January 18th, 2011 by Conor

This is Michelle’s 6th hat. For those of you that are not up to speed, Michelle has been making hats by Danny’s bedside since the accident. These hats are one of a kind and are only sold until they sell. So far she has made 5 hats. This one is by far my favorite. The colors are awesome! It’s red with 3 shades of gray that fade up in horizontal lines. I be it lasts 2 hours on the site. Get it while you still can!

This one is red with 3 shades of gray.

$100

January 17th, 2011 by Conor

I’ve been waiting to write something. But I didn’t know what. I knew I wanted it to count though. I’ve been reading other peoples letters and comments and they have all been so great and touching and moving, and I would sit and wonder where mine would fit in. Well it finally hit me yesterday around 2 oclock in the afternoon when I was looking in the mirror at myself crying, after just leaving the Home page of the Dannyisthebomb.com website. Now any of you that know me, probably know that I’m a bit of an emotional baby as it is. But these tears were warranted. Just that looking at that face, those eyes, and thinking of what he must look like now, and trying to imagine maybe what he’s feeling, if he’s feeling anything yet at all. It just overwhelmed me, and I can only imagine the strength Conor you must have to be displaying, to be the big brother and to be strong for your little brother as he lays there in his hospital bed, complete 180(little pun) from what you’ve been use to seeing you’re entire life.

I sit here and think to myself. What am I really feeling? Pain..? Yes. Sadness..? Yes. Confused and just really don’t know what to think or say..? Yes, yes, yes, across the board. I’m sure most of us out there across the country checking in and being a part of this, or atleast those of us who know Danny well (not trying to sound exclusive whatsoever), have had these same feelings and just overall internal unsettledness.

But that’s when it all hit me. I can’t be wasting time sitting around crying. Danny wouldn’t sit around and cry, he would be doing something, non-stop all the time. And he wouldn’t want any of us to cry if he had the choice and power. But this brings us to the point of realization that the “pain” I’m/we’re feeling is nothing compared to the reality that is soon going to hit Danny as he slowly awakens from his long long rest. Conor’s words could not be more true, and to paraphrase him “once Danny wakes up is when HIS pain and reality starts. This is not about us and never will or should be. He has never even been close to a place like this. Danny is use to flying high, being on top, and having fun. He is NOT use to not having control over his own body and situations. And he is not going to like it one bit.

So by now I’m sure it is no surprise to anyone how hard this is going to be for Danny. Knowing the athlete that Danny is and the nature of is competitiveness, he is going to have a very hard time swallowing this. But at the same time, if it’s even possible to say, there is a little bit of a blessing behind this as well. Look at what this has created. We have friends, family, and people who don’t even know Danny, from across the nation uniting together for one great cause. That is special. It’s a team that has formed, and a team that I personally feel amazed and proud to be a part of. I like to win. So does Danny. And this is a team full of winners who combined with Danny, will win once again. But we are going to have to be there the whole entire time, every inch, every step, every tear, every smile, until the process is deemed complete.

Part of it, as I said, will be good because of Danny’s drive and need for success will only help boost his progress tremendously. But part of it will be bad. Real bad in terms of what Danny sees through his eyes and thinks in his head. There are going to be days where even Danny will feel like crying, and although he may mask it with his natural toughness and charmer smile, this is when everyone absolutely needs to be there.

He is going to be in some hard, dark places. Places he’s never imagined being, never even known existed. The love from his family and friends, and everyone involved in this is what’s going to help him out, whether he likes it or not. For all of us, especially the Toumarkine family, this has seemed like a lifetime already, but please, let’s all try to remember that when Danny comes to, is when it ALL STARTS in real time. Not just for him, but for everyone. Let’s really keep our focus strong and straight, and with the help from some amazing doctors, friends, family, and Danny himself, we will all get through this together. I literally dream of the days of his laughing, and all the crazy, fun, learning times I’ve had with Danny. It can not come back soon enough. And I will be here waiting, along with hundreds of others, and I assume I can speak for all when i say we can’t wait for the comeback. Conor, you are an amazing brother and friend…you know we got this! Sending all of my love from the place where the shredding legend Danny Toumarkine started in the 603…Danny I miss you and love you so much and may God give you his strength to bring you back and bless us all.

Friend Forever, Drew Donabedian

January 17th, 2011 by Conor

Hey conor sorry it has taken me so long to post anything, but i promise to slack no more. Miss you guys soooo much can’t wait to see all of you.
love tan
p.s the dog pic is strange, but hilarious, its megan credits dog Jazzy we were watching him while she was working and we decided to give jazzy a mustache with eye liner.

January 17th, 2011 by Conor

Two pretty comical things have happened over tonights shift.

1) Happened a little before the graveyard actually started. My mom suggested that Danny would really want the leg warmers that the nurses have been using on him when he is able to leave this place. She was stoked about how “cool” they were. I couldn’t have agreed any less. So, I actually held one up in the air and looked over Danny’s way as I asked him “Hey Danny are you gonna want these things when you get out of this place?” His eyebrows came together and he slowly and methodically shook his head back and fourth as if to say Helllllll noooooo. The whole room errupted at Dannys reaction. Hard to say if he was trying to be funny or if he was just responding to the question. Either way it was funny. Now we are going to have to keep them just because the reaction was so funny.

2) The sweathshirt that I borrowed from Danny and have so proudly worn finally became an issue today. Michelle was standing on the side of the bed when Danny pointed over at the sweatshirt. I pointed back at him to which he methodically turned his palm up with a subtle look of frustration. It was because I was wearing HIS sweatshirt. When I show up tomorrow I plan on giving him the sweatshirt back. Although this one was not as “laugh out loud” to the group, Michelle and I both got a big kick out of it. Danny always gets annoyed when I borrow his stuff. To us, his annoyance was funny because it was a clever way of showing us that he is still the same old Danny. He’s barely even coming out of this mess and he already can’t wait to get his steeze back.

A lot has happened in the last 24 hours. Just like I expected it’s a pretty hard for Danny. We are sort of at an in between stage emotionally. My Mom, Dad, Michelle and I are getting excited about the progress the improving condition of Danny. He on the other hand is beginning to realize that something bad happened. Something very bad. Several times now he has looked me in the eye for roughly 20-30 seconds before a tear slowly forms out of the corner of his eye. It is very hard to watch. We ask him if he is in pain and request him to do a thumbs up if he is. No such luck. He is just bummed out. Plain and simple. It must be a very hard time for him. It’s tough because I know they have to wake him up to be able to asses his neurological responses, but it’s difficult because every time they do it he is sad. It’s like finding out over and over that something went really wrong.

I don’t think he is quite able to figure out much of what happened just that something happened. He has rubbed his right hand over all the stitches a bunch of times but seems more irritated that there is something in his hair then knowledgeable of what is actually going on.

Danny is into the music! I have put together some playlists of some of his more mellower favorite tracks. He seems to enjoy them. I asked him if he wanted to listen to music and he gave me a nice slow nod. When he is awake and alert it is 50/50 whether it is a good time to play music or not. Sometimes he just looks a little too sad to really play an upbeat track that would normally put him into snowboarding mood.

Another night down. Wondering how many more there will be.

Love ya Danny.

~Conor

January 17th, 2011 by MIchelle

It’s 4:49 AM. About an hour ago, Paul let Danny wake up a bit. It was the most lively we’ve seen him yet. With the bed raised up, almost to the point of looking like a big comfy chair, Danny sat with his legs crossed. His neck was pretty stiff so he couldn’t move it around as much as he was trying to, but his eyes met with ours when we spoke to him. I showed him a hat that I made and asked him if he liked it, he nodded yes. When I took the hat off to put my other hat on I apologized for my messy hair and he shrugged his shoulders as if to say that he didn’t mind. He wrapped his right arm around me and rubbed my back. I told him I couldn’t wait to cuddle with him and he pulled me closer. While all of this was happening, Conor and Paul were in the bathroom. I was pretty much focussed on Danny the whole time, but when I realized that it had been a few minutes since Conor and Paul had closed the door, I started to wonder (there’s been a lot of talk about male nurses lately). To my surprise the door opened a minute later and Conor had shaved his head! I laughed a ton and I know that if Danny were able to laugh he would have done the same. I’m not sure that Danny realized why Conor had shaved his head, but he gave him his approval with a head nod. It’s amazing that we can communicate with him on some level now. We can ask him if he’s in pain or if he is uncomfortable. When he wanted a drink of water earlier he raised his hand to his mouth as if he were drinking something. We couldn’t give him water, but we soaked a sponge in ice water and placed it in his mouth…he didn’t like that very much. These last couple of days have been something to look forward to. Danny’s improvements seem amazing since it was only a few days ago that his eyes were still shut and the nuero exams consisted of squeezing hands and pinching his toes to get a reaction. Love you Danny, thanks for putting a smile all our faces!

-Michelle

January 17th, 2011 by Conor

Danny was awake for a good stretch around 2 am and he looked a little bummed out. He was pretty foggy in general so it’s hard to say what he was feeling but he looked kind of sad. I find it hard to say this, but, If he is sad that’s almost a good thing. That means he is able to process what is going on and realize that it’s not good. To most of us that seems like a pretty obvious thing but you have to understand that with regards to brain damage we are trying to find out where exactly Danny stands.

Anyway, to me he looked sad. So I thought I would go ahead and join the ranks with Joe McCusker and Ian Stacey and try to cheer him up. So at 2 am when Danny was the most awake he was all night I decided to shave my head in the bathroom of his room to try to put a smile on his face. Can’t say that I got the reaction that i was really hoping for but I figured it was worth a shot at cheering him up. At some point he will get it. Until then I will do whatever it takes to try to put a smile on his face.

Dad you’re next!

January 17th, 2011 by Conor

Despite the landslide victory and my attempt at advocating for these guys in Montana, the “male nurses” up here now claim that they actually don’t mind their title. So now they are onto the next fun topic of debate here in the ICU. These guys want to find out which of them looks the most heterosexual. They thought this would be fun, I think it’s fun. Period. This is simply an way to solve a joke between the three of them. I thought I could help.

*This is not meant to offend anyone.
*This is not meant to suggest anything about the profession.
*This is fun and should not be taken any other way.
*This is not a time to get into politics.
*If you can’t handle this poll and you will lose sleep about it at night please comment below to let the webmaster know what an insensitive human being he really is.

January 17th, 2011 by Conor

I can honestly say I am horrible with feelings. I don’t like expressing them, and I prefer to hide my thoughts from the world. I work as hard as possible to not let anyone see how I truly feel. I know this isn’t the greatest quality, but it’s the truth. I have been trying to post my thoughts about Danny for the past week. When I first found out Danny was hurt I was in shock for a good 24 hours. Once I started understanding that something had seriously happened to my friend it hit me like a bus. Slamming into me at a speed I was not prepared for. As with every incident like this, I try my absolute best to lock it deep inside and not deal with it. Danny’s roommate and my good friend, Ian, came over after we found out and showed his equal love and support to the matter. I quickly realized this was gonna be hard to run from.

I needed something comforting, after taking Michelle to the airport, I still had friends like Will and Ian around to help keep my mind positive. We decided to make Danny a scrapbook, this scrapbook has helped the last two weeks pass. Being with the boys and working on it has only brought back amazing memories and laughs that Danny created in us. It brought so much positive energy to the situation, and helped all of us lighten our hearts.
The other morning I sent Danny his book, and it was almost difficult. I instantly needed something new to put my thoughts of Danny in a good direction. After Michelle had asked a couple times for me to write on dannyisthebomb.com I finally decided to open up and reflect on my friend Danny Toumarkine.

I can call Danny a great friend, but what Danny is to me is a big brother, a motivator, and an inspiration, someone who I want to do better for. In life you meet many people, there are people brought into your life for a reason and their energy pulls you in with force. It is so strong that they can create an inner drive in you to work harder and to be successful at whatever it is you love. You can share an equal love interest in something or have a common personality. These types of people create amazing friends. You almost don’t realize how strong they’re energy is to you, how much they are the fuel to your energy in life. Danny is an example of a person in my life that I know fuels my fire. He only wants his friends to move in a direction that motivates them to be happy. Regardless if he could relate to what it is you are passionate about, he is always supportive of any goals or aspirations his friends have.

We spent a great deal of the past few years snowboarding together. He was one of my first calls whenever I went riding to see what the plan for the day was. Just being on the mountain with him was a guaranteed good day. He would always take time out of his run to watch what I was doing, and would critique me. Tell me anything he thought wasn’t looking the greatest. In my book, there’s nothing better than this. Creating this inner drive in me when I was doing something, I was doing it as best I could to hear him tell me, “lookin good Nicki Jean.”
Becoming really close to the Toumarkine’s over the last few years, and pretty much owing a lot of my progression to the both of them. Whether it’s Conor mentally talking me through snowboarding, careers, life, whatever or Danny showing me anything I could ever wanna learn. The two of them inspired me to want to work my absolute hardest at what I loved. The past two weeks have been a struggle to even go out snowboarding. I never realized till now, how much the love and support from your friends influence you. I have never had someone so close to me have an accident like this.

I am currently flying to go to the 2nd stop of the Winter Dew Tour. I knew I had to get out on my board during the previous weeks if I was gonna have any chance of doing well at this contest. Everyday I have been on my board since the accident I let my imagination run wild, and pretend Danny is there just as any other day. I hit everything as if he is watching, waiting to hear him critique me. I am going into this contest really only riding for him. I want to put a run together that I know Danny would be proud of, something that he could be impressed with. Danny’s continuing energy is my guiding light that will not go away. I can only hope that when he gets out of this I can be a guiding light for him, as he has done for me. Giving him as much love and support that he has given me. I can’t wait for the day that I can return this to him when he needs it most.

Danny I love you very much, you are an amazing person, an amazing friend. I am here with as much support and help I could ever give. Please continue your fight through this, and come back to the Tahoe crew.

~Nicki Slechta

January 17th, 2011 by Conor

That’s the second time that Danny is the Bomb has been to the Washington Monument! Soo cool!

Keep em coming: 603-496-6621 or donations@dannyisthebomb.com

January 17th, 2011 by Conor

Danny T! I always said this when saying hello to Danny. He would always return and say Scottyyyyyyy B in some comical voice that made us both crack up with laughter. Hanging out with Danny was always a pleasure. I always go back and think of how I met Danny and even his brother Conor and it seems so odd to think how it evolved into so much more. I met Danny when he was promoting FLIGI (pronounced Fly Guy, before I met the bros I always pronounced it fleegee) his clothing company. I met him through Preston and soon Danny was introduced to the whole “Cranny Crew” haha. We had a blast all shredding together and before long Danny offered us to give us some gear that we could show off to promote his business. The crew dove into the FLIGI bandana line and steezed hard. Or at least we thought we did. The crew met Conor when we did a FLIGI photo shoot at Cranmore in the Lucky Loop and we had a blast hitting the rails and taking some pictures.
One of the biggest things I will always remember about meeting Danny was how comfortable he was at riding and how good he was at it, but when we talked with him about pursuing it further than just a hobby he told us he was too old! Sure all of the Cranny Crew was only in high school but he was only just out of college! We all thought it was ridiculous! Danny was always a great rider but when he finally convinced himself that he could make it in the pro snowboarding world, his skills took off like a bullet.
I have followed everything Danny and Conor have been doing with Shreddy Times and am very proud of them! They are role models to me as business people and also as people who are loving life and following their passion.

Some great experiences that I would never have had if it wasn’t for Danny are:

-All the excitement that came from being “sponsored” by FLIGI. I’m still enjoying the gear to this day.

-The River Trips (everyone from the Valley knows what Trip in particular I’m talking about) funny thing is that the first year I did it Zach wasn’t, therefore the only image I had of the man whose birthday we were celebrating was the Zach that was illustrated on Danny’s poster board haha.

-All the awesome people I have met around town because of Danny.

Deep into the future I will continue to enjoy Shreddy Times and the relationships that formed from Danny. Thanks for everything bro! Can’t wait till your better. I owe you some riding, I’ve been slacking hard!

Attached are some photos from the Fligi shoot taken by Conor. Also are some great shots from the 2nd annual river trip (not taken by me). And Ken decided not to post it so I thought I would, the result of the Twix/Snickers bet (also not taken by me).

-Scottyyyyyyyy B!