get her adjustment that I fought for and I may not be right! After all it took her 2 hours to wake up after the adjustment that took me 40 days to get done. The second CT scan was to measure her for the bone flap for a prosthetic. I also have this scan but it is from a male person with the same last name. Go figure a hospital will make a mistake. I was told they never do for the last 4 months. Michele had an MRI and an MRA and this is out of my league but I can tell you it was an experience and I was in a chair rubbing Michele’s feet so she knew I was at her side at all times. The MRI’s took about 45 minutes where the CT’s took about 45 seconds.

Michele is very aware of her surroundings right now and can track people in the room. She answers questions with her eyes blinking. She can wiggle her right toes and move both of her fingers a little. I have updated her on the most important issues lately with the children and of course the most important person her husband! I hope and pray she understands and can handle our upcoming struggles we both have to go through to get her well. I still plan to have her home after her bone flap operation which should be at the end of the month.

Within the next week I will be sending emails from a new account for Michele so that each person that reply’s will go directly to Michele. I have already saved every email regarding Michele and have over 2000 pages in a book. Michele was recently donated a new I-Pad so I am in the process of setting it up and soon all new emails will come from her account so when you reply it will go directly to her email even though I have saved all other emails to date. My goal is to have her able to see, hear and read either by herself or by the help of the people around her each day. Eventually she will have full control and start emailing each of you in response. Her new email is miko@pinnaclelease.com

I would like to ask each of you all to take the extra time to send a quick email over the next 2 days to Michele’s new email account miko@pinnaclelease.com just so I can save your contact info to her new computer since I cannot transfer the emails very easily. A simple email will help greatly and avoid having to input each and every person.

Thank you
John

A LETTER

2010-06-07T20:27:00.000-04:00

This letter was mailed to Michele at the hospital. There was no return address, although it was postmarked in Colorado. A note on the back informed John to read the letter to Michele when he thought the time was right…

To Miracle Michele:

I don’t know you,

But I know of you.

I am a Mom, like you.

With four children, whom I cherish more than myself.

I am a wife, like you.

Who has a husband that loves me more than himself.

For now, I give you my strength –

The one that is deep in the soul,

That only you can touch.

The strength that we both can feel.

And we begin to rebuild, from inside

Bit by bit

Piece by piece.

Block by block.

Every step I take,

Will be a breath of yours.

Every mile I run,

Will be a step of yours.

Someday, I will come to you.

And we will smile,

And laugh,

And hug.

For now, I am you,

And you are me.

A Friend.

* Please read below for yesterday's update

UPDATE 6/6

2010-06-07T20:26:00.000-04:00

I received a call from the hospital at 5am this morning informing me that Michele had stopped breathing again. This is the 7th time she has had to be revived. Apparently she had a lot of mucus in her lungs. She is currently back on a respirator and I had to give permission to do another pic line so that she can get the 3 antibiotics she needs to clear this up. Her veins in her arms are just not strong enough to handle a large amount of antibiotics therefore we cannot do a simply IV. We do not have a clear understanding what happened yet but we are having tests done over the next few days to figure it out. Although this occurred she was very alert today and fighting a fever. After church I took all the kids to see her today and spend time. This is the first time in over a month that we were all there at the same time and she was awake and aware. Each of the kids sat next to her bed and told their Mom what was going on and what they had planned for the summer. Michele just listened to each of them and would not take her eyes off of each of them when they were talking to her. She continues to close her eyes to answer yes and currently this is the only way we can communicate. I asked her today to work very hard to speak and move her left hand so she can communicate better with us. Every time we get on track moving forward we have something happen that sets us back. Im not sure yet but last nights episode will probably set us back up to 3 months to get her bone flap put back on. She is supposed to be infection free for 3 months before the operation and I have a feeling that her current infection will not allow us to proceed. I will be talking to the Doctors this week to determine this.

UPDATE 6/4

2010-06-05T08:14:00.002-04:00

Michele had another busy day today. This afternoon I was informed by the Hospital that her feeding tube was plugged and needed to be replaced. For the first time I was able to get action done on a Friday afternoon. Within 30 minutes they had an ambulance waiting for Michele and off she went to the Swedish Medical Center for the procedure. I could not get to her in time but Amy was with her and made the trip with her. I was able to meet both of them at the hospital before she had the procedure done. When I arrived she was wide awake and I could tell she was scared. She has been sleeping for so long and now she is awake and has no clue what is going on. I tried to comfort her by letting her know what was happening. I asked a few questions and asked her to close her eyes to let me know if she understood. Michele do you understand me? Michele do you love me? Michele do you trust me when I tell you that your going to be ok? She closed her eyes to each question and kept them closed until I said ok. She definitely understood everything. I also asked her to start working hard to move any part of her body. I asked if she could move her toes and she moved her right toes on command. Im sure tomorrow will bring even more results to her recovery. Michele’s feeding tube was done in 20 minutes and we headed back to Kindred.

John

UPDATE 6/3

2010-06-04T06:37:00.001-04:00

Well it took 38 days but I finally was able to get Michele’s shunt adjusted. We took another ambulance ride this morning at 8am to the Brain and Spinal Center. John John was able to ride with his Mother in the ambulance and actually watch the nurse and myself assisting to make the adjustment. The Doctor was not even in the room. It was a five minute procedure taking a probe that lays on her back were the shunt is and a computer makes the adjustment under the skin. It is a magnetized dial that is lifted by the probe then turned to the predetermined setting. We had to run the program 4 times to get it right but after 5 minutes we had it done. We took her from an 80 setting to a 120 setting. This is a big jump and may even make her head swell again. We will watch her closely over the next week to see any visual signs of swelling and if she does we will simply make an adjustment down to account for it. The verdict is not out yet if this will work as I have stated many times to the Doctors however Tana visited her Mother today at 3pm and she was alert, tracking with her eyes and squeezed Tana’s hand. This has not occurred since we left Miami and I hope this is a sign of continued progress over the next week. Michele is scheduled for two CT Scans next Thursday, one to check on the fluid in her Brain and the other to measure her for her prosthetic bone plate. The plan is to have the bone plate manufactured in about two weeks then an MRI and MRA to check her brain to make sure she can handle the last surgery. If all is good she should be able to have her bone plate put back in by the end of the month. We are now rushing this process as it will help her maintain her CSF fluid easier and should increase her recovery time. There is a 4% chance that her body will not accept it and could cause infections. Although I do not want to take any chances this is a small risk and I feel that not doing the procedure has more risk associated to her recovery. I do expect to see improvements daily and if I do I will be emailing out the daily progress. I have started the process to bring Michele home. I will be making our dinning room in to a hospital room fully stocked with a hospital bed, oxygen, IV, monitors for vitals, hospital chair, body lift and many more Im not aware of yet. The hospital will train the family to take care of Michele and I will have a full time nurse availably at the house. My goal is to have Michele home for her birthday on July 8th and if all goes well that will be right after her surgery.

I continue to do everything I can to bring her back “Day by Day”

John

UPDATE 5/27

2010-05-28T13:40:00.003-04:00

“GREAT NEWS”

Well it has been almost a month since we have been back in Colorado and I have been fighting for Michele’s recovery. I have made it clear to all of her Doctors for 1 month now that her CSF fluid in her brain was too low and causing her current condition. Well I am pleased that I now have a Doctor that agrees with me and we are acting on it quickly. Michele visited Dr Vollmer at the Brain and Spinal Institute. Vollmer spent the time to listen to the last 4 months of her condition as well as read her scans and visit with Michele. His conclusion was exactly as I have been stating to the other 3 Doctors for the past month. It was a relief to hear that he thinks we should adjust her shunt immediately as well as get her bone flap “skull” put back in her head. He ordered an X-Ray today to verify my statement on what her shunt was set at so we can make the adjustment very soon. He also requested an MRI, MRA and a CT scan to measure her skull so they can make a prosthetic skull for her. I have not written about this as of yet but when Michele had her second surgery on Palm Sunday, the hospital lost her bone flap or “skull”. They stated that they mistakenly misplaced it and therefore she has to have one made to fit her. This will take about a month to make. This entire process over the last month has worn on me and I now have a great feeling of relief, I feel like I have won the battle but the war is not over. I will continue to follow up with her Doctors at Kindred to make sure the orders requested by Dr Vollmer are taken care of at the earliest possible dates in hopes to see major advances once they are done.

Michele was a trooper today. We started at 9:15 a.m. getting her ready for ambulance transport and did not get back till 1 p.m. Although she is lying down I can tell it wares on her. She did have her eyes open most of the time and even was able to track my hand with her eyes. This is a big step as I have not seen her eyes open on her own without stimulation for 1 month now. I asked her my usual question and actually got an answer several times today.

“Honey if you love me, close your eyes so I know you can hear me?”

She did it every time I asked today.

John

UPDATE 5/26

2010-05-26T21:32:00.003-04:00

Another week has passed and Michele has not woken up yet. As of Monday she is no longer on the Dylantin medication for seizures. Michele is now on 3 stimulant medications to help her wake up. I tried to cut Michele’s nose hairs with my electric nose clippers and when I turned it on she moved her head away from me telling me that she did not want it done. I know she is aware of her surroundings as I tried it several times and each time she would move in the opposite direction. I guess we will just wait for that another time when she is awake and can do it herself. Cindy felt Michele’s right leg move on command during some PT on Monday. This as well was some more signs she is waking up slowly. I spoke to Dr Ripley on Monday and his comment was; “I am cautiously optimistic”. Well if any of you know doctors, that is about as good as it gets in our situation. Dr Ripley noticed a change in Michele over the last week and could see that she is moving more and responding to pain. Although we do not want to create pain for Michele it is necessary so we can understand her abilities. Michele and I will be traveling to the Brain and Spinal institute tomorrow for a second opinion on her treatment. This will be Michele’s 10th ambulance ride in the last 4 months. Tomorrow will be the 4 month anniversary of her fall. Michele continues to have visitors on a daily basis. The children will finish up school tomorrow and begin their summer. Our plan right now is to have Mom home by July 1st so she can continue her rehab, rest and healing in the comfort of her own home. Once Michele can actively participate in 3 hours a day of rehab she will then go to Craig for 45 days of treatment. After much research I have found that patients do better at home and often heal more quickly. Michele loves her children and for her to be with them everyday will no doubt help motivate her to come back to us.

Please keep Michele in your thoughts and prayers.
John

MIRACLE MICHELE GOLF TOURNAMENT

2010-05-25T11:44:00.006-04:00

Miracle Michele Golf Tournament
August 2, 2010

9:00 am Shotgun Start
Omni Interlocken Golf Course

Benefit for the recovery of
Michele O’Donnell

Course Contests
Food & Drink

To Register Contact:
Kelly McAlister
sports@pinnaclelease.com
(720) 201-7088

I will be posting the registration on-line tonight. Thank you and tell your friends!!!

UPDATE 5/14

2010-05-14T10:17:00.002-04:00

The Doctors started to remove Michele from one of her anti seizure meds on Monday as well as started her on meds to help wake her up. The anti seizure meds will be slowly removed and will take 3 weeks as long as she shows no signs of seizures. The meds to wake her up will also be added slowly to make sure her clinical responses are ok throughout the process. This all means that we should see some progress slowly over the next week. Michele should be able to open her eyes on command soon.
When I speak to her I can tell she is in there and she can hear me. Since she cannot open her eyes yet, I thought of another way for her to communicate to me as she can move her head. I asked her if she could hear me and understand me to try and lift her head. She did it for me 3 times on Monday. It’s as if she really wants to wake up but is being held back. Today when I told her I was leaving she started to moan like she wanted to tell me not to go. I though this was just in my head as I want her to wake up so bad but when Alyssa and Jordan came home tonight from the hospital Alyssa told me the same thing and I never told her about my story. I really think she is trying and she does not want us to leave her side. She often sleeps when we are in the room but tries to wake up when are ready to leave. I can tell this because of her heart rate as well.
Sorry for the lack of emails but we are at a very slow pace as you can see and not a lot to tell. When Michele wakes up you will probably hear from me everyday as I do not want anyone to miss out on her recovery. I have added some pics of the room today.
Below is an email I received from Father that I thought was so special that I wanted to include it to everyone. Michele and our family have been so blessed with Faith, Hope and Love from so many people. This is only one of thousands of hopeful thoughts, prayers and love we have all received.
Little did I realize what a blessing it would be for me to come and pray with all of you on Mothers Day. I went home and told my parents about Michele and the first communion on Mothers Day. We all took a moment and wept for everyone. My Mother is now wearing the saint bracelet and has promised her prayers along with my Father. My prayers also remain with everyone, especially Michele. Thank you for inviting me into such a sensitive moment and giving me an opportunity to see such love.
Thank you,
Fr. Peter

Thank you all for your support.
John

FROM MICHELE'S DAUGHTER, ALYSSA.....

2010-05-13T21:13:00.004-04:00

The picture and poem below were written and drawn by Michele and John's youngest daughter Alyssa. She is amazingly talented and the love these children have for their mother Michele leaves me in awe.....

Ode to my Mother

I miss you so much
I miss your gentle touch
I wish I could give you a kiss
To whom I miss
You're the number one Mom
You are totally the bomb
I miss when you tucked me in
If you ran for best Mom you would win
I miss the food you would make
I missed how much you loved to bake
I miss your blonde hair too
But most of all I miss you

Please do not forget on click on the sidebar and order your Michele Michele bracelets TODAY

MIRACLE MICHELE BRACELETS

2010-05-11T20:14:00.003-04:00

COME ON Y'ALL! SPREAD THE WORD....MIRACLE MICHELE BRACELETS ARE NOW AVAILABLE!!! CLICK ON THE PAYPAL LINK ON THE SIDEBAR TO ORDERS YOURS TODAY!

ALL BRACELETS ARE BEING MAILED WITH A SPECIAL MIRACLE MICHELE PRAYER CARD!! DON'T WAIT! MICHELE AND HER FAMILY NEED OUR HELP, PLUS THEY MAKE AWESOME GIFTS!

MOTHERS DAY UPDATE 5/9

2010-05-10T05:59:00.004-04:00

Well the last 2 days have most definitely been eventful. Saturday afternoon I decided to take John for some golf to settle the nerves and get out for the first time this year. After 5 holes of golf I got a call from Billy telling me our basement was flooded. We hurried home to find 3 inches throughout the entire basement. Many hours later we had the basement completely emptied including carpet, furniture, baseboards, wood flooring, doors and the fridge. All that was left was the pool table, coke machine and juke box as they were too heavy to lift up the stairs. We now have 20 fans and 2 humidifiers running 24-7. It turns out that our sump pump died and the water under the house was about 3 feet deep and rose into the house causing a major problem. “Just what I needed at this time and the day before Mothers Day and Johns 1st Holy Communion”

With the help of Brian, Billy, John and Jordan we cleared out most of the basement before the professionals arrived. This will be a month long process to get our home back to normal but we are managing “Day by Day”.

This morning we all got ready for the big day and arrived at the hospital around 9:30 am. John was a bit nervous but was looking sharp. I took a picture of him after we cut a few tulips from the garden that Michele planted in the early fall “365 of them”. I was able to get every color she planted and added an orchid to the bunch that had just bloomed from her birthday last year. When we arrived at the hospital Michele was waiting for us sitting in her chair with her princess crown on. “The cap was done today with pretty jewels to make it more womanly rather than the 50’s style football helmet that it looks like” Michele is still unresponsive and unfortunately did not wake up at all today. I know in my heart she could hear us and will remember the event that unfolded before her closed eyes. She made noises and moved throughout the mass today as if she was trying her best to wake up and share the moment but she just cannot until she is taken off of her meds that I continually argue with the doctors to do.

Father Peter said mass today with the help of the entire family, mass program provided by Brian, readings from Cindy and Amy and songs from Tana, Alyssa and Jordan. John had the best 1st Communion that I could possibly imagine. He will never forget this special event. Father gave Michele the 3rd anointing of the sick which is ever so needed. We had cake time after and let John open his cards and even had father bless his rosary and cross he received. The only thing missing today was the eyes of his Mother that I have prayed so much for. I keep waiting for our Lord to grant me my prayers and I know he will in time and I hope it will be soon.

Michele was given a very special Saint Bracelet just 2 days after her accident by an employee at the Royal Mayan. On our 19th anniversary I had it blessed at St Joan of Arc Church where Michele and I were married. Many people have shown interest in it and have requested one like it. By popular demand I have been able to get a large quantity of them so that I could accommodate everyone’s wishes to share in this special bracelet. If you are interested please email me and I will make sure you get as many as requested. I have purchased them already and have added enough to cover mailing costs and a small amount for Michele to help her in her recovery. The cost of the bracelet is $15. I am not asking for help but many people have requested this and I feel that I should respond. *** I have also added a BUY NOW button on the sidebar at the top. You can purchase them from there via credit card if you would like as well**

My Mother wished me a happy Mothers day today as she knew what I am going through trying to be a father and a mother to my children. She was right in her statement to me today and I was so grateful that she understood what I am going through. I am trying my best to hold all of us together through this tragic event and it is my responsibly to do what my wife would do each an every day for our children. It is my solemn promise to Michele to keep her children safe until she returns to all of us and then I will gladly give her Motherly responsibilities back as she can handle them.

I wish all the Mothers a Happy Mothers Day today, you are all greatly loved.
John

UPDATE 5/7

2010-05-08T10:14:00.000-04:00

Michele has not had much change since the last email. I have had a meeting with the staff at Kindred and requested that Michele be taken off her anti seizure medications as they are causing her to keep asleep. I have managed to upset all the upper management so we met and discussed her treatment. They all agreed with my assessment but the changes will happen at a snails pace. I will continue to do what I know is best for Michele in hopes that I will succeed in her recovery. The EEG that was ordered on Tuesday is still not done just to give you an idea of what I am dealing with. It is a 1 hour non evasive test but takes a week to complete.

John is getting ready for his 1st Holy Communion on Mothers Day. We have planed a great ceremony in the hospital and I will be sending many pictures and stories Sunday night. I hope and pray that Michele will be awake for it and share in the memories of her son’s communion.

As my sister said their could not be a more wonderful Mothers Day than if Miracle Michele woke up and shared her 1st day back to recovery with her family.

John

UPDATE 5/4

2010-05-04T11:35:00.002-04:00

Well I am happy to say that we are going in a positive direction once again. Although Michele has not woken up very often I did get a chance to speak to Dr Ripley from Craig hospital and I was quite impressed. This is the first Doctor that actually sat with me and asked everything that has occurred to Michele over the last 3 months. He asked many questions that made sense to her condition and he set a plan for the upcoming week to include another CT today as well as an X-Ray of her shunt. We are looking at her brain in case we need to decrease the flow of her CSF. This process will eventually happen and I am under the impression she needs it now but the doctors will ultimately decide. They have also ordered another EEG to see the brain waves so we can then take her off one of her anti seizure medicines that are prone to making the patient sleep. I hope this one will be done soon. Michele finally got her “princess crown” and of course I had to try it on. Michele is now able to leave her bed by a hammock and placed in her chair which we took her out of the hospital to get some fresh air yesterday. Michele is moaning a lot the last few days and I think she just wants us to hear her voice or maybe she wants to hear her own voice.

John

UPDATE 5/2

2010-05-03T05:43:00.003-04:00

Michele is still sleeping and unresponsive. I am planning to meet with the doctor from Craig Hospital tomorrow regarding her condition as well as her planned therapy. Michele is still on meds that I feel are keeping her from waking up as well as she has too little CSF fluid in her brain. I hope to have all of this cleared up by tomorrow evening. Michele had some new visitors this weekend; Coleen, Liz, Erica, Sharon and Julie. All friends and first time visitors. Although she cannot open her eyes I know she can hear everyone in the room and this helps motivate her to get better. I hope to have better news over the next few days and will continue to keep everyone updated. Please remember that I continue to receive everyone’s emails and although I do not respond to every one of them I do appreciate them and look forward to them as much as each of you look forward to my email. I simply cannot answer each email but each and everyone lights up my day and I have printed all of them and placed them in a binder so Michele and I can read them again when she is better. Please do not stop your emails or your prayers for Michele as we cherish all of them.

Thank you,
John

UPDATE 4/30

2010-05-01T07:14:00.000-04:00

This week was a long week. I spent most of my days trying to get back in touch with business while calling the doctors or family to see how Michele was doing. I had to run to the hospital a few times to just see Michele or speak to the doctors. It is very frustrating having to deal with a new hospital as they need to get familiar with Michele’s case and often they do not even ask the one person that has been by her side the entire time. Therefore it takes them a week to understand what I could have told them in two minutes. Michele has spent the entire week asleep most of every day even through therapy. I feel we have lost a week of valuable time but I know in my heart that I need to give the doctors the time to really understand her situation. I was able to convince the doctor this morning to take her off her anti depressants as I feel it is having a negative effect on her. My next plan is to discuss her anti seizure medicine as she is on a very high dose for only having 1 seizure. We will also be looking at her shunt and the amount of CSF it is draining from her head. I believe it is too much. Go figure 2.5 weeks ago I couldn’t wait for the shunt, now Im trying to slow it down. Michele is unresponsive and the last email was the last time she was really awake. This can all be fixed and I do believe it will be done this week. My goal this week is to get her meds in line and maybe give her some new ones to help her wake up. It is Mothers day next Sunday and we have planed to have John’s 1st Holy Communion in Michele’s hospital room with the entire family. We are working on a mass including songs sung by the girls and the family. John is so excited and has his suit already fitted and has tried it on this week to make sure it fits. I was undecided whether to do this but when I asked John what he wanted he said he wanted his Mother there no matter what.

I pray that my wife will have the most wonderful Mothers Day of all times, wake up, be responsive and remember every waking moment of the day with her family and children.

John

LOVE NEVER FAILS

2010-04-28T22:04:00.003-04:00

Something a friend shared with me today and reminded me SO much of Michele and the love her family and friends have for her. Watch and listen.

Make sure you pause the Music Player on the side-bar before watching the video

UPDATE 4/26 (From Home)!!!

2010-04-27T06:08:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the delay but it has been a very busy 4 days since we have arrived back in Colorado. Michele and I arrived in Colorado on Friday at 2:30 pm. We were met at the airport by an ambulance and taken to St Anthony’s Hospital. Michele had a full day and was wiped out from the trip. She spent 2 days sleeping and the doctors spent there time giving her tests and learning her case. All of the family had time to visit her and spend time with her over the weekend. It has been so long since we were home and it has taken a few days to get everything unpacked and back in order. Michele is 30 minutes from the house so the family has worked out a schedule to break up the time with Michele and make sure someone is with her at all times during visiting hours. Today I received a call from the doctor and he was very impressed with her condition and therefore released Michele from NSICU to the long term acute care facility I have picked out. Michele was again transported to another hospital Kindred Care where she will spend the next few weeks building up her strength with occupational, speech and physical therapy. She needs to be able to participate in therapy before she goes to the last hospital Craig for intense 30 day therapy. Michele is in stable condition now and is no longer in an ICU unit therefore the family is able to be with her more and we are at the next stage on healing. She still is not very responsive, she cannot move her body on command but when she is asleep she moves all over the place. She needs to learn how to do everything all over. Today we put her speaking device on her “trake” and she was able to make noises. I asked her to say John John’s name and she tried but after several tries she clearly said “NO” meaning she could not do it. I was so impressed that she even tried and I could see her determination and she really did a great job for her first time trying to talk in 2 months. The family is very dedicated in keeping her motivated and pushing her to get better. Alyssa, Tana and Jordan sang songs to Michele tonight and her attention to them was unbelievable. I though Michele was going to join them in singing as a few times we caught her humming along. I spent the last 2 days with the help of the family giving Michele a spa treatment including her nails, toes, legs shaven and hair cut. We really never had a chance to do this before as she was always in a critical stage and the infections that she had did not allow us to keep her groomed properly. She is now glowing and I know it makes her feel even better. Just because we have made it home does not mean this tragedy is over it is only the next stage of her healing process. I will continue to send emails in hopes to draw upon all the prayers still needed to keep her on the path of 100% recovery.

John

Some pictures of our flight Home sweet Home!

OUR MIRACLE.

2010-04-24T21:27:00.000-04:00

This scrapbook customized with Smilebox

UPDATE INFORMATION 4/24

2010-04-24T15:31:00.002-04:00

Michele arrived home to Colorado Friday afternoon with John, and is now in the NSICU at St. Anthony's Central in Denver.

The family is very excited to have her here, as we know all of her friends in the Denver area are as well. We plan to work with Michele over the next week or so to get her ready for visitors, but until then, she is still in a fragile state and the family has worked out a schedule for her care.

We will let everyone know as soon as it is time for visitors, as we know this will be extremely beneficial to Michele's recovery.

Thanks to all of you that have asked, "What can I do to help?" Tracey Mattox is still coordinating meals for the family. Please contact her if you make a meal or two. In leiu of flowers or gifts, please send any size contribution to the O'Donnell Family fund, via 1st Bank or the GiveO site, links below. The NSICU does not allow flowers as they may bring allergens or other issues to the patients, and we would urge you not to bring any when it's time to visit Michele.

Thanks to everyone for their love, support and prayers during these past few months. Michele needs us more than ever to help get her back to the life she wants and deserves to lead.
Light Love Power and Presence! Michele is HOME!

Donate on-line by visiting http://www.giveo.com/needs/fyCR6Qn/ or click on the WAYS TO HELP button on the side-bar! You can also make donations at any 1st Bank in Colorado to the O'DONNELL FAMILY FUND. Account number: 868-290-1625. The address is: 500 S. McCaslin Blvd, Louisville, CO 80027

UPDATE 4/22 - GOING HOME :)

2010-04-23T06:14:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow, April 23rd will be exactly 3 months to the day since we left Colorado and I think I can finally say WE ARE COMING HOME!!!! Karen, Brenda and I worked most of the day getting all the last minute things done in order to be able to leave tomorrow. The ambulance will be at the hospital at 10AM. Karen and Brenda will be taking me to the hospital at 9AM with luggage in hand. We are told that it could take a few hours before we actually leave the airport but if I have my way we will be out of here before Noon. We will be flying into Centennial Airport in Denver and then directly to St. Anthony Central Hospital, NSICU which is about a half hour away from our home. The children will be anxiously waiting to meet their Mom at the hospital.

Michele had a fairly good day today. Vital signs are all good. Although she is not able to move very much she has been awake and very alert a good part of the day. We have been working on her goodbye wave and tomorrow morning when we leave Miami I told her she is going to wave her left hand to all the doctors and nurses.

The trip tomorrow will be full of emotion as I have tried from day 1 to take Michele home. Every time we think we were on the right track another problem would arise and delay our trip. I would like to thank all the family, friends, doctors and nurses that have help us over the last 2 months in Miami. I can’t imagine getting through this without everyone’s help. Without it I would probably be in the room next to her. Michele, the children and I will embark on the next stage of healing for her and we will finally be able to be together again as a family on a daily basis.

Michele will be traveling with the banners in the pictures attached hand crafted by Karen and directed by Brenda.

Please continue to pray for Michele’s safe return to Colorado. I don’t think I can handle another setback and delay to our return home.

John

UPDATE 4/21

2010-04-22T09:11:00.004-04:00

Michele had a difficult but good day today, this morning she opened her eyes as requested and she moved her left hand a little after some massaging. I visited her again at 1pm with Brenda and Karen she continued to sleep off and on. Then the physical therapist came by to work with her for 20 minutes. It wore her out and she fell asleep again. Later in the day she woke up and was very alert, she wanted her bite block out of her mouth. I took the time to explain why she had it and that she needed to open her mouth for us to take it out. Brenda and I rubbed her jaw to relax her muscles to allow her to open her mouth. She agreed and opened her mouth to allow us to extract it. If you can imagine this device held her tongue down to her throat therefore it was about 4 inches long. We were able to get it out and I spent the next few minutes suctioning her mouth to get her comfortable.
Later in the day Michele had several visitors, Annette and Tom, as well as Alex and Maite later in the evening.

Michele is on track for us to leave on Friday and I can tell you all she and I cannot wait to get home, although Michele will not be at home she will be in her home state of Colorado. I am teaching her to wave good buy to all the Doctors and Nurses and I am sure she will do it on Friday. Michele will be going to St. Anthony Central Hospital in Denver to the NSICU. We have spent too many days away and we need our family together again even if it is from a small distance to the hospital. She will be traveling on the same date the 23rd as when we arrived in Cancun (exactly 3 months to the date).

Country Roads Guide Us Home to Colorado!!!!

John

**If you have sound turn it on. Just sing Colorado instead of W. Virginia and it will make you smile. I Promise** Our Miracle is coming home.

COMING HOME!!!!!

2010-04-21T11:01:00.001-04:00

Michele woke up at 930 this morning just as I had asked her last night her vitals are all good and she was able to move her left hand. We are scheduled to leave for co on Friday. She will be going to St Anthony central.

Please spread the news.

John

UPDATE 4/20 PM

2010-04-21T10:59:00.002-04:00

Michele had a very rough night last night which resulted in her being on an ice blanket this morning, due to a high fever about 102. They decided to do an EEG test to see if she was having any seizures. Blood tests, x rays and physical checkups were done throughout the night. Michele again tried to bite her tongue and it took 3 doctors to get her mouth open and put a bite block in. This all sounds bad but Michele and I have been through this three times now. I do believe this is a result from the operation and the sedation. It will pass in time and I can only hope and pray she did not have any brain damage throughout the process. Dr Bullock called me this morning to tell me that there was too much fluid draining from the brain and they needed to back off on the shunt a little to slow down the drainage. It will take some time to get her to a perfect level that will work for her.

This afternoon I spent time giving her a pedicure since her toes have not been touched for almost 4 months now and her nails were very long. I was able to take the time while she was asleep to cut each toe, clean them up and rub them with lotion. This is a first for me and hopefully a last as I would rather Michele be able to do them herself. I will gladly help on the lotion and rub her feet anytime.

At 4:30pm I asked her to sleep 4 more hours and then open her eyes at 8:30pm so I could see her. I told her how important it was to do this so we could show the doctor how much she can do so he would allow us to go home on Thursday. She did at 9pm open her eyes tonight just for a few minutes and barely looked at us through squinted eyes. I again asked her to sleep for another 12 hours so she can be awake at 9am tomorrow which I am confident she will.

She still has a lot of healing to do and we are still waiting on results from many tests she has had over the last 2 days.

Please keep praying for my Miracle Michele!!
John

UPDATE 4/19 - PM

2010-04-20T06:09:00.001-04:00

Cindy and I went to see Michele this morning at 9:30am to say the rosary and get updated about the surgery by Dr Bullock. Michele was scheduled to have the shunt operation as well as a muscle biopsy. When I was at the hospital speaking to the Dr. we decided to take a look at her latest CT scan that was taken on Saturday and it revealed another abscess in the same spot as the last. This time it was small but the Dr felt it was necessary to add it to the procedure today and take fluid from the area with a needle and if necessary add a tube to drain. At 1:37 pm her surgery started and by 2:40 pm the Dr. called to tell me she was out of surgery and everything went well. Her shunt is in and draining, her biopsy is done and they did have to add another drain to her head to drain some more abscess fluid. We will get results from the abscess fluid in the next 2 days, but the color was not good and makes them think she has another infection.

Michele was back to her room by 3:15 pm and was awake when she arrived and was able to move her hand and she closed her eyes to tell me she loved me. That has been our only way to communicate for the last 3 months and is so sincere when she does it. They gave her some pain medication and she was off to sleep. I took Cindy to the airport then back to hotel to pick up Karen and back to the hospital again to see Michele awake around 6pm. We left her to sleep again and get her strength so we could see her later tonight. At 9pm we arrived to find her sleeping still and did not want to wake her tonight.

Her head used to be swollen quite a bit but now it is completely sunken in which is normal but tough to look at. The nurse told us it will look worse in the upcoming weeks but this is a good sign. It will take about 4-6 months before we can add her bone plate back to her skull so this will be something we will have to get used to. I expect to see great things from her tomorrow as this is what we have been waiting for and has taken so long to get done.

I added a picture of a bird that flew 18 miles from the coast of Marco Island Florida to land on my hand while fishing. Not really sure of what that symbolizes.

Thanks for the prayers today at 1pm they obviously worked.
John

SHE'S OUT!!! SUCCESS!!!

2010-04-19T15:37:00.001-04:00

The shunt operation was a success! Michele is out of surgery and will be back in her room in NSICU soon. There was a biopsy of muscle taken to help determine the cause of her myopathy (the reason she is not moving around much). They also removed 7 – 8 cc’s of fluid from her brain which looked infected based on the last CT scan. An update from John will be posted soon.

Thank you for all your prayers!!! They were heard and answered!

UPDATE 4/18

2010-04-19T06:27:00.001-04:00

I had a good time fishing with Tommy and mentally preparing for the coming week. In my absence, Cindy took care of Michele, helped her with physical therapy, giving her positive thoughts and getting her ready for the upcoming shunt surgery. She made some great strides over the last couple of days, and is now moving both of her legs. While she’s not moving her knees all the way up by herself, the movement is on her own and very deliberate. She also pushed on the nurse’s hand with each of her feet. It was a very good sign! She got a chance to talk to Billy, Tana, and Alyssa today, and after she listened to each of them, she waved to them. She was very responsive over the last couple of days. Her eyes were wide open in between her times of rest, and she was taking an active part in the movement of her legs and arms. She is a fighter.

Michele is scheduled for the shunt operation tomorrow (Monday) at 1:00 p.m. It is not a long procedure, but it will be a significant one for Michele. A valve (shunt) will be placed in her back, and a tube will run to the front of her torso to allow for the drainage. This will remain in her body for the rest of her life. Normally, the valve is placed above the ear, but the doctor doesn’t want to introduce anything new to Michele’s head area. In addition to adding the shunt, they will be taking a 3mm section of her muscle from her back to test for any issues that would point to her decreased muscle movement.

I believe that this operation is absolutely crucial to her recovery and I am hopeful for a great outcome. We’ve been waiting for this for over a month but due to her infections, we’ve been unable to move forward. Now, she is ready.

I’m asking that at 1:00 Florida time you lift up prayers for Michele so that we have everyone praying together for a successful surgery, and an even more successful outcome.

Thank you, and I’ll give you an update tomorrow.
John

UPDATE 4/15

2010-04-16T05:57:00.003-04:00

Overall, today was a good day, but it was up and down. It started out very well, with Michele responding to my questions using one raised finger for yes, and two fingers for no. It was very encouraging. Later in the afternoon, though, she took a step back, not responding to me or making any movements whatsoever. This afternoon, I picked her sister Cindy up from the airport and we went for another visit. Her eyes were closed the entire visit which was very discouraging because she’s been so alert over the past few days. Her head was swelled quite a bit on the left side which got me questioning her CSF (cerebral spinal fluid) drip. They had reduced the amount of fluid that they were allowing to release, which was causing her head to swell. I know that this is what was causing her reduced movement, so I spoke with the ICU doctor at length about it. He was ordering some tests and was also looking into the amount of fluid being extracted. When Cindy and I returned for the evening visiting hours, we were so happy to see her eyes wide open and tracking our movements. She moved her left arm up a bit while I rubbed her left leg. We spoke to her and she definitely understood what we were saying based on her responses. You might even see a little smile on her face on the attached picture. The best part was when she WAVED to the ICU doctor when I was talking to him. It was a great moment.
I’m planning to go to my Brother Tommy’s house for a day and a half to spend some time fishing, gathering my thoughts, and getting ready to bring Michele home. I told Michele that Cindy would be there to spend devoted time with her. Cindy is excited about working with Michele, reading to her, and just hanging out with her sis. I know that I’ll come back more positive, refreshed, and ready to start a whole new chapter in this healing process.

Michele knows that she needs to work from the inside out, and that she’ll have the shunt operation on Monday. We are planning on bringing her home via Medivac on Thursday, so please pray for a successful surgery, and that she will be able to come home next week.

Thank you for your continued prayers!
John

UPDATE 4/14

2010-04-15T20:11:00.001-04:00

Today was another good day Michele was more attentive and was awake most of the day. She enjoyed the leg rubs I gave her and we worked out the arms a little. She is moving her left arm more and more and we are close to her being able to use her hand to answer yes or no showing fingers. This will help us communicate with her better if we know her responses. We are still scheduled for Monday morning shunt operation and Thursday at 1pm to leave Miami on a Medivac plane. I forgot to share another experience yesterday with you all. Brenda and I were leaving the parking garage following a pick up truck slowly going down the parking lot when the driver decided he was going out the wrong exit and proceeded to stop put the car in reverse and hit the front end of my rental car. Go figure this is only par for the course as this is the 3rd car accident I have had since this mess has started. Karen and I were in a cab in Mexico that was involved in an accident at 45 mph as well as my rental car was broken into in the garage in Miami smashing the drivers window and stealing a bunch of stuff. I can only hope we are done with all of this. Throughout all of this my heart, soul and mind continue to be dedicated to Michele and her 100% recovery. I continue to have stumbling blocks thrown in my path but I have and will continue to jump over them so I can concentrate on Michele’s recovery.

My mind is made up Michele will be coming home on Thursday and she will recover from this horrible situation.

Please help me by praying for a successful operation and a safe passage home next week.

John

UPDATE 4/13

2010-04-14T06:14:00.000-04:00

I made it to Miami last night late and was able to visit Michele at 9:30am this morning with Brenda. I honestly was shocked at how well she looked and responded. Although she is still in a critical condition she was better than what I expected and better than when I left. I came back to Florida with a very positive attitude to get my wife better to travel home to Colorado and when I saw her it made my job easier since she is doing better herself. I will continue to motivate her and work with her to get better but to see her do it on her own helps greatly. Don’t get me wrong she is not up and walking around and running the floor as she would do if she had the chance but she is more responsive and aware of her surroundings. She can lift her left had on command and is working to get off the ventilator. Our new plan is to have her shunt operation on Monday and transport to Colorado on Thursday. I do not want to elaborate on this too much as I have been shut down too many times on this issue and only pray that it can actually happen this time.

Please keep the prayers coming as this is the only way I am going to get her home safely.
John

UPDATE 4/11 & EVENT PICTURES

2010-04-12T19:49:00.008-04:00

I am leaving tomorrow to go back to Miami. Today is John’s 8th birthday and we had a wonderful day today. We went to a friend’s house to let the kids ride horses. It was John’s first time and he did a great job. He learned how to brush the horse, saddle her and ride on his own including a trot. Yesterday we had a fund raiser at a local restaurant “Bagali’s” and it was a beautiful and overwhelming evening. We had more than 300 people attend with a silent auction, raffle and live band. My heart is so full of emotion of thanks that I cannot even start to explain. I cannot wait for Michele to get better to see all the support, love and prayers that have been sent her way throughout the world. I have saved every card, email, photo and donation so that she and I can thank everyone. We are going to spend a life time “paying it forward” to other deserving people.

Michele’s condition has not changed much and she continues to be in stable condition but she is not progressing as we would hope. Our goal now is to have her shunt operation this Friday or next Monday and if all goes well she will be transported to Colorado within 4 days after the operation. I know this has been our goal several times and due to set backs we continually have to push back the dates. I hope this is not the case this time and I have her in Colorado by the 23rd of this month.

Thanks for the continued prayers.
John

PICTURES FROM THE EVENT

THE THANK YOU SPEECH

By Amy (Michele's Sister)

Thank you all for coming to the O'Donnell Family Fundraiser tonight, I am Michele's sister Amy. There have been so many prayers and so many people who have done so much already for my sister, from friends and strangers in Cancun, to people across the country.

I would like to say a special thanks to some very special people here in Colorado:

Lance & Margaret Hollinger - Owner's of Bagali's, Bob Keslin, Mark & Jane Shine, and the band Flashback. Thank you for HOSTING and performing tonight.

Steve Smith - John & Michele's life-time friend. For dropping everything at a moments notice to handle anything and everything John asks for, handling all of their insurance needs, and just being the kind of friend everyone would hope for. I've been around all of the O'Donnell family over the past 2 1/2 months and the entire O'Donnell family holds you in the highest respect.

Hugh & Tracey Mattox - John & Michele's neighbors and best friends. For creating The O'Donnell Family Fund at 1st Bank, for organizing meals for the kids, and for making this event come to life tonight.

Kelly McAlister - John's best friend. You moved rooms numerous times in Cancun to accomodate my family, for changing flights to fly back with the kids, for helping John run the business, taking Tana to get her driver's license, for being a huge part of organizing this event tonight & for being John's sounding board - many times on the phone up until 2 o'clock in the morning.

Brian O'Donnell - John's cousin. For stepping up and helping run the business and helping out at home.

Jordan - My nephew Billy's girlfriend. For being the house mother, cleaning, doing the laundry, cooking, taking care of the dogs, and driving the kids around.

Lance and Jorena Collins - Alyssa's best freind Jasmine's parents. For driving the kids to and from school, and for taking care of Alyssa on the weekend sleepovers.

Dan Weller - John's good friend. For arranging and paying for all of John's flights to and from Miami.

Jeff Dunahue - John's good freind from Regis. For buying Billy a ticket to Cancun, so that he could be there for John's birthday.

Liz Christiansen - Michele's highschool friend. For taking John John to his first reconciliation. I was with John in Miami when he found out this took place, and it was so important to him & Michele. When he told Michele that day, at a time when she was awake, but could not speak, the emotion in her eyes really said it all.

Ed Messman - John & Michele's neighbor and friend. For creating the GIVEO site for Michele.

Thanks to ALL of you that donated on the GIVEO site.

Thanks to ALL of you that have provided meals for the kids.

Thanks to ALL of you who donated silent auction items.

And to my brother-in-law John. I love you, I respect you and I am so glad that you are married to my sister.

PRAY FROM CINDY

(Michele's Sister)

Hail, Holy Queen

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve.
To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy towards us. And after this our exile, show unto us the blessed Fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary. Pray for us, o Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.

FUNDRAISING UPDATE!! COMING SOON!!

2010-04-11T19:58:00.002-04:00

Thanks to SO many amazing people last nights fundraiser for our Miracle Michele was a HUGE success! Check back soon for all the details, pictures and much more......

BIG EVENT TOMORROW NIGHT!!!

2010-04-09T22:00:00.003-04:00

*** TOMORROW IS THE BIG FUNDRAISING EVENT ***

IT'S GOING TO BE AN AWESOME EVENT TO HELP AN AMAZING FAMILY! HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL THERE!!!

UPDATE 4/7

2010-04-08T06:10:00.000-04:00

will be leaving at 5am tomorrow morning for Colorado. I told Michele I was leaving and she understood. Karen will be with her Thursday and Friday and Brenda will be with her Saturday till I return on Monday night. John John’s 8th birthday is Sunday so I plan to spend time with the kids and get some work caught up. Michele was awake for most of the day today but she is battling another fever again. We are at “day by day” watching her every moves and responses to treatment. The Doctors think she should be responding better at this point and have no explanation as to why she is not at this point. I just may be that she has been on so many antibiotics for so long that once she is off all of them she may that have the strength to get better. Unfortunately we still have a few more weeks of antibiotics ahead of us.

Please continue the prayers.
John

ON A PERSONAL NOTE

2010-04-07T21:25:00.004-04:00

I am sitting here tonight thinking about my best friend Michele. I have been best friends with Michele and her sister Amy for almost 12 years now. I don't remember too much of my life prior to them being a part of it. I have been to Miami and seen Michele. I look at the same pictures you all do everyday. I see Michele the only way my heart knows how to see her. I see her beautiful smile and her gorgeous big eyes. I see the cute dimple in her cheek and hear that funny little laugh she has that always makes me laugh back. In my eyes I see my beautiful best friend and in my heart I always feel her love.

Thought I would share with you some pictures I found of us over the last 10 years.

Red Lion Pub and Spinach Dip....Nothing will ever compare to those nights!

This is me and Amy, my other-half, my soul-mate & my Godson John John

when he was only a few weeks old.

Michele, Billy and John John... Seriously...how much more gorgeous can she get after

JUST having a baby!!!

Michele, Amy and my husband Dave (they have known each other since they
were all about 4 years old)!

My Best Friends in the WORLD!

UPDATE 4/6

2010-04-07T06:27:00.003-04:00

Today is April, 6 – our 19th wedding anniversary, a very important and emotional day. 69 days after Michele’s accident. It’s been over a week since we’ve seen any significant sign from Michele.

I let Amy have some time alone with her sister this morning at the 9:30 a.m. visit. It was a great visit. Michele opened her eyes today, focused on Amy and was aware of her surroundings. Her breathing was very rapid at first, and it was brought down to a more normal level. The nurses say this happens often, its just her brain trying to regulate her breathing. Later that afternoon, my Aunt Sr. Anne, Sr. Joan, Brenda and John arrived to visit Michele. We prayed, and sang songs to Michele. The picture attached speaks a thousand words. Michele was awake, eyes open, listening to us surrounding her, praying for her, and singing to her. It was a great moment. Thank you Sr. Anne and Sr. Joan for your presence and your prayers.

Later this evening, Michele had her eyes open again during our visit. I massaged her arms, legs and feet, and reminded her of our 19th wedding anniversary. She heard me and even responded to a question by closing her eyes.

I also spoke with Dr. Bullock today, Michele’s neurosurgeon. I wanted to discuss our plan of attack for the next week. Currently, Michele is fighting infections and is not able to handle the shunt operation. He is concerned why she is not moving. There is no plan of treatment over the weekend, we will wait until I return on Monday, and will discuss the possibility of steroid treatment. The treatment will hopefully help stimulate or “jump start” her muscle movement. It also comes with another set of problems, blood clots, decreased immune system, etc. We will monitor her responses over the next few days and decide next week of the next steps in her treatment.

Overall, it was a good day. Michele was awake and present while we are in the room with her. She is fighting with all that she has. Please keep praying. The fight is very difficult and has lasted so long already. We constantly reassure Michele that we are with her every step of the way and that all of her friends and family are praying for her.

John

**** PLEASE REMIND ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY IN THE DENVER AREA ABOUT THE BIG FUNDRAISER THIS SAT, APRIL 10th ! ****

ANNIVERSARY POST

2010-04-06T17:25:00.002-04:00

Happy 19th Wedding Anniversary John and Michele! We love you.

UPDATE 4/5

2010-04-06T17:22:00.001-04:00

The kids left today and made it home safely, attached is the latest picture with their Mother. Michele remains stable but she is not awake or moving much at all throughout the day. I have not spoken to the doctor since Saturday and hope I have the opportunity to speak with him tomorrow for a plan of attack over the next week. I am planning to head home on Thursday and return on Monday. Michele opened her eyes this morning when Billy went into the room but that only lasted 30 seconds and she did not open them the rest of the day. Amy and I spent some time with her after returning from the airport and rubbed her arms and legs and she would move from time to time however she kept her eyes shut the entire time. We would ask her to open her eyes and see us but we only would get small peaks of eye movement. I know she knew we were there and she could probably see us off and on but the bright eyed Michele we are looking for did not surface today.

Thanks to all for the continued prayers.

John

EASTER POST 4/4

2010-04-05T06:29:00.004-04:00

Today is Easter Sunday and we celebrated this holy day with the family at John and Brenda Liner’s house in Stuart. We drove up on Saturday, leaving Michele under the care of her nurses and spent the night, returning today to visit with her. I called the NSICU several times to check on her condition, and not much had changed. Sr. Anne and Sr. Joan flew in from Baltimore to help celebrate Easter, and to lead us in prayer for Michele’s recovery. Brenda had many of her favorite pictures of Michele, and placed them all over the house for all to look at and share memories of Michele together. We had a great visit with everyone before heading back to Miami to see Michele.

We were all expecting big things when we returned, however not much has changed with her condition. I was hoping her eyes would be open to see the kids, as they are leaving tomorrow but she was not very responsive. She does open her eyes when the nurses reposition her during the day, and we are all hoping that she will see her kids tomorrow before they leave.

A picture from today is attached. Also, please see the link below to an article written in a Broomfield newspaper. The news is continuing to spread and all the well wishes and prayers are well received.

My last email described Billy’s new hair cut and I sent an old picture so you now have the new picture with his hair similar to his Mothers.

http://www.broomfieldenterprise.com/ci_14804346

I had a chance to speak to my god mother today who is battling with stage 4 lung cancer for the past 18 months and it was so nice to hear her voice and all she wanted to do is ask about Michele and her well being. I know that God has a plan for all of us and all I can say is I will keep my FAITH ever so strong, my HOPE for a better day ahead, and my unconditional LOVE to my family.

Bless Michele and my God Mother and all of you in need of our Lord’s strength.

John

He Is Risen!

2010-04-04T14:02:00.002-04:00

Happy Easter from the O'Donnell Family.

John wanted me to let you all know that they are celebrating the Easter holiday with his sister Brenda and her family. John and the kids are there as well as Michele's sister, Amy. Sr. Anne and Joan are there too!! Michele is in Miami getting her rest and is with her family in spirit and heart!

I ask as we all gather around the table today with our family's for our Easter meal, take a moment to say an extra prayer for Michele, John and her children. May this be the one and only Easter they celebrate without her.

Take a moment to visit Michele's Fundraising website www.miraclemichele.com put together by her awesome niece, Jennifer! Spread the word and help support this family in their greatest time of need!

God Blessing to All!
Dori

UPDATE 4/2

2010-04-03T19:05:00.003-04:00

It’s been a few days since the last update and not much has changed with Michele’s condition. She is still in critical but stable condition and under the watchful eye of the NSICU staff. Her fever is somewhat under control however she is in need of ice packs occasionally to bring her temperature to normal. She opens her left eye and recognizes that we are in the room and she sleeps for most of the day. She has 1 tube coming out of her skull draining her CSF “cerebral spinal fluid”. She will end up with a shunt before we are all over but for now this was the best for her and will need to be removed before she leaves the NSICU.

This morning at 9:45AM Alyssa and I were visiting Michele and she had a mucus plug in her tracheotomy therefore causing her to suffocate. Her blood oxygen level went from 100% to 72% in a matter of 20 seconds and the nurse started life saving measures to keep her breathing. I was forced to get the attention of a team of doctors into her room in only the way I can “you can only imagine”. This was a 15 minute nightmare and Alyssa ended up in my arms crying thinking that she was going to loose her Mother right then and there. Unfortunately this is the 6th time I have had to see my wife through a near death experience in the last 2 months, which once is enough for a life time. My children are all aware of the severity of their Mother’s condition and we are all working together with our Faith, Hope and Love to get her through this tragedy.

Michele is still unresponsive and really does not spend too much time awake or moving at all. She does know who we are but she has a lot of healing to do so she needs time to do so. She has to relearn everything from moving her fingers to speaking. We do not have a prognosis as we are dealing with the brain so all of this is to be revealed over the next 6 months. I can tell you that she has moved all parts of her body one time or another over the last 2 months and she has made sounds as today she was groaning very loud during her episode this morning.

Tana and Alyssa sang a song today “I’m yours” to their Mother and I taped it but the files so big that I could not send it. It brought tears to my eyes.

I have sent a few pics of the latest visitors, some of you may not notice Billy as he has cut all of her hair off in support of his Mother.

Thanks for you Prayers,

John

UPDATE 3/30 PM

2010-03-31T06:10:00.002-04:00

I just returned from the airport with 4 children in safe condition. We are getting things together this evening and have plans to see Mom at 10:15 am tomorrow. I have made special exceptions to have John and Alyssa in the NSICU which is normally not allowed. The kids will see Mom at 10:15 and we have a Jesuit priest joining us at 10:45 to do the “anointing of the sick” for Michele. We will have a full room as Brenda, Jennifer and Matthew will also attend this special moment. At 3:30 pm the kids and I will attend an NSICU class to teach us how to read, act and handle the NSICU on a daily basis. I guess I should have attended this class 6 weeks ago as I have upset just about every nurse on the floor at one point or another.

Michele is still in critical but stable condition. She can open her eyes and move her left arm a little. I talk to her but I’m not certain she understands me at times. I think I just talk too much and she gives up on me at times. I know she is getting better but we are at a very slow pace and that is not my style so I am trying to keep it slow. I have let her rest for the past 3 days but when she sees her children tomorrow things are going into hyper speed. Michele has been able to control her vitals over the last 2 days and is slowly being wined off the ventilator. The operation on her brain took 35 cc’s of curtiling fluid and the result from the lab have concluded that she had a bacteria in her brain. This is the 1 in 4000 cases that does not make sense. After 2 months this never occurs in the opinion of our Doctor. Her immune system was diminished during the surgery but has come back to a normal level. She is still very weak and she cannot handle another episode but she is in safe condition for now. I feel I have said this many times to just have it all fall out beneath us but I have to keep positive and will continue to do so until she is home safe and sound. We do not have a date at this time we are taking life “Day by Day” at this time.

Pray, Pray, Pray

Thank you,

John

**Please remember that ALL comments left on this website get sent directly to John so he can read all of your words of love and encouragement. This entire website, including the comments, will be printed out into a BOOK for Michele one day when she is better. So PLEASE do not hesitate to comment**

L.L.P.P.

2010-03-30T19:47:00.005-04:00

This is a picture that was hand-painted by Alyssa, John and Michele's youngest daughter. The picture is amazing. The love this picture holds I'm sure is only a fragment of the love these children feel every single day from their mother, Michele. The reason she fights, the reason God will heal her....the 4 amazing blessings she has at home and the love for the man she has who stands beside her bed everyday.

******LIGHT*******LOVE********POWER********PRESENCE*******

W.M.I.G.I

(Wherever Michele Is God Is)