On January 4, 2016 Brett was snow skiing in Wisconsin with his dad, uncle and two cousins. It was winter break of his freshman year at Indiana University. He went down a ski jump and overshot the landing.
Brett was wearing a helmet. Luckily his dad, Bryan, was right there because Brett had stopped breathing and needed CPR. On the Glasgow Scale Brett was rated a 3, the worst possible outcome.
Brett was in ICU for three weeks and then went to the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab (formerly known as the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago RIC) where he received inpatient therapy until the end of March 2016. He was diagnosed with a severe closed head injury, Diffuse Axonal Injury-Grade 3.
Brett was in a coma, semi-conscious state or post traumatic amnesia for almost three months. When he was released from the hospital he received outpatient therapy for five days a week, six hours a day, for an additional 9 1/2 months.
His main goals were to run again and return as a student at Indiana University. He accomplished both of these goals in August 2017. He is still a student at IU and now majoring in Rec Therapy because he wants to help patients like some of his therapists helped him. He has high hopes of graduating in May of 2020!
