Since Could 12, former Folsom soccer participant Dylan Richard has been in a hospital after struggling a traumatic mind harm whereas skateboarding in El Dorado Hills.
Richard spent the primary three weeks at UC Davis Medical Heart and the final six at Kaiser Permanente Medical Heart. On Wednesday morning, Richard left Kaiser to be transported to Craig Hospital by way of air ambulance. Craig Hospital is positioned within the Denver suburbs and focuses on TBI accidents.
His mother, Cindy Manzo, joined him on the ambulance flight to Colorado.
“I’m so tremendous excited,” Manzo mentioned. “Tremendous excited that we’re out (of Kaiser). He wants that stage of care and focus. I’m tremendous excited he’s lastly going to Craig Hospital.”
Solely two guests per affected person are allowed at Craig Hospital as a result of COVID-19 restrictions. Cindy Manzo and Dylan’s dad, Paul Richard, will swap off each two weeks so somebody is with their son always.
Dylan’s older sister Gabby additionally went on the journey to Colorado. She plans to remain the complete 60-75 days — which is the period of time typical sufferers keep at that hospital.
Whereas Dylan is in Colorado, he can have surgical procedure to exchange his cranium flaps that have been taken out when he first suffered the harm — which may lengthen the period of time he’s there.
How Dylan received to Craig Hospital
It took a web-based petition, neighborhood assist and a whole lot of convincing, however on June 25 Dylan was lastly referred to Craig Hospital by Kaiser, his insurance coverage firm.
His household began the petition on June 17 with the hope of catching Kaiser’s consideration, so he can be despatched to the hospital for rehab. The petition was profitable, however different households with family members with TBI accidents didn’t have comparable success. His household has been involved with different households of youngsters in California that suffered an identical harm and weren’t referred to Craig Hospital.
“I’ve heard tales of different households in California who struggled with their insurance coverage and needed to go to Craig Hospital,” Paul Richard mentioned. “We’re so completely satisfied Dylan goes and we wish to assist different households in any method we will. I received’t actually be relaxed till Dylan is within the door at Craig. Since Kaiser authorised Dylan to be transferred to Craig, they’ve been nice.”
“The assist has been humbling,” Paul added. “We’re not the sort to ask for assist however after we wanted assist, everybody stepped up.”
The petition gained almost 3,000 signatures and even caught the eye of Sacramento native and San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Arik Armstead, who shared the petition to his Instagram story.
One in every of Dylan’s finest pals, Lucas Springer was there the evening of the skateboarding accident. He’s been alongside Dylan throughout his journey by visiting and video calling him.
“It reveals how tight-knit the neighborhood is,” Springer mentioned of Armstead displaying assist to Dylan. “His household and pals admire everybody supporting him. With somebody like Arik Armstead, who’s from Sacramento (sharing the petition to his Instagram story) it was wonderful. When Dylan makes a full restoration, he’s going to appreciate how many individuals look after him.”
Making progress whereas at Kaiser
Since he arrived at Kaiser in early June, Dylan has made important progress.
When he first received to the hospital, he couldn’t elevate his head up — now he can eat meals and sit on the sting of the mattress on his personal for a couple of minutes at a time. He even confirmed his aggressive spirit in a recreation of Join 4 together with his household.
“He was so wakeful at present,” Manzo mentioned. “The prognosis we received when he was at UC Davis was he would possibly by no means see, would possibly by no means be capable of converse or transfer or get up. These are the issues they informed us and I can’t even start to inform what it does to you. Listening to these issues have been scary and alarming. What he’s doing proper now was (the docs) best-case state of affairs — and he’s not even by the rehab.
“I’m so proud of how he’s progressing,” Manzo added. “I believe it has loads to do together with his age and power as a result of he was so athletic. With the power and rehab from Craig, it’s going to go even farther from there.”
Springer added, “I really feel wonderful and ecstatic that he’s going to get the perfect care attainable. Something to make the percentages higher in order that he could make a full restoration is sweet.”