A Second Chance, After A Terrible Car Crash - Brad Marks

miracle
noun  mir·a·cle  \ ˈmir-i-kəl \ 

A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency.   

After reading about Brad Marks, you just may believe in miracles.

On November 16, 2007, Brad, a young husband and father of two, ages five (Jack) and three (Kate), headed off to work early in the morning. What seemed like a regular Friday to this family, was far from it and they would quickly find out. Brad was heading northbound, the other car was westbound, both going 50mph, resulting in a T – bone collision on his passenger side door. This pushed his car into a signal pole which hit the left side of the car, between the front and back seats, impacting 48” into the car.  The pole slammed into his left shoulder and head. Brad was pinned in his vehicle and after the rescue personnel arrived on the scene, there was a lot of commotion in trying to get Brad to safety. He was in the car for 58 minutes until the Jaws of Life extricated him from this vehicle. The emergency response team informed Brad that when a person is in this severe of a wreck, the person normally bleeds out once they are removed from being pinned. Everyone was prepared for the worst while the wreckage was being removed. “A priest stopped when he saw the crash and I was wearing a St Christopher cross around my neck.  He was prepared to give me my last rights.  I am quite happy that was not necessary,” Brad recalls. “To everyone’s amazement, I was not the normal case, and did not bleed out.” Needless to say, he would need surgery on his left arm and suffered from a TBI, (Traumatic Brain Injury), which he’d have to live with for the rest of his life.

The long and trying times of persistence and keeping the faith began for the Marks family. For seven long days Brad was under the care of hospital physicians and suffered 15 brain hemorrhages. The first procedure that took place was on his clavicle. He had 18 screws, two titanium plates and sections of his hip bone that aided in the reconstruction of his clavicle. After being discharged, the next steps over the course of several years was physical therapy and many more surgeries: including another clavicle procedure, C5/C6 cervical fusion that included use of cadaver bone, left shoulder (the labrum was torn), and a right shoulder surgery. Post surgeries, his recovery consisted of routine and intense physical therapy. Brad had every intention of getting back the physical and mental health he enjoyed prior to the accident.   Physicians told Brad that most people in his position would either be dead or disabled; they were beyond impressed with his progress and his will to get better.

As a result of the TBI for the first several years he had to wear noise cancelling headphones to block out as much sound as he could and all he longed for was a dark and quiet room. Time, and over 80 sessions of neurofeedback, got him past this unpleasant phase of the recovery.

Unfortunately, once he reached a plateau, he wasn’t sure what other options were available to him. After nine years of no feeling or awareness of his core, he was starting to feel discouraged.

“My sails were running out of wind,” Brad states. “Luckily for me, I soon found out about the Kansas Regenerative Medicine Center. They gave me the hope I couldn’t find anywhere else. The modern medical system is so focused on procedure and drugs, and that’s what caught my interest about them; they don’t focus on those things.”

Brad and his family started to feel the hope again on February 19, 2016; it was the day of his KRMC stem cell treatment. During his procedure he shared all of the car wreck pictures, stories and how he’s progressed the past few years. He was at the KRMC clinic for several hours and got to know the staff fairly well. KRMC may have had just what the Marks’ needed!

Five short months after his procedure, Brad was astonished at his results. 

“Previously, I had very little perception of my arm and core. I was able to feel generalized pain, but I was unable to differentiate where exactly the pain was coming from. My physical therapist kept telling me that one of my goals was getting fluid motion back in my joints, especially my neck. I can now whip my neck around in all directions, whereas before that was not even possible. I have more energy these days. When I saw a friend recently that I hadn’t seen in several months, he commented on how well I was able to move my joints. My range of motion is so much better. I feel like I have the brain / body awareness that my traumatic brain injury hindered me from previously. I feel like I’m getting to know my body again-I couldn’t be more excited about stem cells.”

He’s not the only one that is excited; the staff of KRMC loves hearing from him and consistently notes his changes. His goal was to be one of the poster children for KRMC and he is well on his way. Brad and his recovery from his accident are nothing short of a miracle, and he lives every day to share with others his incredible journey and improvements from stem cells.