The day was September 1,2008. A family still elated from a wedding that took place just two days before, still singing the songs from the night before -- an impromptu gathering after the wedding to welcome a bride home and invite a new son into the family, a gathering to give thanks, and enjoy the peace and serenity of each other. In the early hours of that day, four people, two fathers and their two daughters, embarked on a journey to drop off their children to college. After helping the girls get settled, the two began their return journey. Eager to get home. A birthday celebration for their niece awaited them. A family awaited them. In some ways, they are still waiting.
In the afternoon hours --the haze of happiness that engulfed an entire family dissipated -- with an accident. An accident, a series of unknowns, a family in desperate search for answers, for help... for hope. Two men, two men who are fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons, left. Only one came back. The other, our guardian angel in every aspect of the word, a man of faith, a man of honor, a pious man, a loving man, a man in whom everyone sought respite, was called to heaven. With that loss, darkness consumed this family. In that darkness was a glowing ember that was JC. In the days following the accident, JC was the light that the entire family gathered around, he was the flame that we kept fanning to become stronger and stronger, in him lay the happiness that we lost. He became our Superhero.
Here is our story:
John Kuttiyara (a.k.a. Johnson, John chachen, JC, our Superhero) suffered a spinal cord injury at C5-C6, which initially left him with no sensory or motor function from the neck down… he could not move his hands, waist or legs, he could not feel someone’s touch, he could not speak, he could not even breathe on his own. As so often the body belies the spirit, JC’s paralyzed body spoke nothing of his exuberant spirit bouncing around the room ready to sprint forward onto the difficult path to recovery that lay ahead. With this phenomenal drive, JC embarked on an incredible journey filled with love, laughter, tears, prayer, miracles, and inspiring individuals. And always beside him on this windy, sometimes bumpy, road was a dedicated team of friends and family… and our guardian angel, forever bestowing blessings and reminders of faith along our way.
I. THE FIRST DAY:
JC was brought to Westchester Medical Center (WMC) via medivac helicopter. He was in respiratory failure when he arrived and was quickly intubated. The trauma team found that he had vertebral fractures at C4 – C7, a burst fracture at C6, and intracranial bleeding. JC had emergency spinal stabilization surgery, and a gastrostomy tube to allow nutritional intake was also placed. After the surgery, the neurosurgeons informed us that they visualized an incomplete injury to the spinal cord. With some preservation of the spinal cord we could, thus, expect some level of recovery. JC remained at WMC in the trauma ICU and received excellent care from the doctors, ancillary staff, especially our nurse, Andrew. Andrew taught us to not only hope but work for better. We have been doing that ever since.
