Story of Hope: Max
Published on: June 14, 2023
“I remember telling him that I better not get that phone call.” Kim recalls this conversation when her son purchased his first-ever dirt bike in May of 2022. As a bedside nurse of over 30 years herself, she was no stranger to the horrors of motorcycle accidents.
Max, a vibrant, social, and outspoken 24-year-old popular for his contagious smile, had always marched to the beat of his own drum. Passionate about digital media and film production, he loved to travel to festivals and photograph his experiences. Max loved every minute of school and work, he was set to graduate from Lawrence Technological University’s digital media program in December 2022. While he had so many talents, those closest to him knew him most for his kind heart. Kim recalls that Max once met a homeless man at a gas station and bought him food from the only $20 he had on him. Twenty-four hours later Max even found the man a drum set, by way of social media, and planned to bring it to him the next time they crossed paths!
His thoughtful gesture would have to wait though, because Max was involved in a hit and run accident on September 22nd, 2022, while on his way to the corner store on his dirt bike.
“On that day my worst nightmare came true!” his mother Kim said. “I immediately headed to the hospital. When I arrived at the hospital, I found out that the accident was much more critical than a few broken bones. I dropped to the floor and my life was forever changed!”
When Max was rushed to the Emergency Department at Detroit Receiving Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, the response was fast and furious. Max was received by a bevy of teams including emergency medicine, trauma, orthopaedic surgery, neurosurgery and neurocritical care. Max was in a coma and placed on a ventilator to support his breathing. A CT scan of Max’s brain was obtained and showed that he had a thick collection of blood over the left side and the back part of his brain, known as a subdural hemorrhage. Additionally, the image showed a contusion in the front part of his brain, which was swelling and causing increasing pressures inside his skull. Max was rushed to the operating room for an emergency left hemicraniectomy and subdural hemorrhage evacuation, a procedure in which neurosurgeons removed a large piece of his skull to create space for his swollen brain to bulge out, while also relieving the pressure on the inside by removing the collection of blood that was compressing his brain.
Aside from the traumatic brain injury, Max had sustained multiple other injuries including a fractured skull, fractures of several long bones in his legs, fractured ribs, and damage to his lung tissue called pulmonary contusions. Once he was stable from the brain surgery, he had another surgery a few days later to repair the fractures in his legs.
Going from bedside nurse to the other side as a loved one was a jarring experience for Kim. As she recalls: “I was in autopilot mode. I felt like I was just going through the motions not even really realizing the severity of his injuries. I just showed up every day to be there for him and make sure he received the best care possible.”
After his surgeries, Max remained dependent on the ventilator for his breathing, so a week later he had a feeding tube placed directly into his stomach as well as a tracheostomy—a hole created in the front of the neck to place another kind of breathing tube that can facilitate weaning from the ventilator over a longer period of time. Max initially remained in the trauma ICU and then the neuro ICU to carefully monitor for complications following his traumatic brain injury. Dearly loved by his family and friends, Max had a stream of visitors in and out of the ICU every day and was rarely seen without his mother and father at his bedside. But the path ahead was not an easy one.
Two weeks after his initial injury, a CT scan showed a new fluid collection over the right side of his brain. The plan was to block off an artery with a procedure called an embolization to prevent this from happening again, and to place a drain to suction out the fluid. The team also noticed there was hydrocephalus, or a build-up of cerebrospinal fluid, in parts of his brain, so a drain was placed in Max’s back to drain fluid. This was further complicated by another fluid collection, this time beneath the site of his hemicraniectomy, which required another surgery to address.
“It was like a terrible roller coaster ride,” according to Kim. “Once something looked up for him, the next day, something else took a turn downward. They kept telling us that he is young and has that going for him. It was so hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel when every time he accomplished something, another issue appeared.”
Despite the setbacks, the neurocritical care team was working to wean Max from the ventilator. Another setback occurred when a collection of air called a pneumothorax formed outside one of his lungs and a tube had to be placed into his chest to relieve pressure. Eventually, two months from the accident, the left side of his skull was replaced. This was a step in the right direction, but due to continued development of hydrocephalus, a shunt was later placed internally to divert excess cerebrospinal fluid from Max’s brain into his abdomen.
With all the twists and turns of this ordeal, Kim was grateful that Max’s accident had happened in Detroit and that he was taken to Detroit Receiving Hospital. “The care we received there was ABSOLUTELY the best care possible! Every single person that we met there was so invested in Max’s care. From the kind man driving the floor cleaner who saw me crying in the hall and came back to me to give me a box of Kleenex, to the neurosurgeon who would FaceTime me when he rounded so I could see Max smile when he had been otherwise completely sedated or lethargic, the staff there is second to none! As a caregiver at his bedside every day, I was so lucky to be included on his medical team’s daily rounds and made to feel comfortable to ask questions and offer my opinions whenever I needed to.”
Lovingly referred to as the VIP of the unit where he resided for three months, Max kept not only himself going but also the entire neurocritical care team who was rooting for him. One finger squeeze, one thumbs up, one toe wiggle, one wave, and one word at a time. We celebrated with Max as he continued to amaze us with his resilience! After a gruelling three months in the NICU, Max was discharged to the Rehab Institute of Michigan on December 19th, 2022. One of our team members joked that if we had overhead paged his discharge news, resident doctors from several services would have congregated outside his room to cheer him goodbye!
Now, six months since his accident, Max’s tracheostomy tube has been removed, he can walk with the assistance of a single person by his side and a gait belt, use a wheelchair, and assist with his own transfers to and from bed and a chair. We are encouraged to see Max’s progress and hopeful that part two of his story comes in his own words as he slowly regains his ability to speak. We are also immensely grateful to his family for sharing his photos with us and look forward to continued updates!