TBI One Love Survivor Michael Black

My name is Michael Black and I sustained my Traumatic Brain Injury in a horrific auto accident (June 5, 2015) with a semi truck that nearly claimed my life.

The day started off pretty normal, my wife kissed my goodbye as she headed off to work and I had dropped two of our three boys off to school for their last day before summer break and my youngest.... off to daycare. Little did anyone know that later that day I would be fighting for my life.

It was around five in the evening when I got into my car and started to get my son at daycare.... I never made it I never saw that semi slam into my car nor did he stop (Est speed 35-40mph). The semi smashed my car so hard that it dragged my car across the intersection (about 300 ft.) where I t-boned two other cars and did a 180. The local fire department responded and had to extricate me from the car (I remember nothing of this because I was knocked unconscious. These next few paragraphs are from what my wife and family told me).

My wife got the call that I did not arrive to pick up my son, she was not told about the accident because she was not on my emergency contact list (for some reason).

Anyway, perplexed she called my phone hoping to speak with me but I had brought the wrong phone in the car with me that day so my son at home answered it. He did not even know where I was either, even though I was being worked on half a mile down the street Confused, my wife went ahead and picked up our son and proceeded for home. There here life changed in an instant cause she drove up on the accident herself!!!!!!! By this time, I was already out of the car and being airlifted to Shands in Gainesville, Fla.

I was in a coma for 11 days (medically induced). For the first 72 hours, no one had a good prognosis for me, not even the doctors. A wife didn't know if she had to bury a husband and children didn't know if they had to say goodbye to their dad. I was chained to the bed for most of the time cause apparently I was trying to get up out of bed and rip my tubes out I was bleeding between both hemispheres of the brain, bruising all around the brain and a bruised spleen but here is the amazing part, out of all that Carnegie only one broken bone. It was God putting his shield of protection over me

Now while I was in the coma, I would dream a lot and felt the pain when they put the trach in and I can remember every single dream in detail but the one that stands out he most is when I had a talk with God. I was beginning to realize that I was in deep trouble. I was lying on a cold metal slab, my head was hanging off slightly and I looked up and I saw a bright white light with a shadow in it and then I lifted my head, looked down at my feet and saw three surgeons (two on the left, one on the right) ready to operate on me and then I leaned and tilted my head back toward the light and said " God, do what you need to do with me"

I woke out of the coma on June 16, 2015 with a neck brace on, a trach inserted and a feeding tube down my nose to my stomach. Doctors and health professionals told my wife and family if I did survive, I would be between the hospital and rehab for about a year. Little did they know that God had different plans.

I was transferred to the trauma unit from ICU soon after I woke up and on June 25, 2015, to everyone’s amazement I was released to rehab. Rehab told my wife and family I was going to be in there about a month.

Everyone in rehab had already seen the accident except for me and they were amazed I was in the shape I was. Day after day I got stronger and stronger, my wife, my family, and my kids all by my side and on July 11, 2015, I was released from rehab (a full two weeks ahead of schedule) to recover at home. I still had my neck brace on, that was supposed to stay on for four months, I got that off nine weeks ahead of schedule!!!!!!!!!EVERY TIMELINE THE DOCTORS GAVE ME TO HEAL, GOD SHATTERED. I HEALED ON HIS TIME!!!!! DEUTOROTOMY 20:4 FOR THE LORD YOUR GOD IS HE THAT GOETH WITH YOU, TO FIGHT AGAINST YOUR ENEMIES TO SAVE YOU.

Now after you see a picture of this accident, the bones you would think would be broken weren't it was one little bone in the base of my skull. I still have a piece of that windshield to this day as a reminder of the miracle that was truly performed that day and to never forget where I came from.