Man...my younger brother has been going through a difficult period lately. He's had two really close friends go through extremely frightening, near-death experiences and it's really shaken his foundation. I blogged about one of his friends, Lee Bender, and his newfound battle against Multiple Sclerosis here.
Most recently, his roommate for the past year, Michael Tubbs, suffered a brain injury while skateboarding that almost killed him. Luckily he was with friends, and luckily he was able to make it to the hospital for emergency surgery right away to save his brain from swelling itself to the point of permanent damage (and certain death). It's sad beyond belief, especially if you've seen and heard all the positive stuff I've heard about this man.
Here's the story straight from the source set up to disseminate the updates:
Early on the morning of August 5th, 2007 my son - Michael Tubbs - was skating “bomber runs” in a parking garage on the ASU campus with 3 friends.
At the end of the first run his buddies realized that Michael wasn't down yet. They went back up and found him leaning against a wall, bleeding from the back of his head and slipping out of consciousness.
Less than an hour later Michael was at the Barrows Neurological Center in Phoenix having emergency surgery to alleviate the swelling on the right side of his brain by removing a large portion of his skull. When he arrived he had no heartbeat and minimal brain activity.
The awesome news is that he is alive - and we truly believe that he will skate again. This was written on Thursday, August 9th. Michael is still on a ventilator to assist his breathing but he has made what the doctors had described as remarkable progress. He actually is trying to sit up on his elbow and he absolutely knows that we are here.
Skating is one of his great passions in life. Over the last ten years the skating community has been as much his family as his mother, sister and I have.
This site and fund have been set up so that if anyone would like to email a greeting or word of encouragement, or donate to his rehabilitation fund they can. Know that if any monies collected exceed his need that the balance will be donated to the Barrow Neurological Hospital.
We have heard from many of you already and thank you seems inadequate to say the least but THANK YOU!
Sincerely, Michael's Dad - Mike Tubbs
Life can be a bitch sometimes all around. People that are good in this world are not always treated fairly, as in the fact that they might put out a lot more positive energy than they're able to take in. That's the definition of unfair, right? Someone not getting their due...
Or is it that people this good are put through situations that only someone that good could handle?
As much as I feel saddened by this news, you can immediately find hope in the early signs of his recovery effort. In an update from Lee Bender, his good friend and a man going through a difficult period himself...
when i got there, he had just gotten a bath and smelled cute, covered in lotion and all. the nurse later said that pissed him off and he tried fighting her off...after a few minutes there, the nurse turned the morphine (sp) off and he started to slowly come too after about 5 minutes...he opened his eyes, he was lifting his arms to pull out his breathing tubes and he even gave us a thumbs up...
A thumbs up is definitely a good sign. A sign of hope. A sign of right in a world where things go wrong...a lot.
For more information and to keep up on Tubbs and his awe-inspiring story, go to MTUBBS.com.
