7. Your son should be dead - Guy & Debby Maniscalco

In this episode, I had Nick Maniscalco’s parents on the podcast to tell us about the other side of the story. Traumatic brain injuries and the things that come along with it are often times vastly misunderstand by people who have not dealt with someone with a traumatic brain injury or had one themselves. My hope is that this episode helps to shed some light on brain injuries and the challenges they can pose.

I remember when he was in ICU at Walla Walla. Debbie and I were there in the room and we looked out the window and we saw a bus pull up and out 50 plus kids. And they all were walking to the hospital. And I told the nurse, you got to take a look at this. They looked out the window and they saw these kids come and they said, Are they coming here? I said, yes. When we pulled into the hospital, I remember Snowy and we just pulled in and there was kind of a drop off place and kids met us at the door. And then they walked us up to the flight where Nick was in the hospital room. And there were kids lined up and down the halls. And we took over a waiting room. Well, Hello, everyone. It's Erin with the Simply Overcoming Podcast. It's another episode, and today is very special for me as well as Nick, who has been on the podcast multiple times. Now we have Nick's parents here today. And that's because Nick's story of his car accident and being in a coma for four months and his traumatic brain injury and the journey of physical therapy. His story is just one side of the story. Nick's parents went through a whole different experience themselves having to be there for Nick, not knowing if Nick would ever wake up from his coma. The doctors told them that he had a 50 50 chance. They were even given the suggestion to pull the plug on Nick so very excited to have them here today. Traumatic brain injuries and the things that come along with it are oftentimes misunderstood by people who have not experienced them or have not dealt with somebody who has a traumatic brain injury. So my hope is that this episode is uplifting, that this episode is an encouragement to other people out there who can understand the situation that Nick and his parents went through. This is the very first time I've ever had four people on the podcast at once. And so just a little Disclaimer. There are four mics, and not all of them are perfectly leveled, so it might not be the easiest thing to listen to, but you are going to be impressed by this episode. Nick's parents are very religious, God fearing people, and they have a great message for the people out there who are listening. So thank you for joining us. And now we will jump right into it. Welcome to the Simply Overcoming Podcast. We're here with Nick once again, Nick, how are you doing, brother? I'm doing fantastic loving. Well, today it was cold. Surprisingly, it's nice that we're finally doing this in person. We've done this over Zoom a few times, and now we're in this echoey room. We've done one together, right? Have we? Oh, we did. Yeah. My first one in person. Well, today is a very special episode because we not only have Nick over here, but we also have Nick's parents. Why are your parents here on the podcast? Nick, my parents are here to tell the other side of the story. The other side of the story. There is my side of the story of my wrecking that was twelve almost 13 years ago. I can give my point of view, which I was in a coma for four months. Yeah, they have a totally different side of the story. Absolutely. Well, thanks, guys, for being here, Guy and Debbie for being on the podcast and coming in. And we're here actually at Guy and Debbie's house right now in their kitchen, sitting across from each other at the table and do not be concerned. None of us have Kovid. We're sure of it. Most definitely. Yeah. We got the whole six, maybe 4ft going on, so hopefully we all survive this episode. So, Nick, would you mind giving us the 1 minute brief on your accident? From your side of things? Just in case, this is the first time people are listening to the podcast. Okay. January 27, 2008 I was in a car accident. My car still off side of the road and slammed into a park semi trailer that was in an adjacent parking lot. I was whipped across the car. I was wearing my seat belt. I was whipped across the car and my head. We think that my head hit the trailer. So the chunk of skull was pushing my brain roughly three and a half to four inches. And now I have what's called migraine injury. I went to the hospital, I went to brain surgery, went into a coma for four months in the hospital for eight months. Okay. All right. Very rough draft. Yeah. Okay. All right. Well, I know your parents have a completely different side of the story, and I want to get to that shortly. But first of all, Guy, how many years have you and your wife been married? A little over 41 years? A little over 41 years. Wow. That is so encouraging for people like myself to hear, for the young people to hear, especially with the divorce rates being so high within the US right now. It's not exactly common. Yeah. The average years that people stay married in the US is about eight to twelve years. I was reading, and also the US is actually one of the better countries. As far as people staying together. Italy is even worse. A lot of those European countries people just do not stay together. I've been married for about a year and a half. Do you guys have either one of you have any sound wisdom for US young people when it comes to marriage, staying married, staying in love. I would say that if you put God in the center and make him first, then it helps you because we don't even have the tendency to be selfless and deny ourselves and do for others. But with God's help. He can inspire and help us do it. Okay. All right, guy, what is your words of wisdom that you have for us? I really don't have anything. Addition to add that other people haven't they talk about longevity of marriage? And I don't have any really super words of wisdom to give anybody. However, I would say that two things. Number one, when you go into the marriage, you have to go in it with selflessness. You can't be thinking about yourself all the time, because if you're in it for what you can get, the marriage will be short lived. And then the other thing, as you get later on in life and you think about, you can get into an argument with your spouse and you can get harsh feelings. One thing that helps me is I stopped. And I think back when we were dating and when we were newly married and some of the feelings and thoughts that I had back then toward my wife and say it's still there. I just need to make sure that I bring them to the front. Okay. Are you listening, Nick, did you hear that? Got that? Excellent. I'm sure, because it's coming from your dad. You're going to be really listening closely. Got it all written down. Excellent. I'll be giving him advice the rest of his life. Excellent. Well, that's what a father's for, right? Are you guys both originally from this specific area? We're in Corte Lane, Idaho, right now. Where did you both move from, or maybe were you from this area? We both lived in California, near the Bay Area. I lived in the East Bay, Castro Valley, and Debbie lived in Sonoma, California. We met at Pacific Union College way back in 1019 77 and dated for two years before we got married. And then our honeymoon basically was the drive from Sonoma, California, where we got married to Cornellane, Idaho. Did you just stumble upon this absolutely magical place or was this the destination guy? This was the destination. After I'd met Debbie, I was still living in the dorm at Puzz. My roommate and I were going to take the summer and go backpacking. And it was literally a Dart on a map that brought us to North Idaho to go backpacking. And when I got back, I was so enthralled with it. I told my parents I said, you know what I'm done at PUC. I'm moving up to Idaho. My parents, both born and raised in San Francisco, lived there their whole life in the Bay Area, said, you know what? We are, too. And like I say, that was 41 years ago and no desire to go back. I know that I've heard something about a first date that was going to be my next question. A little bird told me that you had a great first date story for us, and you're just dying to share it. Maybe mom would like to say that was 43 years ago. And I can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday. Our first date, he took me to San Francisco, and we went to the Zoo. And his favorite animal to watch was the monkeys. And then he took me for a walk across the Golden Gate Bridge and he spit on Seagulls. They had it coming. And at that point, you were like, we're definitely going to be going on a second date. I don't know what I was thinking. Well, I recall Debbie saying much later that she was very concerned with. I was young when I started College. Debbie was a little bit older than me when she started College. So I was a young senior, and she was kind of an older freshman, and she was worried about the senior putting the moves on her. But he didn't. I was a perfect gentleman. He talked about Christmas and his family, and I was super impressed. And how their good times, their family times. And that one in my heart. Well, you have more than just one son. Nick is just your younger son. Yeah. He's our middle child. We have an older son, Nick, and then a daughter after Nick. Okay. So did you have those children after you moved here to Idaho? Yes. Our honeymoon from getting married was the drive up here. So it wasn't just coming to visit. It was moving up. Your honeymoon was moving up. What a romantic honeymoon. Excellent dream right there. It was dream trip. Well, as long as Debbie was happy with it, I'm sure it was fantastic. Well, Nick was in. As Nick was saying at the beginning of this episode, Nick was in a bit of a wreck ten years ago. You said it's been almost 13 years ago. Almost 13 years ago. And you have a fantastic story, Nick, but I know that your part of the story is such a small part of the story. And so I want to hear from your parents who originally got the call after Nick's car wreck because Nick was in a car wreck outside of Wallawala, Washington, and he was taken to a hospital in Wallawala. Yes. Yeah. Okay. So you guys received a call, I would assume how did that affect your life? I went down for the weekend to spend the weekend January 25 through the 27th with some friends. You're going to spend some time with some friends? Yeah. From high school buddies. So then I was on my way home the 27th. This is where mom comes in. Sorry. Got it. Okay. So that morning I was out shoveling snow and I'd come in and started fixing breakfast. And I got a phone call. I sit down at this chair over here in the corner and they said, Hello, do you know Mark? Nicholas Maniscalco. And I knew that they didn't know him very well. Nobody called me Mark. And I said, yes, I did. And they proceeded to tell me my son had been in a very bad accident, and he had a head injury. He was going in for surgery. They recommended us not coming because it had been a bad snowstorm. And I just remember shaking all over. And then everyone picking up guys coming from the living room, going by the way, I was talking, you knew something was going on. We just proceeded to pull it together. The next thing I can remember is that Ben and Ruthie, our neighbors, came over and we were trying to figure out how to drive there. We didn't have snow tires. And they gave us their car with snow tires. And Matthew was up skiing at Schweitzer. So we called him to tell him we were taking off to Wallawala. We all got in the car. So somebody has loaned you a car to drive to Wallawala to see Nick. Yes. And I was thinking, how much stuff do I take? How long are we going to be there? So Molina was grabbing her school stuff. Molina was home schooled then I had just graduated high school, and I was in College. Yeah, well, I remember that Sunday morning when we got the call from the hospital. Debbie took the call and I was nearby and listening because I knew something was not right. And then finding out that Nick had been in a bad accident going into surgery. Brain surgery. The blood of my veins just went to ice immediately. You kind of go into the fight or flight mode. They had advised us not to come down because the roads were so bad. But I thought, how could we not here we are up here, North Idaho. Nick's at St. Mary's Hospital in Wallawala, going in for surgery on his brain, not knowing if he'd make it. So we did some scrambling, got ready as quick as we could and headed down there. And I know on the way down, there was pretty quiet in the car, and I remember it was about Ritzville. I think each one of us in our own silent way. We were praying on the way down. I know I was. I know Debbie was. And it was about Richville. That a thought came to my mind that I just prayed to God that if Nick was ready to go, then I was okay with that, if he died. But if Nick wasn't ready to go, I just played with God to give him a second chance. And that was on my mind most of the way there. So I remember just trying to hold it together until we got down there. But then when we got up to ICU and Nick was there when we were allowed to go in and see him, the feelings that washed over me were just there was no reassurance that Nick was going to live. The doctor himself, the neurosurgeon that operated on him said that he gave him about a 50 50 chance. It was a lot of praying. How do you trust God in a situation like that? Well, for me, my perspective is we're pulling out of here, and I realize that God, if we let Him always has us on a journey to draw us closer to him. And I had lost a brother at 36 to cancer, and I had doubted during for at least a year that God had done the right thing. And I questioned him a lot. And it had made me sick to my stomach. And I had had a time where I finally said, okay, Lord, just take it away. And I won't question you anymore. And finally I had these ladies. I was at a women's group and they came around and I just said I wanted to pray for God's will and that. And they put their hands on me. And as they were praying, I felt it all leave from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet. It just left. And I had this piece. And I realized I could have had that piece a year ago if I had just trusted in God and not been so sure that I could question and argue with him about everything. So when I'm pulling out of here, it comes back to my mind. Am I going to trust no matter what happens if I get down there and my son isn't alive? Whatever happened in the text, there's no temptation taking you. But such is common to man. But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will make with the temptation a way for you to escape. And I knew I was being tested. Would I trust my son with God? And so that was my journey. That was my thoughts for the next 3 hours. Nick, you were transported from the hospital in Wallawala to Spokane, correct? No. To Post Falls to Post Falls. Okay. I was transported to five different hospitals over eight months, but from St. Mary's Hospital in Wallawala. He was an ICU four weeks before he was well enough to transfer just to a regular room there. And then after being in that room for I want to say a week or two or in ICU? No. Once he got out of ICU, he went to a regular hospital room, and then they transported him to Post Falls to acute care facility where he was for a month or better with the thought that possibly he would come out of his coma and would be able to start physical therapy. But that really didn't happen that way. So after he was there for a little over a month, I think. Then he went to an old folks home. He went to Ivy Court, which is near a convalescent home where he was slowly starting to come out of it. But I remember when he was in ICU at Walla Walla, and I remember I believe it was a Sabbath afternoon. Debbie and I were there in the room and we looked out the window and we saw a bus pull up. It's the bus from Upper Columbia Academy and my old high school and out came 50 plus kids. And they all were walking to the hospital. And I told the nurse that was watching Nick and Nick had a nurse there with him night and day one on one. And all 50 of them were walking to the front door. And I said, You've got to take a look at this. And they looked out the window and they saw these kids come and they said, Are they coming here? I said, yes. And it was amazing how many visitors Nick had and they didn't allow them all in there at the same time. But by two and by three they allowed them to come in and visit and to sing and pray. It really helped us a lot to know that we weren't in it alone, that there was much prayer and many visits behind that time. I get emotional talking about it. Even now, it brings up memories that I hadn't thought about for a while. When we pulled into the hospital, I remember it's snowy and we just pulled in and there was kind of a drop off place and kids met us. Ashley and kids met us at the door. And then they walked us up to the flight where Nick was in the hospital room. And there were kids lined up and down the halls. They had a day room there that was probably had 50 kids in there, and some of them were there studying. They don't take turns to go down to visit with Nick. And I remember the nurse saying that they had never seen that before. The amount of support was huge and that support was huge for you guys. Yes. Maybe even more than Nick. I was in my coma. So all the kids would sit in the waiting room. We took over a waiting room and people would bring food and they would just have these little shelves stocked with oranges and raisins and just stuff. And every Saturday they'd bring us food and have a meal. And then they would feed all these kids because all these kids were just sitting there, so many people acting as Angels unaware, right? Yeah. There was a web page that we started and we could see that different people from all over that were praying for Nick. And it was literally all over the world. When we closed it down, it was like 88,000 members that logged on. And I know there's a ton more people that saw it. Logging in was not a requirement. I don't think when the kids were all sitting there day after day, they were sitting there and they didn't know what to do. And somebody started crocheting a blanket for Nick. I think Melina might have started it. I don't remember for sure and there were these kids, these boys and stuff that had never crocheted before. And they were sitting in there and they were working so hard and they had week of prayer and they would come back and they'd bring their little square. And there's this Afghan that Nick has, and he is not as meaningful to him as it is to us because these little people gave their time. Some just did a string. But they all wanted to be a part that was just their way of being a part of Nick and putting it on his bed. Didn't dad write a little something like a little paragraph or whatever every day? He was very faithful. And I think I have that binder of a lot of entries. Yeah. I wanted to ask you about that. What made you start writing every day? I think part of it was because there were so many people that were keeping in contact at Church and Pathfinders and my work. So I decided to start compiling my thoughts and the progress that Nick was going through each day, our hopes and put that on paper or put that in writing so that everybody could go to it and see it and read it and see what the progress was done without having to make 100 phone calls. So in a sense, it was to save some time, but also to let everybody know what next progress was so that alleviated maybe a lot of time. And sometimes I do that more than once a day. But typically I do it every day. And a lot of people said that they appreciated that kind of news coming out every day, that they could just go ahead and follow and not feel like they had to call or email. But they were getting the latest news on Nick. And this was pre Facebook. What was the diagnosis or whatever that the doctor gave you when you guys first got there? What did they say was the likelihood of what was going to happen to me? Well, we didn't see the doctor right away. I think it was the accident happened on Sunday morning, and by Tuesday afternoon we had a meeting with the neurosurgeon that worked on Nick. And basically he sat down and he said he'd gone in there after the accident to stop the bleeding on the brain. He had to cut a part of the skull out, reshape it and staple it back in or whatever he did, reinsert it because it's been caved in about the width of a credit card about three inches and caused bleeding. They went in there and tried to stop the bleeding. Then they went back in again on Tuesday, opened it back up to try to stop the bleeding. And he came after that surgery, and his comment to us sticks to me today. He said, I didn't like what I saw on Sunday, and I like it even less now. And we asked him at that point. Just what chance does Nick have? And his comment at that time was might give him about a 50 50 chance, he says. But even if he does come back, if he comes out of this coma and lives, you don't know what you're going to get back. So some people get stuck. And I found out that there's many stages of a coma and people can get stuck in a stage. And we experienced that when Nick was in rehab. In my last hospital, I was in a room right next to somebody who got stuck, and they made it wonderful. I would go to sleep. And I remember him waking up and screaming for a nurse that was not even working there anymore. I feel like he did that often. I don't remember exactly. He was stuck in that stage. And some days, well, a lot of times he was angry, just screaming and shouting and profanity. Nick, your mother has been there for you, so close for you the whole time. I know that she spent a lot of time in your room every day, every day, every day. But one. She came home for Grandpa's birthday. What did that mean to you when you woke up and your mom was there and she had that support of her being there with you every day? It was consistency. I had someone there for me that I recognized that. I don't remember exactly how I felt. It was just what it was supposed to be. Mom was there, of course. Yeah. Having that stability you said, well, let's jump forward to after Nick was in his coma, you woke up from your coma, and now you have the long road of physical therapy getting back to where you are now. And I'm sure that it has been a struggle not only for you, but also for your family. I mean, this is a huge shift in your life. I remember mom. She was trying to get me to remember people, and so she'd hold up pictures of my friends or family or whatever. And who's this? Nick and I wouldn't answer whatever. Could you tell us that story, mom? Sure. He was in Ivy Court, and we had a wonderful speech therapist that would come in, and she tried all different kinds of things, trying to wake him up. We're always trying to wake him up, trying to help him see if he would remember because we were told he might not remember who you even are. And so we would always put pictures all over the wall of our family and stuff so that if he could look, he could remember. And I was supposed to have these flashcards that were supposed to be like a ball. And hopefully he would learn to say something. I could see what he was maybe processing. But sometimes I didn't agree with the word. I wouldn't call it that or whatever. But I was doing this and he wasn't really responding. And then one day, so I started holding up my pictures and I had pictures of his friends. And I was holding up a picture and he said something. And I said, I thought that sounded like Ben and Benny. And he was a picture of Ben Jetson. And I thought, wow, I think that might have been Benny that he said, so after we've done that, I went and called and I said, Ben, what does Nicholas call you? How does Nick call you? And he said, Does he call you Benny? And he said, yes, he does. And I said, he just said your name today. I know it. And so that was the first one. I started to realize that he was aware of the people and that he had memories of friends and family, of my past, back up to at least high school from the point of the accident until you came home. What was that spance of time? Eight months? Yeah. Eight months. You were in the coma for four, and then you came home in eight. What was that like having Nick finally home after eight months after this experience? And I'm sure still during this time, you guys are having to help him with all major and minor tasks. There are some things that I'm not going to bring up, but I remember Debbie, especially was able to show them at Ivy Court Convalescent home that were Nick was staying and we were able to bring Nick home on weekends. We had a hospital bed here. So we stayed in one of the bedrooms here. And I can remember Sunday morning. Nick wasn't able to talk yet. And Debbie had said that she had heard him kind of say the M sound. I was there one Sunday morning and he was awake and looking at me. And I said, Nick, look at me. And he did. And he started laughing. I knew that he heard it. He understood it. And he had his humor. And I thought it's progress. And then he started saying the M word. I guess it's easier to say mom than dad, but he was able to say the M start words with M. And then later on, I remember we were excited hearing them say other words, and it's like, yes, he's getting his vocabulary back. But everything was in slow steps. And I do remember him here. And especially after going through some therapy. But still wheelchair bound and physical therapy came. There was one guy in particular that would come here, and he helped Nick stand up and he said, Someday you'll be walking. But standing was a huge thing. He showed us how we could do that by putting a towel under him and to be able to help him up and he could stand and start strengthening his legs. And then later on, step by step. It was exciting for us to see him basically take his first steps again. It was a lot of work on your end and their end joint effort. Yeah. I was thinking the first time I walked in Church, we went there the night before or whatever and just to see because I wanted to walk in because I've been wheeled into Church a lot. Well, ever since the wreck, but I knew that I would walk in. I was like, I'm going to walk. And so one day, one night we went and I remember walking, and I think they did a lot more walking than I did. It was tough work for them. I'm sure Nick, you have a tendency to enjoy proving people wrong. Is something that I've noticed. Maybe. Yeah, maybe just a little bit. And I know that at a certain point, you are challenged to walk 365 miles. Yeah. How did you feel about that, mom, I didn't challenge him. That was a birthday present gift from his brother and sisterinlaw. I challenged him to walk down. We'll walk a mile a day through 365 miles. I don't know. That was just part of me. I had to grow up with Nick twice because he already did it once. And you let him go. And now he's ready to go again. And he said he's going to walk down the street. And it was very difficult for me. I kept thinking, I can't spend half the day walking a mile down the street every day, so I have to let them go. I would imagine that the neighbors knew who Nick was very well being out there walking. You know, I think one of the things I did know from all this is people are amazing. There were so many people from Nick just starting to walk and they'd fall down. And thank goodness he had a flip phone and a phone so he could call me to get back up. But there were wonderful people. There was somebody down the street here that came out and offered Nick therapy because they saw him walking. There was somebody else that knitted him and Gora gloves. There were just people constantly encouraging him and paying attention. And I was amazed. But Nick did do it. And it was a family venture. When he crossed the finish line. We were all out there at night, like, 900 at night. This thing, it would take me like, the first mile was, I think, 4 hours. And I'm going to guess you probably didn't start at six in the morning. I don't like morning. I understand you don't like mornings. I'll get a call from you at 09:00 and you're like, yeah, no, I'm just getting out of bed or 10:00. I'm just getting out of bed. And I'm like, Man, I wish I had that luxury to be getting out of bed at 10:00, but at the same time, you're calling like, six, like, Well, I'm going to bed. Yeah, I go to bed early because I'm up early. Aaron, my little nephew. He knows a little story about a deer. In my walking experience. Did you care to share that, mom, one day I got a phone call from Nick, and he said, Could you come get me there's this deer. And I'm pretty sure it was a buck. And Nick was trying to walk around him with his Walker, which scrape, scrape, scrape. And so he's coming up on him and the deer is just standing there and he's not going to move. So Nick tried to go around him and he still wouldn't move. And he starts stomping his feet. And that's not a good sign. So anyway, we went down there and by then he was gone. But the deer just didn't seem like a threat to the deer. Well, it was scaring me. He was a threat to me. Yeah. A deer could actually do you some damage if you actually wanted to. Yeah. Who is pushing Nick to go out and to push himself? Debbie was a little worried when it came down to walking 365 miles. Was guy a little more for it than Debbie, or were you guys both a little concerned whenever you get a slow person in an intersection? Yes. There's a high risk they could get run over just different things. So when Nick said he wanted to walk the 365 miles, it's like, okay, can you do it in a gym? No, he's got to do it on the road. So he's out there on the road, and he's not consistently doing it every day. So at the very end, the last couple of weeks, he's like, cramming for a final, then trying to get his miles in the last day, I think he had to walk three or 4 miles to get it. In three days. I had to walk 5 miles a day. So it wasn't until, like, 09:00 at night that he finished up and we were there at the finish line waiting for him. And it was kind of anything to celebrate with him that he made his goal. But then he got the idea of he wanted to ride this recumbent bike across the United States. Understandably, people make goals, and it's fun to attain them and all that. But I'm thinking, how is he going to do that? Because all I can see is having him getting run over by logging trucks on some back road in Montana and talking to other people that have ridden across the United States and the troubles that they were involved in. It's always where the motorist that forced them off the road. And I'm thinking, this is not going to be good on the freeway with a recumbent trike. So, yeah, every time he leaves and heads out, it's kind of like what could happen today when we first started hanging out quite heavily, you told me that a goal that you've always had, something that you've always wanted to do was to ride a bike across the United States. And I couldn't tell, you know, Nick, I was just like, well, if that's a goal that you want to attain, then first of all, you need to figure out how you can do it safely, how you can do it without damaging your body more and have the right support team so that it can be a successful journey. After the walking of 365 miles, I got on a bicycle. I had to put this bicycle on a trainer because I have no balance. And so I rode 1000 plus miles, and I was like, on the trainer. Yeah. And in my mind, I was like, you know what? I can ride across America. I can do that. And so that's where I set the goal 2013. And then it kind of went out the door. And it was just kind of in the back of my mind. Yes. And what did you do over the summer this year, or was it late spring, July 12 through August 3? I rode my tricycle, which I bought because I'm going to ride across America. I rode this tricycle 530 miles within three weeks. Just kind of to prove that I can do this. And you did it out on trails and roads. Yeah. Around Quarterline, I wrote to Spokane to Apple, and it was a learning experience. Hopefully, I'm in therapy, still knowing what you could eat and also what it was going to do to your body. And so that learning experience is going to help you in your future endeavors when it comes to sports and Rike riding. Yeah. It gave me more awareness of what I'm doing wrong. And when it feels wrong, if there are any people out there who may be going through something similar that you guys went through, both of you, do you have anything that you could say, a word of advice to a family that are dealing with one of their kids who are going through something, whether it's been an accident or anything else in their life. I would say, with God, you don't know the end. It isn't just a clear cut thing. When Nick was an ICU, the doctors would come in one day and they say, oh, this kind of happened. And so you'd say, oh, good. He's getting better. And then the next day they're saying, no, it's terrible. And my spirits would go up and down. And I started thinking, It's not in the people and what the doctors, even though they're wise, are in saying it's my trust in God that it should stay consistent no matter what the people say around and that you can keep trusting in him. And it's a journey like you wake up from a coma in a day and you start talking and walking and everything is the same. And it wasn't that way. It was relearning how to do everything and starting all over. But God never gave up on him. And I still think he has great potential, even though there was theories that your brain is hardwired when we were starting to read about all this and that whatever you were given, that's what you're dealt with. And God is so different than that, because he can take our hearts and our minds and he can rewire them and they can work differently. And the brain, God has made it so it can heal. You know, one thing I learned through this and talking with other people is that every situation is different. Every traumatic brain injury is different. Everybody responds different, and so each individual thing is different. Although there can be similarities, the time of recovery and the degree of recovery is different in every person. And so that being said, we didn't know where Nick would end up from a hospital bed, where to from here, anything is up. And so we celebrated every improvement from standing, being able to stand, being able to take his first steps, being able to walk with a four prong cane, be able to walk on a walk, or be able to drive again to be able to talk. I think that with all of that, it is what God wants to make it. And I know that for a God fearing person to trust what God trust, what God is doing is best. And we may not understand why Nick went through this accident before the accident. He was able to do a standing backflip off the floor. Very athletic. Until now, the first step to doing a back flip, he'd probably get down and then do a tuck and roll. So the chance of doing a back flip off the floor now is pretty slim. However, we just have to understand that that may not be where God wants them, but through the whole thing, I believe we've learned to trust that whatever God does for Nick is for the best, whether we understand it or not. Well, I know that, Nick, you have been a big blessing to your family, and you've been a blessing in my life. A huge blessing in my life. And I think we're all just so thankful that you could have come out of this with major personality differences and mood swings. And there's so many things that could have been. And yet God has brought you out of this, and he is using you, and he will continue to use you as you let him. I'm really excited to see the plans that God has for you from here on out. So thank you very much, guy and Debbie for being on the podcast, and we will see you guys on the very next episode. Thank you.