Charlie KC3BRB & his family need your help

Charlie was driving his dump truck on rt 33 near Stroudsberg PA when at 1300 Friday May 30 a rear tire blew. This caused him to skid off the road and hit a bridge abutment with his truck.

The cab of his truck was destroyed and he was ejected from the cab. He suffered a brain hematoma and multiple skull fractures. He seems to have an injury to one eye and the doctors think he may be deaf from the accident.

He had to be life flighted to a trauma center. He underwent emergency brain surgery. He made it through the surgery, so that is a good sign.

He wakes up only briefly. He told his wife that he loves her then was out again. He asked another ham who visited him for water, and then was out again.

Charlie is the sole provider for a family of 4. He owns his own small business doing sewer & septic work as well as a dumpster carting business. While he has a couple of guys who work for him the bulk of the work is done by Charlie. With Charlie in the hospital the business has basically come to a halt.

Charlie's ham radio interests are rag chewing on all bands from 75 meters to 70 cm. Lately he has been very active running mobile on 17 meters.

Charlie is a very good man. He helps his friends and neighbors when ever he can. One of his other hobbies is rebuilding old cars. Thanks to him I was able to keep my car on the road when I had no money and was looking at more than $3000 in repairs needed. He left me use his shop and tools and taught me a few things I needed to know to get the repairs done. He also jumped in and did the needed welding since he is a much better welder than me.
Charlie would help anyone.

There is a go-fund-me set up to help charlie & his family get through this hard time.



https://www.gofundme.com/f/charles-...edium=customer&utm_source=facebook&v=amp14_t1

 

This is the cab of KC3BRB's wrecked truck.

 

Here is another photo of his truck after it was put in a dumpster for haul away.

 

This is a before photo of the truck:

 

I just happened to be about 6-8 vehicles behind the accident scene last Thursday in the same lane(s). It had just taken place when other drivers were leaving their vehicles to check on Charlie. I hope Charlie can get back to his life before the accident. He sounds like a great guy. This photo is from the WFMZ TV story on the accident.
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KC3ZGP here, we talked while you were enroute to see him. Those pics are scary, he truly is lucky guy.

 

Small correction....the date was Thursday May 29, not May 30.

 

Please everyone keep Charlie in your prayers.

I saw him last night. He knew who I was by my voice when I was talking to the staff member watching him, then he opened his eyes asked me to walk over to him. He gave me a hug and we talked for a bit before he fell back asleep.

He said his head hurts and he wants to go home.

He is not out of the woods, but he is out of ICU.

 

KC3BRB walked down the hall at the hospital today. He had a Physical Therapist holding him, but he walked down the hall.

Please everyone keep praying for Charlie!

 

Charlie is having terrible headaches and is having very bad times when he sleeps.

Please pray for Charlie and his family. His poor wife is not getting any sleep because if she leaves his room he becomes restless if sleeping, wakes up, and is very upset that she is not there.

No doubt his brain is still somewhat scrambled from flying 30 feet through the air and hitting his head.

Please pray that his brain gets right so they can both have a peaceful night.

 

What a tragedy; so sorry to hear this happened.

Maybe a reminder for everyone to always use seat belts/shoulder harnesses.

Here's hoping for a full recovery for Charlie!

 

Glad to help. God Bless and hoping you recover soon!

 

I am a little late on my update because work has been nuts, but I saw KC3BRB Monday night.

He has been moved from the hospital to a brain trauma rehab facility near Allentown.

He is still having partial deafness in his right ear.

The left side of his face lacks muscle control to a great extent. He can not completely close his left eye.

They say he has done amazing on the tests they have given him on his mental abilities.

They are going to try some electrical stimulation on his face to jump start the nervous system there.

There is a possibility he may be going home Friday or Saturday.

This is all amazing because at first they thought he was dead at the scene, then the first ER said there was nothing they could do for him, then the trauma center said they had no idea why he was alive. After that they said he would not walk or talk, and it would be weeks in the hospital and months in rehab.

Please keep praying for Charlie and his family. Even when he goes home he will have a long time until he is fully recovered and it is unknown when he will be able to return to work. He will not be able to return to normal activity until at least his skull fractures are healed.

 

This is a report that came from Charlie's wife late last night:


It's hard to believe that today marks two weeks since the worst day of my life.

People keep asking me how I am holding up and if I had to answer that question honestly, I would say by the grace of God. I don't want to make this post all about me because these posts are really about Charles Pa However, I woke up to birds chirping outside the rehab and it made me think how truly blessed we are to be in this rehab. It reminded me for a second of home. I am sure you all have heard the saying “Home is where the heart is.” What that really means is home is the place where you feel the deepest affection connection. To me it's not really the location but the feelings that come with that location. To me Charlie is my home. Two weeks ago I wasn't sure how I would ever go back to our house if he didn't make it because to me he is home.
For two weeks I have lived out of the hospitals and rehab. I promised him if he made it I would be there for the worse and that I would not leave him. I promised that I would not be going to our house until he was ready to go with me. I have kept that promise.
I look back over the last two weeks and we are nothing short of miracles over here but I have focused on the most is growth. Anyone that knows us knows that we have an amazing marriage and the love that we have for each other is something I didn't even know existed. I am truly married to my best friend, a soul mate if you will. These past two weeks have taught me that I need to make some changes in my own life! Not be quick to anger. Not to let little things bog me down. Not to take one day for granted. We get so wrapped up in life that we literally forget to stop and love the most loved people in our life like it is the last moment we will see them..I wont do that again. I have learned to be even more thankful for the people around me than I was before. I have always been thankful and have always expressed my thanks, but now I make it a note to let them know even more.
I wouldn't say I am an emotional person but the second I found out I lost it. I felt like I couldn't breathe. I tried my hardest to be strong for my son who was in the house but my daughter saw me break in a million pieces. It took almost two hours to find out if he was even alive.That alone was the most devastating part of this process, the not knowing! Two weeks ago I have no idea if we would ever get to today but we are here and I know that God has held us up every single step of the way because there is no way that I was strong enough to do it on my own!

Let's get to the update and where we need prayers!

Yesterday therapy was so hard for Charles Pa. They had him sitting in a chair and he fell asleep because he was so tired. This is all normal but he could barely keep his eyes open. They told me he will have good days and better days. I disagree, all the days are good but some are just better days. Any day he is alive is a good day!

The past few days I have really done my best to pay attention to what over stimulates him. The one thing that I noticed is that he could not have a lot of people visiting at the same time and he doesn't do well if people are having more than one conversation around him at once. I hated doing it, but I cut down on who was visiting and for how long. I felt bad but I realized it was for his own well being.

We did our best to attack these headaches because he just can't function when these headaches are bad. I think we have finally come up with a good system that seems to be working for the headaches!! They can still be pretty bad if we do not get a head of him but yesterday he only took medication once in the am and then once in the pm..this is a huge improvement! All of your prayers are working and continue to work!! Please continue to pray for this area…in order to be successful in this recovery he needs these headaches to get better.

I am happy to report that we have been three days oxy free! I think that narcotics serve their purpose. I am grateful that he had them because the pain he was having was horrible, but it seems like his time is up with them. We are grateful for this because the last thing anyone needs is an addiction issue creeping in.

PT wise he is still having some balance issues. He is aware of them and he has learned to sit for a few minutes and regroup before he attempts something. We will take it. He can walk! We can work on the balance.

Cognitively he is struggling still, I see it. It's weird in some areas he is as sharp as ever but in other areas you can see that he has to really think. Yesterday they did a test with him where he has to go down the alphabet and name a food that begins with every letter. He often could not think of a food with the letter, even when prompted. He struggled to stay on the letter that he was on as well. This is a task that he would have never had a problem with. This is not a complaint, this is an area that I ask for prayers in, that is all.
He also had to count down from a 100 by 3 and he struggled with that as well.
He is struggling with thinking and walking at the same time. It’s something we all do and don't think about but a TBI survivor has to think about not falling while they are trying to function and speak at the same time.

The ear, this is still an issue. We still have no idea what is going on in that ear. We are waiting for the swelling to go down. His hearing concerns me more for safety reasons because he listens to the TV so loud..I mean 85 is loud. I can't even think! We will take it!

The eye. Once again a miracle here! His eye seems to be fully functioning. We will follow up to do an eye test, but it seems like its a full functioning eye.

The droopy side. Still an issue. It is impacting his speech. It does seem to be better after he gets up and thinks about it but by the end of the day its very noticeable. Again if it doesn't improve, we will take it!

Of all of the things above, we are not complaining we are just asking for prayers that they get better as well but mostly the headaches. If they can be reduced, improved or go away all together, we can work on all the other stuff.
This is still a long road ahead. We still have a lot to work on. I won't focus on some of the other things that I see because I think in time they will be ok. If not I will come to you all begging again for prayer. I might be out of prayers this year!!

Now the best news of all. Charlie is set to be discharged tomorrow. Yes you read that right, he is expected to be discharged tomorrow. It will be exactly 15 days from the day of his accident. Everyday they are impressed more and more by his recovery. Lets face it, people dont have the type of accident that he had and go home in 15 days. From what they originally planned for me, there was a possibility that he could still be on a vent, or not walking, or not talking. I am still in shock! We serve an amazing God. I have so much more to add to this but I am heading to the rehab area so they can train me and prepare me for what he needs to have when we get home!

He will be doing in home therapy until they feel he is ready for outpatient therapy! We will take it!

Before I go I want to thank you all for being on this journey with us! This may be a long road to recovery but we are all so grateful that we have so many amazing people to be on this road with us. Remember from day one I have told everyone to please make sure you are spending time with your loved ones. I have been blessed beyond measure to even come to this day with an outcome like this. No everyone gets this opportunity, so slow down, enjoy the ones you love and don’t forget to let everyone know how you feel about them so you don't have regrets when the day comes when you no longer have the chance.

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While I was at work this evening I got a text that Charlie is home. He needed help getting up to the stairs to the house (his home is elevated).

I can not say when he will get on the air, but I am sure it will be soon. He still has a long way to go, but KC3BRB is a miricle.

 

The power of prayer is pretty incredible! Thanks for keeping up posted on Charlie's condition! Please give my best to the family (of course they don't know me, but do it anyway, please! LOL!)

GO CHARLIE!