Ethan Update 9/19:
Dear Friends of HRSF,
On behalf of the Hadley Surf Rescue Fund and Ethan Hadley, I would like to thank you for your generous gift and commitment to helping “The Cause.”
With the help of donations from supporters such as you we were able to raise just over $35,000! Specifically, the Fund was able to cover the majority of all hospital bills and the secondary care facility he was able to attend.
The incredible level of support of the Hadley Surf Rescue Fund is a direct testament to the impact that Ethan’s fun-loving and easy-going personality had on those around him. In the past few months Ethan has enjoyed great success. In April he returned home to Nipomo where he demonstrated the strength of his recovery and therapy. He immediately began taking steps to return to school, work, and reestablish his life. In June, his driver’s license was reinstated and Ethan began physical training for his return to work. By July he had passed his lifeguard re-qualification swim and returned to light duty work with the Oceano State Dunes. He plans to attend school next fall and finish his coursework for college.
I am happy to say that Ethan will be enjoying a long healthy life!
Thanks again for your generous support of Ethan. He and the family cannot thank everyone enough for the support and unconditional love throughout this time.
Best wishes!
Ethan Update 4/13: Happy Friday the 13th everyone! First off, The family would like to give the most sincere THANK YOU to everyone involved in Ethan's life and his recovery. This has all been made possible through your gifts and support! He moved to Solutions two weeks ago, a rehabilitation center in Goleta where he continues therapy for the next 4 weeks. Solutions is a "recovery home," where the majority of the therapy takes place in a non-hospital/facility environment. His progress in all areas, physical and mental, has been amazing. His speech and ability to communicate are quite keen, as is his memory prior to the accident. He has been actively rehabilitating his leg and is anything but "broken" as he likes to call it. We will have more professional updates about his recovery in the coming week.
Dear Friends of HRSF,
On behalf of the Hadley Surf Rescue Fund and Ethan Hadley, I would like to thank you for your generous gift and commitment to helping “The Cause.”
With the help of donations from supporters such as you we were able to raise just over $35,000! Specifically, the Fund was able to cover the majority of all hospital bills and the secondary care facility he was able to attend.
The incredible level of support of the Hadley Surf Rescue Fund is a direct testament to the impact that Ethan’s fun-loving and easy-going personality had on those around him. In the past few months Ethan has enjoyed great success. In April he returned home to Nipomo where he demonstrated the strength of his recovery and therapy. He immediately began taking steps to return to school, work, and reestablish his life. In June, his driver’s license was reinstated and Ethan began physical training for his return to work. By July he had passed his lifeguard re-qualification swim and returned to light duty work with the Oceano State Dunes. He plans to attend school next fall and finish his coursework for college.
I am happy to say that Ethan will be enjoying a long healthy life!
Thanks again for your generous support of Ethan. He and the family cannot thank everyone enough for the support and unconditional love throughout this time.
Best wishes!
Ethan Update 4/13: Happy Friday the 13th everyone! First off, The family would like to give the most sincere THANK YOU to everyone involved in Ethan's life and his recovery. This has all been made possible through your gifts and support! He moved to Solutions two weeks ago, a rehabilitation center in Goleta where he continues therapy for the next 4 weeks. Solutions is a "recovery home," where the majority of the therapy takes place in a non-hospital/facility environment. His progress in all areas, physical and mental, has been amazing. His speech and ability to communicate are quite keen, as is his memory prior to the accident. He has been actively rehabilitating his leg and is anything but "broken" as he likes to call it. We will have more professional updates about his recovery in the coming week.
I am happy to announce that Ethan will be attending the Elk BBQ Saturday, April 21st! See the events page for more details.
Ethan Update 3/27: We are in our last week of therapy at Cottage Rehab Center as Ethan continues to progress. He has moved from the wheel chair to the walker and now to a cane. He has also been cleared to venture out and enjoy the city of Santa Barbara. In fact, he is tough to keep track of these days. We have also re-established Ethan's major food groups: Mexican food, hamburgers, and blenders. His verbal skill and memory are coming along. He still struggles with long term memory, especially prior to the accident. Although, he does recall memories from time to time and continues to surprise us with the details surrounding them. I am still laughing from today when we were coming up the street we spent his uncles bachelor party on and he looks over and says, "that was a wild night." He continued to describe and talk about specific events from the evening... Today we spent an hour of physical therapy at the Santa Barbara YMCA where we swam 1000 yards. It was truly a great sight! His therapist was very happy with his performance and ability.
As this week comes to an end at Cottage we are looking to move Ethan to another facility that will continue to develop his skills and re-establishment into day to day life.
Ethan Update 3/13: The doctors are happy with Ethan's progress and are optimistic with his recovery. They are thinking they will keep him for another 3 weeks at the current intensive rehabilitation center and then transfer him to another facility. The next facility will be less intensive and serve as a place where he can become more independent and then possibly sent HOME to finish his recovery! On another note, we have had vast progression in the aspiration precaution category; meaning we are moving past puree foods and on to ground and possibly solid. We all know how much a Pismo Wrap would tickle E's fancy. He has also been cleared of his MRSA staph infection (MRSA definition). Thank you for your continual support and Stay tuned for upcoming events!
Traumatic Brain Injury Info
Ethan Update 3/4: Warm greetings to family, friends, and fans of Ethan Hadley: On February 29th, Ethan was transferred to Cottage Rehabilitation Center in Santa Barbara to continue with his recovery. This facility helps people with brain injuries return to their former selves and achieve their highest possible level of cognitive abilities. Ethan will be busy every day with physical therapy, occupational therapy, recreational therapy, and speech therapy. In short, he will be working hard! Due to the varied, multi-faceted nature of brain injuries, Ethan’s doctors, nurses and therapists have done their best to prepare us for the upcoming days of therapy. Ethan remains on aspiration precautions, which means airway clearance is still potentially a hazard, but we are hopeful to move forward soon. There are also “overstimulation precautions” in place. Ethan’s neuropsychologist has warned us of the dangers of over stimulation, which is why we are asking that well-wishers not visit Ethan at this time. He is limited to six weeks in this facility, and we want him to focus on progress and take advantage of the time spent here. In addition, Ethan’s response to people and other stimuli is sporadic, the broad spectrum of recognition and identification is frustrating for Ethan right now. Thank you all for the love, prayers, and support—it has helped to carry us through this ordeal, and will help Ethan in the difficult weeks to come. We encourage you to research brain injuries if you have any questions, and to send a card Ethan’s way if you would like to reach out to him.
Address:
Ethan Hadley
C/O Cottage Rehabilitation Hospital
2415 De La Vina St.
Santa Barbara, CA 93105
Ethan Update 2/28: He is progressing so well! His feeding tube was taken out today, as well as the 21 staples in his head. He said "ow" when they were being removed, and tries to say hi and other short words. Other than that, his communication consists of thumbs up, head nods, high fives, kisses (only Coreen hopefully) and smiles. He has been eating a little bit; things like pudding, milk, and applesauce. His transfer date to Santa Barbara has been switched a couple times but as of this morning, he is going down there on Wednesday. Prayers are being answered!! Thank you all.
Ethan Update 2/26: Ethan is out of the ICU/CCU and now in the Step down unit. He is still moving around, very purposeful, and will even bless us with a thumbs up sign every once in a while. He opens his eyes every so often and will sometimes look right at you when you ask him too. He speaks very little, occasionally saying "OK" or nodding yes or no. He is making progress, but it is going slowly.... He no longer needs oxygen but he does still have a feeding tube through his nose to get nutrition. He is able to chew slowly and swallow slowly but it is a little TOO slow for them to feed him yet. Physical therapy has been working with him, they sat him on the side of the bed yesterday and he tried to help hold himself up. They also got him into a chair for a few hours till he got too tired. The plan is for him to go to Cottage Rehab down in Santa Barbara on Tuesday. (Those two fingers were one of the neuro tests!!!) Ethan Update 2/21: They finally took his tube out! He was extubated and is breathing great on his own. He is so exhausted but he is trying to talk. It's hard to understand and very course and quiet. He still has a lot of phlegm in his lungs that we are all encouraging him to cough up. He is very confused as well. Thanks for all the prayers, he still has a long road of recovery ahead.
Ethan Update 2/20: This morning they tested Ethan's ability to breath on his own. They turned off the machine that controls his breaths but they kept the breathing tube in. Every time he takes a breath on his own the machine helps a little bit to keep positive pressure in his lungs and to make it easier for him to breath. He did really well but eventually this afternoon he started having some long pauses between breaths and the doctor and respiratory therapist put him back on the ventilator. Although we are bummed he is back on the breathing matching it was still a good step in the right direction and they will try to let him breath on his own again tomorrow. They did a head CT scan last night and it shows improvement, decrease in swelling. He is also on a different sedative, its move like and anti-anxiety medication. He has more movement and seems to be more aware of his surroundings. He will flutter open his eyes and look around the room briefly, he follows a lot of commands, and will stretch and move his arms and legs. The process has been slow but overall he has had some really good improvements.
Ethan Update 2/19: Doctors have taken him of the paralytic (propoval) and put him on a euphoric. The doctor wants him to follow commands within the hour. If he can't then they will do another CT scan. He is on the ventilator until his pneumonia is gone and he is able and aware to keep his airway clear by himself.
Ethan update 2/18: He continues to be intubated (breathing tube) and sedated. Every morning the neurologist stops his sedation to do small tests to see if he is ready to be extabated. So far he will squeeze the right and left hands on command and move his feet when asked. He will even flutter open his eyes very briefly. The only neuro test left for him to pass is holding up two fingers when asked. (He also does all sorts of extra stunts like trying to pull out the breathing tube himself, giving us angry eyebrows, and chewing on his breathing tube and feeding tube) We are still hoping for the extabation to be in the next few days. His temperature is being controlled without need for the cooling blanket, he is about 99-100 degrees. His lungs look and sound a lot better, the pneumonia seems under control with the antibiotics. It is still so exciting to see him move around and grab our hands when the sedation wears off and we cannot wait for when they can take out the breathing tube and stop the sedation. Keep the prayers and good thoughts coming! Thank you to everyone.
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