Steve: Brain Surgery for Traumatic Injury

Описание: "If the only thing I can do is put a smile on someone's face for the course of the day, that works for me."

After recovering from a motorcycle accident that required brain surgery and rehabilitation, Steve and his wife Tammy wanted to give back to their community by joining Volunteer Services at Dartmouth-Hitchcock.

"The prognosis was not good," said Tammy. "He was in a coma for about three weeks... Dr. Erkmen was his primary surgeon. His bedside manner is great. He talks to you so you can understand -- he's the best doctor I've seen throughout this."

"Progress is something you have to take minute by minute," Steve said. "Don't ever give up. Don't ever stop thinking that you can do something. You may not be able to stand up and do it now, but tomorrow the sun will come up again.

"I think volunteering is going a long way to recovering some of what I consider my life, because if I do nothing but move a wire for one guy, and put the nurse remote back to him and it puts a smile on his or her face, then that in itself puts a smile on my face."

"Volunteering helps him to give back a little bit, to feel more like himself, of being able to do something," Tammy said. "That's the biggest thing through all of this: to be able to help someone else get through a rough time."