01.25.12
Nearly 13 years ago my younger and only brother Luke was in a terrible car accident that he barely survived. It’s hard to believe it was that long ago. I was only 23 at the time and about to graduate from college. I returned home one night after going out with my then girlfriend (she is my wife now) to find a message on the answering machine from my mother that my brother had been in an accident and I needed to rush to the hospital immediately.
After a night of partying my brother hopped into a car with some friends, none of which should have been driving. The car lost control not long after they left a house in the country outside of our hometown of Kearney, Nebraska.
My brother was thrown from the vehicle and suffered severe injuries and head trauma. He was clinically dead when the ambulance arrived. He was later revived but in order to survive the brain swelling he was put into an induced coma for the next two weeks or so.
That is only where the story begins. My brother died multiple times as was recorded by the medical staff and each time had different near death experiences. It’s truly a miracle that he survived. His memory of events both in and out of his body are unique in my opinion amongst the mass of people who have had similar experiences. I say this only because he remembers so many of them is extremely visual detail.
It took me many years to come to grips with my brother’s experiences and it put me on a coarse to search for meaning in my own life. His accident came at a time when I was supposed to enter the world confidently and begin my adult life after my education. Instead I began that life in question. All of my beliefs had been stripped from me. The next several years I struggled to care about the frustrating system in which we are supposed to live. A brush with something totally spiritual is enough to make you wonder why we have made life so difficult for ourselves in this world.
The only answer I have found is love. I love my brother. I love my wife, my parents, my friends, family and now my beautiful son. Love is the spiritual twine that binds us to this world and whatever is waiting for us on the other side.
My brother was asked last year to share his remarkable story with The Biography Channel. I suspect he will likely be asked again in the future to share his story at greater length through another media channel. His episode of I Survived…Beyond and Back will premier Sunday January 29th at 8pm Mountain Time (10pm EST).
I am apprehensive about watching it because I know he is going to share things I am sure I have probably never heard him speak of. I am very proud of him for deciding to tell his story and share it with such a large audience. He is my only brother and I love him so much. It’s been hard for him to pick up and carry on with life but he is now doing extremely well. It is amazing that he survived such a traumatic accident with barely a mark on him. He’s currently attending University with a major in theater and an interest in someday becoming a director.
I will be watching the show with my wife this Sunday. I invite you to join in. Lastly, I want to thank all of you who have read this blog and supported me over the years. This special place I have created has opened many doors for me and introduced me to some amazing people. I have always left the myself open on this blog as to who I am, the experiences I have had and what inspires me. It’s a line directly into who I am as a person. My brother’s experiences have had more impact on me than almost anything else that has happened in my life. There is nothing more personal that either I or my family could share. I hope his story will now further inspire you as we all look toward a more meaningful and spiritual future. Thank you for all the love you have given me through Changethethought. Hopefully this story will actually inspire the name I adopted for both my work and this blog a decade ago.
