January 15th, 2011 by Conor

Hi all,

I’m Danny’s uncle, David. I’ve never really thought of myself as Danny’s “uncle”, all I ever wanted to be was Danny’s friend. And these days I want that more than ever. While I’m 25 years older than Danny, I have nothing to teach him. And after reading these amazing love letters to Danny, it’s clear he has been our teacher for a while now. Teaching us about joy, passion, creativity, spirit, athleticism, friendship and now – determination. Even 2500 miles away, I can feel Danny’s determination. He is surviving, healing, and fueling our determination to support him and to lift him high when he needs us.

Since Conor built this site, I’ve developed a morning ritual where the first thing I do everyday is read DannyIsTheBomb. That gets the tears flowing. It’s a little weird, but somehow it feels right to start the day with a good cry and a solid prayer for Danny. (I repeat the drill at lunch and dinner. Not sure it’s healthy but it works…I’m thinking of creating a video game called WiiSob.) I know I’m not alone in this ritual, and I suspect all of us who visit this website feel our tears are full of sadness. But I hope we also find a little healing. We are trying to heal Danny and ourselves as best we can–to restore our own strength for the long road ahead.

Thank you Conor for building this site. Thank you Danny for showing the way. I do believe that today and tomorrow we are all Toumarkines. I’m proud to be part of this amazing family. We’re with you Danny, Conor, Michelle, Ellen, and David. Every hard-fought, well-earned step of the way.

Here’s some photos to share.

David Hamlin

January 15th, 2011 by Conor

i can’t really describe what went through my head when i heard the news about danny. disbelief; sadness; hope that it was not a reality, but perhaps something i heard wrong. i met danny through conor, whom i went to college with. being in the snowboard industry, i was always excited to hear what new shredding adventures they were on. way back when, conor and danny had approached me about getting danny hooked up with burton, so i gave danny some contacts the east coast reps who could get him set up. someone with his talent, energy, and drive, it wasn’t too long before he was one of the burton knowbuddies (Knowbuddy: a core influencer in a specific region, repping the best of the best burton has to offer). whenever danny was online, he would update me on all the things happening for him. you very rarely meet someone who is living out their dream and sharing with the world with such passion. it my life, i find that those are the best people to surround yourself with. i remember sitting in a burton sales meeting, and hearing the Anon crew talk about the knowbuddy, danny toumarkine, who recently won $10,000 at the the cholula triple air! i was so proud! i couldn’t wait to tell to danny that they were ranting and raving about him and congratulate him on his victory. its amazing watching someone succeed, and even harder to watch them fall.

i’ve been snowboarding my entire life, and often found comfort in losing myself and my worries in the powder and park. snowboarding for me, is an opportunity to clear my head and just be. in my short time on this planet, i’ve lost a lot of people to tragic endings: some to car accidents, some to cancer, some to snowboarding and skiing. i’ve always found a way to honor them, by putting a reminder of them on my snowboard – so in that time when i am clearing my head floating through the powder, i can send all those amazing vibes to the people i’ve lost. i wanted to give something back to danny, as he struggles through his recovery. something that people could put on their cars, snowboards, helmets, skis, and be reminded to send their positive vibes to danny. i had my good friends at InkMonstr make up some “danny is the bomb” stickers, and had conor use this as an opportunity to raise money to help danny. its my hope that everytime someone looks at that sticker, that they are reminded of danny. and reminded that life is an awesome adventure that we shouldn’t take for granted.

i’ll be riding my snowboard, sending all my love to danny – and anticipating the day that he can be riding again.
with love. lesley

ps. stickers are in the mail!

January 15th, 2011 by Conor

Well it’s little quieter without Josh around but I will say he is missed. It was a welcomed break from chaos we have experienced since the initial injury back on January 3rd.

Danny seems much better to me. He looks better, he is moving around much more and they are pumping far less drugs in him than they used to. He has a long way to go but I feel very good about the path that he is currently on.

The sagging balloons in the corner remind us that we have been here too long. We aren’t quite at the “Feel Better” stage.

In the last 8 hours that I have been in Danny’s room he did the following when commanded:
Thumbs up with right hand,
Held up 2 fingers,
Held up 3 fingers,
Attempted to touch his finger to his nose,
Smiled the best smile that he could given the circumstances.
……….. I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.

That’s it. Another night down. Looking forward to reporting more good news tomorrow.

I love you Danny.

~Conor

January 15th, 2011 by Conor

It looks like we are going to be making a snowboard to raffle off for Danny. We have a good idea about the bottom sheet but we are looking for Danny inspired top sheets. If you have any ideas for the graphics but aren’t an artist please describe them in the comments section of this post. If you are an artist but not a graphic designer then please draw, paint, whatever-you-want your idea and then send it in the best way you can. Email your board graphics to donations@dannyisthebomb.com and ill post them on the site. We will just keep looking for boards until we get the right one. The key to this is “Danny Inspired.”

January 15th, 2011 by Conor

It’s 4:18 AM. Danny’s been moving around a lot tonight. His legs are bending and his right arm is moving from his stomach up to his trache and back to his waist. He’s goes through periods of movement and resting. I can’t imagine being restrained at the wrist and not knowing what is happening. The nurse often reminds him that he is in the hospital and he had surgery. From what I’ve gathered, it is scary when you start to come off the sedation and you have no idea where you are or what is going on. He coughs every once in a while. The respiratory nurse was cleaning his mouth out and Danny let out a huge yawn. It’s good to see Danny coming to life a bit.

It was fun to have Josh here. He lightened up the mood and gave us something else to talk about. I secretly took a photo of Conor and him sharing the bed together, but I won’t post it because I think Conor would get me back way worse. I still owe you four dollars too Josh. I won’t let that slide!

-Michelle

January 15th, 2011 by Conor

Michelle has been slaving away making hats to help raise money for Danny. This is the 4th one she has made. They average about 5 hours on the site before they sell. These hats have been made with lots of love while she watches over Danny. They are one of a kind and we love Michelle for making them! Michelle is also the Bomb!

This hat is a light lime green and deep purple. If it doesn’t sell I am going to take better pictures with a much nicer camera because this hat is the BOMB!

!!!!SOLD!!!!

January 15th, 2011 by Conor

I would like to make some banners up for people that might want to link to this website IF people would want them. So, if you would be interested in a Danny Is The Bomb banner somewhere on your site, please send me an email and let me know what size you would like and I will make it for you. If you want go go ahead and make it yourself Below are a couple of tools that might help your design process…

Hex for Blue is: 296FCF

If you have any other questions or any ideas that you would like to talk about email me at donations@dannyisthebomb.com

~Conor

January 15th, 2011 by Conor

Here’s Magic with his sign..Hard to tell from the pic, but one of the magnets holding it up is a picture of Danny with Magic as a pup. Thinking of you guys & sending out good vibes!

~Megan Moulton

For those of you that don’t know Magic is our dads dog. We grew up with Magic. He is a 16.5 year old Shetland Sheepdog (Shelty), who is healthy as can be. Magic can’t wait for Danny to get home!

January 15th, 2011 by Conor

Around nine o’clock tonight, Paul gave Danny his nuero test. Tonight he mixed it up a bit and asked Danny to hold up two fingers. Danny showed us the peace sign and later when we were talking about it he gave the peace sign again. The right side of his body is moving well. His left side is less responsive, but he can still give a little hand squeeze. Paul then asked Danny to shake his head yes. Danny slowly moved his head up and down. It was really really faint, but it was noticeable. Next test…the smile. After Paul’s prompt, Danny moved his cheeks in an effort to smile. The right side of his face had more action than the left and I wouldn’t consider it to be a big grin or even really much of a smile at all, but he showed effort. He hears us. We keep telling him about all of the support you guys are showing him. Keep it up…this journey for Danny is a long one.

-Michelle

January 15th, 2011 by Conor

i moved in across the street from Danny when I was eight. That winter Danny Conor and I were jumping off of his tree house into a giant pile of snow. Well Danny and Conor were. I wouldn’t do it because I didn’t want to hurt my vagina (I was a real pussy as a kid). Danny kept saying “You’ll be fine. The snows too soft to damage your vagina”. It wasn’t until the next day that I worked up the courage to jump and by then the snow pile at the bottom had frozen. The landing hurt real bad and it knocked the wind out me but Danny was right. My vagina was unharmed.

I’s been a couple years since I’ve talked to Danny but I wish him well and hope that he remembers this story (it may not have happened exactly the way I remember it) and that it isn’t deemed too inappropriate for the site but the other story I was considering involved a video clip of a German shepherd he found on the internet.

I had been growing my hair out for the past 4 months but this seemed like as good a reason as any to shave it again. The rest of the McCuskers send their best wishes to Danny and the family.

-Joe McCusker