4TH PATH : BRIAN FRANK STRONG

 

See below for information for April's fundraising efforts from my very lovely and amazing personal trainer (and friend), Jodie Needham: ------- "Coach Jodie here with a new challenge!  Plank 4 Frank - April Challenge. Let's Help Lauren Get Brian Home!!   Lauren is coordinating the final logistics to get Brian home safely and seamlessly...securing the van, having the medical equipment installed, home health caregivers trained, and final inspections.  Unfortunate timing of the sentencing hearing surrounding Brian's crash will end up being around the same time as the discharge, so it'll be a full mixed bag of emotions and they will need to  feel the strength of the army now more than ever!! The challenge donation is $30 for 30 days!  Every day in April we will be planking!  The full details are in the flyer.   Please register here:   https://jodie-needham- fitness.square.site/ If you don't already follow me on Instagram, please do...

  Two years ago on 2/14, we had our 'last' date night. Our 'last' valentine's day hot chocolate night cap. On 2/15, I basically clung to Brian's leg begging him not to work the snow storm. I checked my weather app and throughout the morning asked him where he was and how he was doing and when he was coming home. I finally got the text at 11:15am that he was "76 home... my boots are soaked." Relief washed over me. I put my phone down and hopped on a zoom call for work. 30minutes later, I found my phone with almost 20 missed calls from Brian's boss. My heart sunk, my face went numb as I prepared to call him back and get news every first responder's spouse dreads. "Brian's been in an accident. He is in a helicopter to Good Sam. He is alive and breathing. That's all we know." He is alive. And breathing. And that is still all we know. Soon, Feb 15th will be the day that marks 2 years. But really, just another day in this groundh...

 We got some great leads when I shared this on my Facebook & Instagram, so I figured I'd cast a wider net in hopes of finding our dream home care team: Calling all nursing & CNA friends: we will soon be kicking off the process of hiring a home health agency to find nurses and CNAs to assign to Brian's case when we go home (to Lemont/south side of Downers). We will need 1 nurse and 1 CNA for 24/7 care, likely broken up into one 12hr day shift and one 12hr evening shift (still TBD based on applicants' availability). If you or anyone you know might be interested, we would love to find people within our network so that we feel most comfortable bringing people into our day-to-day home life. Please DM me or email me at: brianfrankstrong@gmail.com for more info! We will be an ideal caseload, if I do say so myself, because of how much love and support we have. I'm very trained in Brian's care and we will always have ample amounts of coffee , good smells, cozy rooms...

I have been wanting to post an update for a while now, but something always comes up or my energy dwindles and I've opted to take a step back in order to protect my own energy. As we approach another new year, I've done some reflecting and have debated this: do I share the unending saga of obstacles and annoyances? The perpetual rollercoaster of "good" days and terrible days? Paint a picture of a day in the life of myself or Brian / our family? I could probably write a book about what life looks like now and there would be several scenarios and circumstances that would be hard to believe. And hey - we all love to gripe. A little drama gets a room's attention, right? Maybe one day, I'll sit down and have a cathartic complaining session - but instead, I've opted to paint the picture of goodness shown to us this year ( alongside all of the ugly / hard / sad / frustrating days ). The crazy part is I don't even know where to begin! What a blessing that the...

I updated the GoFundMe page as we re-boot that heading into 2023, but realized I haven't been here in a minute - so see below for my long winded 'thank you' to everyone that continues to follow Brian's recovery. I also wanted to share a few fundraisers/events that will be coming up for Brian's birthday month: Saturday, October 15th: Got Your Six 2nd Annual Blue Brew   @ Alter Brewing in Downers Grove (only 11 tickets left!) :  https://www.facebook.com/events/1315725255497938 Click here to purchase tickets Sunday, October 23rd: Bowling for Brian @ Lisle Lanes (bring the family out!) Envelopes for Brian: Another birthday effort coordinated by Brian's best friends coming soon :) --------------------------pasted from GoFundMe------------------------- Hi everyone. It has been a long 19 months of 'groundhog's' day for us, as we navigate Brian's recovery. Almost all of the time, this reality is surreal. I can't fathom that this happened or that it...

 I've been meaning to pop on here to provide an update but it's been a busy couple of months since the one year marker. So I'll list out some quick highlights and try to get back to updating more often. Thanks for loving Brian & checking in! New House Remodel: We are still under construction at the new house. Bathroom is currently in progress. Then will come the ramps, ceiling lift and equipment. Hoping to have him home by end of summer (so much red tape and time consuming processes with workers comp). Until then we are still at the rehab hospital and we LOVE and ADORE the staff there. Couldn't be happier to be held up with the best of the best. Going to be hard to leave them, which is something I didn't expect to feel...so SHOUTOUT to the incredible nursing staff, therapists, and everyone in between (transport/techs, cleaning staff, craft services, front desk, admin, office personelle) at Marianjoy. It's truly an anomaly to feel loved and cared for in the c...