Storm Chaser Ben Tucker in Critical Condition

[Sean McMullen]

Good news!

In my last post I mentioned that Ben went into surgery early last week to reconstruct his hip and to close his abdomen area. Well they were able to reconsruct his hip but they ended up not closing his abdomen because they didn't want to increase the chance for infection. But I'm happy to report that they took Ben into surgery again yesterday and were finally able to close his abdomen area. This is really great news because it sounds like he might be done with surgeries for a while and he can now start his journey to recovery! Thanks to everyone for your thoughts, prayers and donations. Ben's journey to recovery is just beginning though so keep em coming! We're gonna get Ben back out in the field where he belongs no matter what it takes!

Thanks,
Sean

 

[Bart_Comstock]

How horrible to hear about his accident, my thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family, and will be sure to add him to my churches prayer list. It is good to hear that he is recovering. Why in not time at all he will back out amongst the suprecells and wheat fields of the great plains on the chase of his life.

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

Sounds like Ben is continuing to make slow improvements, Also sounds like the video's that some have been gracious enough to send are going to be put to good use!!! For those who haven’t visited the page or seen Bens care page, they post updates nightly as to what all Ben went through during the day as well as what progress he has made, this was part of what was written in Bens update for today!!!

"We are hoping that Ben will be off sedation again tomorrow and will be alert again! We are going to set up a DVD player in his room and start playing videos to stimulate his brain (Doctor's suggestion). I want to thank the storm chasing community for sending two DVD's for Ben - we will start playing them tomorrow. If anything can motivate Ben to recover, or at least keep him entertained, tornado footage would do it!"

 

[Sean McMullen]

We are hoping that Ben will be off sedation again tomorrow and will be alert again! We are going to set up a DVD player in his room and start playing videos to stimulate his brain (Doctor's suggestion). I want to thank the storm chasing community for sending two DVD's for Ben - we will start playing them tomorrow. If anything can motivate Ben to recover, or at least keep him entertained, tornado footage would do it!

This is a quote from Ben's Carepage. Ben has been becoming more alert lately so his family is asking for people to submit stories to help stimulate Ben . The only problem is that Jesse, who is Ben's sister and who has been a superstar keeping Ben's page updated for us, is thanking two people for sending their stormchasing video.

I think we can do better than this people! I haven't heard from many people on here who I know have plenty of video/pictures to share including the administrator of this website. I hate to call anybody out but I think we could be much more supportive of our fellow chasers don't you think? I've actually been pretty disapointed by this site's reaction.

Again, I will ask. What if this happened to you? While you're all sitting there predicting the new storm season, there is a fellow chaser lying in the hospital begging for your help. I'm having a hard time caring about the new season knowing that one of us is hurting beyond anything any of us could ever imagine. Please contact me if you would like to donate any video, pictures or stories to help with Ben's recovery. I'm begging you, if you have time to post anything you have time to contribute to Ben's recovery.

 

[Bob Schafer]

I think we can do better than this people!

Sean, you are absolutely correct, and I applaud you for speaking up!

I'm sure Ben's mailbox is going to be overflowing with vids soon, including mine. I, for one, will say that I haven't acted sooner partly because of Ben's condition prior to now. He couldn't watch any vids before now, and there was no urgency to get it to him, but the time has arrived! It's awesome that his recovery is coming right along!!!!

Many of you will remember that I kept you posted about the recovery of my girlfriend's son, Matt DeHart, last year after he was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident. He was in a coma for a month. Ben is now going through many of the same things that Matt went through. Matt continues to do well, though he still is unable to work. Ben should and will recover better than Matt, because his head trauma was much less than Matt's.

Go Ben, Go!

Oh, here's Ben's address: (I hope it's okay to post this here, but since anyone could easily get it from the CarePages, I'll assume it is...)

Ben Tucker
7211 Garland St
Lincoln NE 68505

 

[Sean McMullen]

I'm proud to see people are stepping up now! Sorry for freaking out on you earlier but it looks like things are turning around. Thanks to everyone so far for your kind words and support and keep em comin! Ben has been moving around a lot more and opening his eyes but he still isn't responding to verbal commands. They said last night that they're going to start playing the videos to try to stimulate Ben more to get him to wake up. If it works we'll have something to talk about for quite a while on ST! Oh by the way! Ben's sister is recieving gifts for Ben so please send your gifts to her. Her address is:

Jess Carlson (for Ben Tucker)
4045 Washington St.
Lincoln, NE 68506

Thanks everyone!
Sean

 

[Sean McMullen]

More great news!

Here is part of Ben's update from his carepage last night! Read it! It's frickin Awesome!

WOW! I think I can speak for my family & Erica when I say we really felt good about Ben today! My mom called me this morning and said she really felt like Ben was alert. We went up the the hospital later in the afternooon and we were really pumped about Ben! He was definitely more alert than I have seen him before. When I walked into his room, he looked right at me. It was the first time I felt that he really was able to focus on my face. My mom and I were also caught off guard when we heard Ben making noises! The respiratory therapist had put a little cap over Ben's trach, which was allowing him to make noise. He kept saying, "mmmmmmm". He would open his eyes up really wide and look at us. He was also able to look in the direction of the person's voice. If I was talking he would turn and look at me on one side of the bed. If my mom started to talk, he would turn and look at her on the other side of the bed.........But - the most AWESOME thing of the day happened when my dad came in tonight. Erica, myself, and my dad were in ther room and were just talking to Ben. My dad was standing next to me on Ben's left side (I was standing close to Ben's shoulder and my dad was down about his hip). Ben had his right arm behind his head, sort of relaxing. My dad held up his hand in front of Ben and said, "give me five Ben". Ben took his right arm from behind his head and reached out and grabbed my dad's hand (like he was giving him a "high 5")!!! He then sort of made a noise, like a giggle, and seemed to grin at us. Immediately we were all just amazed, and not for sure what to say. I then said, "we all saw that, right?" Needless to say, we were so pumped about it! We are not for sure if he responded to the verbal statement my dad made, or just recognized the open hand and responded with a "high 5". Either way, to us it indicates that he seems to be waking up and responding!

Before posting a reply on this forum think about posting a reply on his carepage and his family will read them to Ben. The instructions for signing up for the carepage are in a post earlier in this thread.

Thanks
Sean

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

I forgot to mention that we did play both Storm Chasing (Tornado) vidoes for Ben yesterday when he was alert. I want to thank both people who mailed the DVD's to me for Ben to watch. We are going to utilize them as much as we can while Ben is "alert"! We were also showing him pictures of insulator and Doc. We hope that these things will help to stimulate the brain and his memory. We hope that Ben will sleep tonight so that he is alert again tomorrow when we visit the hospital.

Just thought I would post this excerpt from the update on Bens care page for those who have not signed up to view Ben's page, sounds like the videos that have been sent to Ben have been not only greatly appreciated by his family, but are also serving a role in his path to recovery (who would of thought storm chasing videos could be therapeutic).

 

[Tim Vasquez]

I'll be doing a writeup for Ben on the ST front page tonight or in the morning.

Tim

 

[Sean McMullen]

Great News!

Thanks Tim! While your at it go ahead and spread the news that Ben started talikng! That's right, I said talking. Today he started saying things like "Oh God! and Oh $%&$!" You fill in the blank. Here's the post from his sister Jess.

31 February 14, 2007 at 09:43 PM CST Oh my gosh - I am super excited to post a message on Ben's page tonight! There is good news to share!

I talked to my mom this afternoon and she said Ben was really alert again today. She said they had him sitting in the chair, and he was pretty restless and somewhat agitated. She said he was making eye contact with her while she was in the room. They also have Ben's legs in a device that moves it back and forth. I think they called it CPM...and I think they said it stands for Continuous Passive Movement. It is to help his muscles from becoming too atrophied. When I looked at Ben's monitor today, I noticed that they did not have any numbers on the screen. They are not having to monitor any of Ben's vital signs anymore!

I headed to the hospital after work and found Ben still very alert. He was very restless and wanted to move his right arm all over the place. He would itch his head, neck (the brace is probably irritating), rub his face, etc. After visiting with him for awhile, I decided to show him some pictures. After about 4 or 5 pictures, I held up another one and Ben reached out with his right hand and grabbed the picture! I then swear I heard him mumble, "oh my god"...and "oh %$%@"! (use your imagination). His tone of voice was one of worry/anxiety, so I believe he is even more aware today than he was yesterday. I had to leave the room then so that his nurses could work with him. When I came back into his room, I told his nurse that he had grabbed a picture out of my hand. He then said to me that when they were moving him up in the bed, they heard Ben mumble, "oh God"! I was estatic, because it was great to know that someone else had heard him say something as well! Needless to say, I called my parents and Erica as I left to tell them the good news.

And...it keeps getting better! I just got a call from my mom about 20 minutes ago. She said that her and my dad were in Ben's room and were showing him one of his books on insulators (one of Ben's favorite hobbies). She said they both heard Ben say the word "insulator"!!! Isn't that amazing???!!! She also said that he is saying "Oh my God" somewhat frequently.

As of this morning, I know that the hospital is working closely with rehab to try to get Ben placed soon. We are really hoping and praying that he will be able to get into Madonna, as we know they have a unit that specializes in traumatic brain injuries. Hopefully with the progress he made today, we will be able to get him started into rehab in the next week.

I know I say this a lot, but THANK YOU for all the prayers and positive messages you are sending Ben's way...we REALLY appreciate it!

Until tomorrow,
Jess

 

[Tarmo Tanilsoo]

That's amazing news. Maybe I have watched Early Edition too much, but this is my reaction(on the picture, home newspaper I make, it is often just a blog on the paper):

 

[Chris C Sanner]

That is VERY VERY awesome news! I don't have any vids to offer but I'll keep offering my prayers for Ben's recovery! Hopefully the good news will continue as time goes on

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

For those who have not monitored Bens carepage I thought this was some pretty cool news in Bens carepage report tonight that I'm sure any storm chaser can apprectiate I know reading it put a smile on my face!!!!

My mom shared some more good news this evening. She put in one of Ben's tornado videos (thanks to Ben's stormchasing friends for sending them to us). She said that he said the word, "tornado" and that his heart rate jumped up to the 120's. She could tell that his body was responding to the video. At one point she asked Ben if he wanted to watch more of the video, and Ben responded by saying, "want to watch more"...! I think that is the most words we have heard him say together, and it was also in response to the question my mom asked him! I can only hope with continued rehabilitation, prayers, and hard work that he will impress us more with every passing day!

 

[Tarmo Tanilsoo]

Looks like he's got SDS. Well, great to hear about improvement

 

[Jeff Miller]

That is great news! That is great that tornado videos are aiding in his rehabilitation. What a great idea and kudos to the chasers who were kind enough to send them to him.