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
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