ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 25, 1997 TAG: 9701270044
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: A Cuppa Joe
SOURCE: JOE KENNEDY
Jessee Ashby was headed out the door when he heard the ring.
"I almost didn't answer the phone," he said.
It was Nov. 13. His mother, Cathy, was on the line, telling him his father, Earl, had been injured in a fall at work and was being transported to the hospital.
Jessee, 19 and a member of the Catawba-Mason Cove Rescue Squad, knew when he arrived at the trauma center of Carilion Roanoke Memorial that things were bad.
His father, a diesel mechanic at Carter Machinery, had struck his head after falling some 14 feet from the catwalk of a U.S. Army front-end loader.
The impact had left him with a 5-to 6-inch fracture on the right side of his head and damage to his brain's frontal lobe.
"He came in at a certain level of consciousness, and then he started worsening," said Dr. Laurence Kleiner, the chief of neurosurgery.
Earl Ashby fell into a coma for 10 days, the worst days the family - Earl, Cathy, Jessee and 12-year-old Andrew - ever spent.
Then, Earl came to.
And just before Christmas, after 38 days, he came home.
His family regarded his survival as a Christmas miracle.
Brain injury was `run of the mill'
Nationwide, about 2 million people each year sustain brain injuries, said Andi Wright, the hospital's trauma coordinator and caseworker. About 100,000 die, and as many as 90,000 are left with physical or cognitive disabilities,
Serious as it was, Ashby's injury was "pretty run of the mill for us," Kleiner said. "At any time, you'll see eight just like him" in the neurological intensive care unit.
From 1993 to '95, the center treated 708 head injuries, an average of 236 per year, or two every three days.
All brain injuries cause pain to victims and their families. To medical people, the knowledge that many could be prevented hurts, too.
Wright pointedly refuses to talk about car accidents. She calls them "motor vehicle crashes," often caused by speeding, drinking, failing to use seat belts or, with motorcyclists, failing to wear helmets - all controllable factors, she said.
Other prime causes of brain injury: falls at work or at home, and bike wrecks and other incidents among children.
Simple things could make a difference. Construction workers are supposed to wear hard hats, Wright said. But have you ever seen a chin strap?
`It's very hard.'
A few days before Christmas, I visited the Ashbys at their house near Hanging Rock. Earl looked surprisingly well, and said he felt "pretty good."
They told me the story of his injury and improvement, said they wanted to thank everyone who helped them with cards, prayers, physical and emotional support and even the Christmas ornaments that marked Earl's homecoming. Their gratitude, especially to the emergency and medical workers, is profound.
They're lucky that Earl has health insurance and worker's compensation. Medical expenses so far: $90,000.
Still, his injury has changed their lives.
The frontal lobe influences reasoning, social grace and the emotions. A couple of times, as we sat around the kitchen table, Earl began to weep, and the family rose and surrounded him with hugs.
Cathy is back teaching in Salem, and Andrew has returned to Northside Middle School, but Jessee has interrupted his studies at Virginia Western to stay with Earl and drive him to rehab.
"He has a very good prognosis," Kleiner said. "He's done real well."
But how far he will progress is unclear, so the miracle, to date, is incomplete.
"I don't feel like I have my husband back," Cathy said. "It's very hard."
What's your story? Call me at 981-3256, send e-mail to kenn@roanoke.infi.net or write to P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke 24010.
LENGTH: Medium: 77 linesby CNB