The Accident & Recovery

We received the phone call that no parent ever wants to receive a few minutes after midnight on 11/25/2019. Kyle had been hit by a car within the community where he lived, only a couple miles from his home. Upon arrival at Mission Hospital, Kyle was intubated and taken for a CT scan that revealed he had suffered major trauma to his brain.

Kyle was rushed into surgery to have the right side of his skull removed to relieve swelling. We sat silently in the waiting room for hours waiting for word on his condition. Around 5 am, the neurosurgeon came in to let us know that they had done everything they could, but his brain continued to bleed and kept "blossoming”.  He wasn't going to make it; we were devastated. 

Kyle was moved to the ICU and we waited, 3 hours later he was still hanging on but his intercranial pressure continued to rise. The Neurointensivist put in orders to have the left side of his skull removed, to lower his ICP. The next 72 hours were crucial, but Kyle continued to fight and survived those injuries. He spent 32 days in the ICU at Mission Hospital and was transferred to Healthbridge Childrens Hospital to continue his recovery.

Over the next 4 months Kyle suffered a myriad of complications; seizures, storming, pneumonia, infections, and hydrocephalus just to name a few.

In Feb 2020, while recovering from an infection, an MRI was done and the doctors discovered he had a Diffuse Axonal Injury (DAI) and they were not sure if he would emerge from the vegetative state he was in. During that stay his neurosurgeon placed a VP shunt to address the hydrocephalus and his Left skull flap/bone was put back on. The Right-side skull bone was placed in March of 2020 and then COVID hit. We knew there was no way we could let Kyle go back to a facility and not have any interaction with his family/friends or have anyone advocating for him, so we decided to bring him home. We had a week to prepare our home, buy all the necessary medical equipment and hire 24-hour nursing along with private physical therapy & speech therapy. This ended up being the best decision we ever made. There truly is No Place Like Home! Kyle smiled for the first time on April 6, 2019, when the nurse came in and told Kyle he was going home. It was at that moment that we knew that he had some sense of awareness and could hear and understand when we talked to him. 

Kyle was home from April 6 - July 14 and was able to get stronger, continue to slowly emerge from his coma and start following basic commands (tracking with his eyes, give a thumbs up, touch his nose, etc.). Kyle was moved to Neurorestorative in Tustin, CA for a month to get more therapy, wean him from some medications and prepare him for Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colorado. On Aug 13, 2020, Kyle took a medical flight to Colorado and spent 3 months at Craig Hospital.

Kyle was flown home (for good) on a medical flight from Craig Hospital on Nov 10, 2020. He had so many complications while at Craig Hospital it caused him to take several steps backwards. He was no longer using his right hand and was not consistently following commands. However, he started to smile consistently and would laugh at jokes or funny stories. So we knew he was in there and we firmly believed, "if he did it before, he can do it again!" 

Rehab Without Walls started working with him we he returned home. They helped us to get him settled in and establish a daily routine. We started back up with private in-home therapies, and HBOT. He received his first, of several, stem cell infusions in December 2020 and we began the use of LLLT.

Within 2 months of being home, Kyle started to regain movement in his right hand and then arm. He continued to get stronger and make slow, steady progress every week. In February 2021, Kyle started to give hugs and shake hands. In March, he was sitting up with assistance and pulling himself forward. In April, his PT's started standing him up and having him take steps with his right leg. In May he started to write numbers and letters on a whiteboard. In July, he whispered "Mom" and "Mama" and by September 2021 (22 months after his accident) Kyle was talking in full sentences, singing songs and dancing in his wheelchair (or "cart" as he would call it).

The days were long, and the weeks were flying by but Kyle continued to show progress. He had therapy every single day. We never wasted an opportunity to turn any activity into some type of therapy. We incorporated OT into his daily routine of self-care by using 'hand-over-hand" techniques to have him assist with getting dressed, brushing his teeth, putting on Chapstick, putting on deodorant, etc. Our car rides turned into speech therapy sessions with car Karaoke, jokes and long conversations on the 45 minute drive to St. Jude’s Neurorehab in Brea. We continued to be amazed at Kyle's strength, determination, perseverance and progress.  With each goal Kyle met, our hopes continued to soar and we never stopped dreaming big for his future.  

At the beginning of 2022, we noticed a few areas on Kyles skull that were sunken in and to the touch, those areas felt like there was no skull there. His neurosurgeon sent him for a CT scan that revealed his skull was thinning all over and in the areas of concern, the skull had completely disintegrated. Our options were to leave it alone and eventually he would have no skull so he would have to wear a protective helmet at all times to prevent further brain damage or have his skull replaced with a synthetic skull piece on the right and left side. His team of doctors believed replacing his skull was the best option and there would be minimal complications because they would not be touching the brain, just removing the old skull flaps that had already been removed back in 2019.

In April of 2022, Kyle went in for surgery to have his right skull flap replaced first. His neurosurgeon said he would have his surgery on a Monday and be discharged on Wednesday, then come back the following week to have the left side replaced. Unfortunately, that is not how it played out. Kyle ended up developing a hematoma that caused serious complications, he was rushed back into surgery to have the hematoma drained and have a drain placed because there was air & fluid collecting in between his brain/skull. Kyle was really struggling so his team of doctors decided to keep him intubated and sedated for a few days to let his brain calm down. During that time he had his left skull replaced. Kyle ended up spending 2 weeks in the ICU with some scary moments. After 2 weeks, his doctor decided to remove the drains and send him home for a few weeks to see if his body would naturally reabsorb the fluid and air that collected between his brain and prosthetic skull flaps. 

About 3 weeks later Kyle was sent for a CT scan to check on the fluid and air pockets. They unfortunately were still on both sides, so he was scheduled to come back in for surgery in May 2022 to have drains placed again. It was 2 very long and heartbreaking weeks in the ICU with Kyle. Watching him lose his ability to communicate or move, suffer through multiple storming episodes a day and being unsuccessful in keeping the fluid & air from recollecting on the outside of his brain was devastating. After many attempts and more surgeries, we decided that Kyle had fought long and hard enough. We couldn’t continue to keep putting him through more surgeries with no idea of how to correct the fluid & air from recollecting.  On Tuesday, June 7, 2022, we brought Kyle home on hospice. Over the next few days, Kyle continued to get weaker and lose consciousness. We spent every moment by his side, listening to music, watching movies together, telling stories and taking naps with him. Our Lord called Kyle home a week later on Tuesday, June 14, 2022, at 4:20pm. Kyle was surrounded by family & friends when he took his last breath.

Kyle's recovery journey is chronicled on Instagram @OsborneStrong