January 7th, 2011 by Conor

Conor,

I have known your family forever. I have memories of me, Rachelle, you and Danny playing in my backyard in Eaton; in the sandbox, on the swings, running in the woods. I feel like there has never been a time that I didn’t know your family. We all went to Pine Tree together and then Kennett. I know I haven’t seen you or Danny in quite a few years but as silly as it sounds I have always been able to feel connected to your family through facebook. Most of my memories are with you. I think fondly of our Wendy’s dates before National Honor Society. You were always willing to gossip with me about Chuck and you may not have known it but you always made me feel comfortable going to National Honor Society meetings (since I don’t think the other members liked me much and I didn’t really fit in there). I know that if Danny is anything like you were back then (and I’m sure still are), he is a pretty great guy. I have kept Danny and your family in my prayers since I heard. I commend you and your friends for having the strength to share updates with all of us who are patiently waiting for the words…”He’s awake and he’s great”. I have attached a very old picture. I think it is from our 5th grade so like 1993 or 1995. I think you it was you who gave me this picture. I remember having two thoughts: 1st ” I am sooo cool that I have a picture of the Pine Tree boys” and 2nd: ” I wonder what boys do when they have sleepovers”. Sorry if it embarrasses you because you all look so young. But if you ever want to be really embarrassed I have some great pictures of you and I circa 1987 or 1988. Sending all my positive energy, love and strength through this message to Danny, you, you whole family and all your friends there with you.

XOXO, Nina Trapasso

January 7th, 2011 by Conor

DCT, Conor, your entire family and the entire Shreddy Times crew,

Theres not much I can say to help this situation. But what I can do is reflect on how awesome/great of a friend Danny has been to me since we met in college. Just like alot of others, Danny and I met at Loon one day my freshman year while shreddin’ with Griffin. Headin up the lift, we were introduced and I honestly thought nothing of it. Had no idea what this meeting would have in store for our future as friends. After getting off the Gondola, we strapped in and said “here we go.” About 20 yards into the run, I gave a quick glance around to see where everyone was and was suprised by a falling object coming over my right shoulder. Here comes Danny, front flip and all, and lands right in front of me, with a smile and a laugh. I said God Damn who the hell is this guy!! From here on out we became close friends both on the slopes and in normal, everyday life.

We then went toi CO and UT for two weeks our senior year. I chose this trip, obviously, over a Spring Break trip to Jamaica with my other friends. Needless to say, it was the best decision I have ever made. So many laughs and amazing memories came from that trip. Whether it was me seperating my shoulder the FIRST day at Keystone, or building the igloo outside the UT house, this trip brought myself and Danny a million times closer. His laugh echoed RELENTLESSLY throughout the CO Condo and the UT mansion that we stayed at.

My fondest memory has to be out FIN 320 cllass with HASSAN INC. HAHA! Me, Danny and Januzzi gave that class life. Our one-armed friend, Hassan, pretended to care about attendance but realistically, he didn’t. So we all rotated skipping classes. Only for the other 2 to walk in to Hassan asking ” TOUMARKINE, where is your buddy KAAAAMMMMIIINNNNSKKKIIIII?” HAHA, so f’ing classic!

The entire Toumarkine family has opened up every aspect of their home to me in North Conway whenever I came to visit. A beautiful house, nestled in the woods with Shreddy Times and Fligi stickers all over the fridge. Our recent trip hiking up Mt Field and Wiley was a freakin blast. Going from 50 degree weather to snow in less than a 1000 vertical feet was a hell of an experience. We fed the Grey Jays, which was amazing, and shared lunch on a snow covered path because I was about to die from being fat and pretending to hike badass mountains. He kept saying on the Ascent, “Bet you hate me right now, don’t ya? Wait til we get to the top” He clearly wasn’t lying. What an amazing day, clearly my favorite hiking story.

Danny, Conor, and the Toumarkine Family. From the bottom of my heart, I wish Danny a speedy and successful recovery. Although times are really tough right now, Danny has by far one of the biggest and most loving support groups out of ANYONE I have ever met in my entire life. All we can do, as friends, family, is to pray for him and keep his laugh in our minds. He will prevail, I’m sure. He just needs the support from EVERYONE (even if you only follow Shreddy Times online) to help himself and his family through this.

Danny, get better soon bro,. Love you kid.

-Mike Kaminski aka Kamski

January 7th, 2011 by Conor

Well to be honest, I don’t even know where to start. I get choked up just thinking that I am actually writing this. Danny and I met back in our college days at SNHU. Good ol’ SNHU! Danny and I took all our advertising and graphic design courses together with our good friend Matt Zajac. And yes, I first noticed DCT, because of his laugh… who doesn’t ?! Haha. Danny was always the dude who left his away message (back when AIM was cool still ) as Shreddin’. I knew Danny had a serious love for riding because that’s ALL I ever read. I was a skiier myself for many years as a kid so I had some understanding of how much one could love to ride, but none like Danny.

In 1999, I myself , decided to start snowboarding and unfortunately suffered a severe injury which left me off the mountains for almost 10 years just based on fear. My family has a condo up north at Attitash just a short drive from where Danny and Conor grew up so after college when DCT and I started chilling more I figured I might as well take advantage of the mountain again since I was driving up north so much. Danny, Zach, Tommy, Sean, Meg and I had one crazy Halloween just about 3 years ago… Danny actually has all the pictures though 😉 Right after that Halloween Danny got hurt just a few days before Christmas and it was a pretty small injury in comparison to where things stand today but it still scared the daylight out of me. Danny on the other hand just bounced back like nothing happened, like he always does.

When I started riding again I was in the midst of trying to reinvent my life by moving somewhere drastic and adventurous. Well with that being said, I currently reside in Lake Tahoe, CA just an hour or so from Conor and DCT. I always heard about this Tahoe joint but never knew anything as cool as this place existed until I stole the idea from them. Thanks guys! Granted we haven’t seen each other as much as you would think since I have lived here a year, I usually have a daily chat with Danny. Yes, most of it is because he breaks cell phones like that’s his job (kidding) but otherwise we always have a humorous conversation that keeps me going while working.

I don’t think I am the only person who sees Danny as a strong, intelligent, innovative, warm-hearted person but one thing I have been lucky enough to have is our friendship all the way from NH to CA.

Conor, even you have recently given me words of wisdom and I thank you for that ! You two together have already accomplished the unthinkable this year with Shreddy Times and it all comes down to you making things happen. Your the only person I would place right next there to DCT to get him through this. Come on Danny, make us proud and get through this!!!!! Tahoe misses you, and so do I.

Love,
Cols

January 7th, 2011 by Conor

Danny has a way of making every thing around him a little bit better, or shall I say a little more fun. It may be because of his bright personality, his “go get it attitude”, or maybe just his damn laugh. Either way, Danny helped make my winter season what it needed to be. FUN. I had missed the 06 season with a pretty serious injury and vowed to come back with vengeance the next year. I rode with Danny when ever he was around throughout the season and it seemed I was having the best year ever. I learned so much just by riding with him. Mainly because it is always fun. Lets not forget the whitey tightly run, hey Danny, Snickers or Twix? The end of the season a group of us hiked up Tuckerman Ravine. By the time we got up left gully Danny and I had to keep going up. We hiked up the snow fields until we were looking down the backside of the mt. We then came upon a giant rock and felt it was a good spot to take some pics.

January 7th, 2011 by Conor

Danny is a person who always makes me smile, although we haven’t seen each other in a couple of years, I have many memories that will never be forgotten and I can look back and laugh about. I will start with his love, snowboarding, my father worked as an ambassador at Attitash in Bartlett, NH and I was able to get free passes whenever we needed them. We only went twice together because he loved Cranmore, but when he did come with me it was fun just the two of us having fun. Of course on the first run having never hit this jump or spotted the landing, he hits the jump and nails a back flip, now I have to go? What am I going to do? I proceed down and barely make a 360, probably the ugliest ever, and he said, “nice job guy”, and did the DCT laugh that we all love and we spent the rest of the day on that hill and having a blast.

More memories were making his notorious Pimp Mixes with Conor, Ben, Charlie, Tom, Josh, and others. Just sitting up in his room trying to find the right song list for that week to ride around in his Blazer up and down the strip. Going to Wendy’s EVERY day, or the rope swings. No matter what any of us did with Danny, we always had the time of our lives. Playing lacrosse, some people might not know that he even played lacrosse, but of course like everything that Danny did, he was an amazing lacrosse player. Just like watching him ride, he was a joy to watch on the lacrosse field, he just makes everything look so easy.

Our trip to visit Conor at Syracuse; Danny, Charlie, Josh and I left NH in Charlie’s Jeep with two cases of beer in the back in plain site, all of us under age, we made it to NY and I was driving about 75 and out of nowhere red flashing light turned on behind us. Danny wakes up and says, “Why is there an ambulance behind us?” I pulled over knowing that NY State Police have red lights not blue like NH. We quickly stopped laughing at Danny as they proceed up on each side of the jeep and ask where we were headed because it was about 12pm, we told them and he took my license and then gave me a ticket. We drove off to the next rest area and I let Josh drive and a half an hour later he got pulled over on the same highway. I just remember Danny laughing in the back seat after Josh got another ticket. We made it to Conor’s dorm and had a blast while we were there. On the way home we got a girl to flash us on the highway after driving next to this car full of girls for a long time holding up traffic on I90.

The year I took Danny out on a wakeboard boat for the fourth of July on Ossipee Lake. He had never wake boarded before and after we had been drinking all day, he jumped in and put me board on and got up first try! Of course none of us were surprised, it took him about two minutes and he was able to clear the wake. He is by far the most talented person I have ever met. We always had fun no matter what we did. His ability to make people laugh and smile is something I have missed for a long time. My memories with Danny are something I have cherished and feel lucky to have been able to build such a great relationship with him over the years. Danny, I look foreword to seeing you soon and making more memories. We do have places to ride in NC, and would love to get you back out on my wakeboard on Lake Norman. You are the best and have a great family and great friends who love you and can’t wait to see that smile again and hear that awesome laugh. Love you buddy!

ONE,

Tim Mcclare

January 7th, 2011 by Conor

Connor (and to Dan when he wakes up),

Since I heard about what happened to Dan and found out about your updates on Facebook and the website you set up, I have been coming online and deeply hoping that he has started to shows signs of the beginnings of his recovery. I haven’t seen either of you guys in a long time but growing up in the same town and on the same street and growing up with a brother, it really hit me in an emotional place I haven’t felt in a long time, maybe never. I can’t feel the depth of angst that you are going through but I feel like in some ways that Dan is part of my tribe, in my circle of people that grew up knowing and care about. Sure, we didn’t hang out and only saw each other in passing but my worries about your bro have welled-up big time. My reaction kind of came upon me in a deep way that I didn’t expect.

I believe that Dan knows you are with him and that your and his love as brothers is permeating that room as well as the love from your family and friends and everyone who knew Dan.

I am living in Bulgaria now and sending my love across the world to you both and your whole family.

Get Well Dan. Come Back Soon.

Much Love,

Rob Hickey

January 7th, 2011 by Conor

to Conor and the rest of ST,

First off, thoughts and prayers are being sent cross-country from Mass. Hope your boy Danny makes a quick and full recovery. i wish i could have given more, but ill make up with my lack of funds in prayers and positive vibes. Connor, i also have a brother and once spent 2 days in a chemically induced coma, and when i woke up my older brother was right there. although i was still heavily drugged, it is and probably always will be the greatest moment of my life. theres no love like the love brothers share. so just keep doing what your doing, stay strong, and trust me man, he knows your there. god bless.

s.

January 7th, 2011 by Conor

I have known Danny and Conor since I was young. Real young, young to the point of getting changed into bathing suits in front of each other by Ellen Shea, while standing naked and not thinking a single thing about it. Haha. Ok, a little weird. Point is, I’ve been lucky to know both them for this long, but we’ll keep this based on Danny (sorry Conor). Danny is a one-of-a-kind person, as you all know. He is amazing. He looks at something and he does it. He does not waste time, every move of his is made with thought and intention. Danny is made for the stars, and was made to rise with them. I could call up hundreds of memories but I wouldn’t even know where to begin, and don’t want to bore everyone. But, isn’t it amazing how someone can have this much effect on people. It is often times tragedy that brings out things like this, that never would have been addressed. The fact that it happened this way is literally soul-shaking, but the result of the oncoming support is amazing. People around the WORLD are sending their love, faith and support. What type of a person could have people from different countries who don’t even know him, send him love and support- Danny, that’s who. People who don’t even know Danny. Maybe they saw one of his videos and was like holy s#*% this kid is amazing. Or maybe they got the pleasure to meet and hear that one of a kind laugh in person. I have had countless number of people this week asking me how Danny is. Parents, Teachers from old elementary schools, people who i haven’t even spoken to in years…all reaching out for one reason, and that is to send their strength and love to Danny. That says something about what type of person it is I’m talking about right now. There will never be a replica even close to Danny and all that his life symbolizes. His athletic talent alone leaves people in awe, wanting to meet this unreal shredder who has a mean head of hair. And the quality of person he is, has resulted in this Nation-wide gathering of thousands of people and thoughts and prayers. There is only one Danny. And he will be back, but we need him back sooner. So please send your love and donations of any sort. I miss you Danny and if I could be there in the room with you I would wait there with Conor until I could see those shiny eyes open back up and hear that one of a kind laugh. Then I’d be good. Until then, I’ll pray every morning and night for you, Conor, the rest of your family, and the Shreddy Times Team. Sending all my love, and that of the entire Northeast region..we Love you Danny.

—Drew Donabedian

January 6th, 2011 by Conor

Cherish the ones who you assume will always be in your life, develop a wicked allergy to negativity, and assume nothing…

It is difficult thinking about Danny being incapacitated…for the mere fact that anyone who knows him, knows that he lives life to the fullest. “don’t talk about it, be about it” is a phrase we have not only heard him use, but seen him employ. whether it be old school friends who gravitate to his talent and ability to be the natural that he is, or new shreds who have shralped alongside and drawn on-hill inspiration.

I have always been amazed at how many more friends Danny has amassed since the last time I have seen him. a true testament to the fact that he has been building an army of likeminded individuals…he once didn’t make a friend just to see what it felt like.

Offhill antics include an infectious laugh that hits the high notes everytime (your joke isn’t funny until he hits the hyena pitch). His over evolved sense of sarcasm makes mundane observations turn into witty assessments about life, and it’s always a treat being within earshot of DCT when someone makes a complete fool of themselves without knowing it. and for the record…he introduced me to the movie FUBAR, I am forever grateful.

Danny’s offhill strengths could make a list miles long, but his natural ability to ride is what becomes apparent. I was still perfecting the art of toeside turns when I witnessed Danny preform meanest Method I have ever seen…as a seventh grader. Without attending a private shred school like many east Coast big names, Danny did it his way…spinning his way into the semi pro snowboarding world. Kid can spin like a frisbee, and always executes tricks with catlike agility. I remember Danny and Conor teaching me backflips back in 8th grade, on a booter with a lip no less than 6 feet tall and vertical pitch…DCT’s advice? “Just do a backflip!” scariest, but most progressive day of my young life, just another day of shred to Danny.

He came to visit me in SLC last winter and ended up showing me around the mountain I was working at and called home…then was out before i could even tell him that i tore my rotator cuff trying those batty frontflips he was showing me. He led the movement of east Coasters moving west to progress within our area of New Hampshire, to which I reunited with him and the Shreddy Crew just before the latest accident in Teton Pass Montana.

What happened to Danny is serious, and has left many hearts heavy and filled with concern…but do not mistake how big of a heart and resilient of a brain he has. Everyone has many stories about him that I am sure are hilarious/rediculous/epic/shreddy, so keep them in mind and keep him in mind. Until he can be back doing what he loves, do it for him.