Brian Boyle

[Guest guest]

Brian Boyle

 

My name is Brian Boyle, and I am living proof that miracles happen.

 

A month after I graduated high school in 2004, I was coming home from swim

practice and was involved in a near fatal car accident with a dump truck. The

impact of the crash violently ripped my heart across my chest, shattering my

ribs/clavicle/pelvis, collapsing my lungs, causing damage to every single organ,

failure of my kidneys and liver, removal of spleen and gallbladder, resulting in

the loss of 60% of my blood, severe nerve damage to my left shoulder, and

leaving me in a coma where I was on life support for over two months at Prince

Georges Hospital Center in Cheverly, MD.

 

I don't have a memory of the accident, or the few days before the day of the

accident. The first thing that I remember after the collision, which is still so

vivid in my mind even today, is being in this very large white tube. In this

tube was a boy sitting to my left, and many other boys and girls on my right

side (I use the term " boys and girls " because they appeared to be my age.) I

didn't know why I was there or how I even got there in the first place. The more

I sat there, the more I was able to visualize my surroundings. The boy to my

left had a cell phone, and he asked me if I needed him to call anyone for me. I

told him " yes, can you call my parents and tell them that I love them. " The next

thing that I remember is waking up in a hospital bed, chemically paralyzed and

hooked up to all these machines. Through all the buzzes and beeps going off from

the medical equipment that was saving my life at that instant, I could hear my

mom and dad telling me in between dramatic pauses of crying hysterically that I

was going to be okay. Only moments before I believe I was waiting in line to

meet my final judgment, but it must have not been my time. Moments later, I had

come back to life. This was just the beginning of my suffering.

 

I died eight times while I was in the intensive care unit and even when I woke

up from my coma, I couldn't talk or communicate. No one knew for sure if I would

leave my room in a wheelchair or a body bag. As far as the future, it didn't

exist. Walking was never going to happen again due to all the extreme injuries

and because of the shattered pelvis. The thought of swimming was just that, only

a thought. Just like my body, my dreams were shattered. But, I didn't give up

because I knew that God had a plan for me.

 

After spending two months in a coma, 14 operations, 36 blood transfusions, 13

plasma treatments, I lost a total of 100 pounds and had to go to a

rehabilitation center in Baltimore. I had to learn how to talk, eat, walk,

shower, and live independently again. After that agonizing experience, I had to

go to outpatient therapy in Waldorf, MD. After spending a few months in a

wheelchair, I took baby steps to walk on my own. It was a miracle that I could

walk again, but I wanted to prove the doctors wrong and not only walk, but run.

After I accomplished that, I wanted to get back in the pool again. After a few

lung tests, I was able to go in the pool a little bit each week.

 

Before the accident I had three goals: to go to college, swim on the team, and

compete in an ironman triathlon one day. After a few months of swimming a few

laps here and there with my training partner and good buddy, Sam Fleming, I

decided that I was not going to let my injuries stop me from living my dream.

Six months after that I began my freshman year at St. Mary's College of Maryland

- and became a proud member of the swim team.

 

It's very easy to go through and list these facts and make it look like

everything just seemed to easily fall in it's own perfect little place, but the

truth of the matter is that it didn't. It wasn't easy, not then, and not now.

The pain and the agony was real and it existed all the way through - in the good

times and the very bad.

 

It was not an easy situation to be laying in a bed, staring at the ceiling,

knowing that your life is over while you're looking at a priest give you the

last rights. I thought to myself over and over, why did this happen to me. I was

always a good kid, received good grades in school, and went to church. Why would

something as horrific as this happen to me? Why would God allow this? I went on

and on for days asking why? And, then it hit me. All that thinking and pondering

on the what-if scenarios and the questionable doubt only stirred up another

question - why was I saved? I didn't have anymore questions after that. I

finally understood my purpose in life.

 

With the 50 year life expectancy I was given from the doctors, I am now just

trying to live each day to the fullest and motivate and hopefully inspire other

people in their lives and faith. Some people say I am like 'Lazarus' because God

brought me back to life. All I know is that I want to take full advantage of the

precious time we are given.

 

My story is about the recovery and the comeback, but I want to make it much more

than that. I want to make a positive impact on the world. I want to motivate and

hopefully inspire other people through my endeavors to never give up on their

dreams and to never stop believing in their faith in God no matter how bad a

situation may appear.

 

Update: Brian recently completed the Steelhead 70.3 half-ironman race in

Michigan and was also given the inspirational athlete media slot to compete in

the 2007 Ford Ironman World Championship where his story appeared on NBC's

'Ironman' show as the main feature.

 

Reflection: Not a day should pass without thanking God for giving me the gift of

love and joy.