January 13th, 2011 by Conor

It took me this long to build up the strength and courage to write. I was one of the first visitors to this site. I read the first thoughts and stories. I couldn’t make it through a sentence without crying. Danny is different than any friend I have ever had. We would laugh for days together given the chance but Danny was always str8 with me… he would tell me when I was being a dick or ask me “Zac really???? do you even believe what you just said?” he kept me true even when I didn’t want to be. Everyone remembers times they shared with Danny.. I could spend the next 24 hours telling u about times with Danny but for right now I’m keeping them to myself.. those moments, days, weeks, times….. those are ours right now and i kinda like that…

When this whole fund raising thing started I was a lil hesitant I didn’t want to commit to something I couldn’t follow through on, HA! now i find myself doing work! and I absolutely love it! i think to myself constantly…. what would Danny do? ( so gay to say that i know) but it really helps and bottom line is Danny would go to the end of the world for me and back… he really would. I want to be there by his bedside with the fam… I want to meet you Michelle! you sound like the girl version of Danny.. I wanted so much to be there with you and to see my buddy… but i know that he would approve and tell me I need to stay here and do what I’m doing.. this is my purpose right now.. this is god’s plan right now… I’m doing exactly what i should be.. Danny I want you to know how much I love you and how constant u are in my head… my thoughts and prayers are with you and your family… I want to tell you that today I shredded some gnarley pow pow! I was with you today man… I really was.. I laughed and hollered like we used to… I put my “sex” mix on haha u tooled on me for that thing… brotha it was like you were in my ear callin me out all over again! today was a good day my friend… and I know there are good days to come.. I just read ur brothers posts… again signs of ur strength! again proof that ur as strong as they come.

I’m waiting for you man.. I’m going to be here until ur making funny of me so much that i want to leave haha! I love you and your fam more than you kno… we’re goin to make things happen over here! i know you’ll do ur part and make things happen over there.. till i see you again deaner! I love you and will be here on your side always! ahhhhhhhh brahhhh!

January 13th, 2011 by Conor

I met Danny T. in high school when I was a sophomore, Danny was in 7th grade. If there was one thing I had to use to remind me of Danny it is his laugh. Ever since Ive known Danny his laugh hasn’t changed the slightest, amazing because I still feel like my laugh changes on a daily basis. We became best friends through my high school years, and this is my first memory of him.

It was a long ass time ago, but I’m sitting in my art class preparing to start my work. This small fry 7th grader walks into the classroom and takes a seat by the instructor all the way across the room from me. I thought it was a little off because we were deep into the semester and I hadn’t seen him before. I thought little of it after that and resumed my work. Its relatively quiet in this class, but all of a sudden I hear this ridiculous laughing sound. It sounded like some sort of rain forest bird or monkey mating call or something and whatever it was it startled me in my deep concentration, enough to cause me to break my pencil tip off while drawing. I looked up and it was that little 7th grader laughing out loud to HIMSELF alone in the corner by the instructors desk lol, looking at his own masterpiece he had been working on. I still to this day don’t remember why or how he became a part of our class as a jr. high pipsqueak, but from that moment on after I had gone over to introduce myself and trade thoughts on our artwork we were inseparable.

Danny has always been a crazy cat, whether it be shredding it up on Cranmore as kids, or jumping off bridges during cabrew trips in the summer months, he has always been the star of the show, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. Below I have shared some photos from a summer day at the rope swing at Crystal lake in Eaton, where my sister Ashley, Danny and I used to go all the time to cool off and challenge each others high flying acrobatic abilities. There is one in particular that gave me the idea to post these pics, because the Danny I know is the smart alec clown that will do anything to get a laugh out of the people he is with. I’m sure you will have no trouble figuring out which photo I am talking about haha. Sorry if the photo quality is poor ( it doent look too bad), but it is from probably 10 or 11 years ago ( Ellen 🙂 ), and the camera is a disposable underwater guy. Enjoy and godbless everyone for their contributions to this wonderful family that I had the privilege of surrounding myself with for many years.

-Miles

January 13th, 2011 by Conor

January 13th, 2011 by Conor

My name is Claudia and my husband and I met Danny over the summer for a very brief moment. When I mean brief, I mean two minutes max. He seemed nice and we have been involved with Shreddy Times. As soon as I heard what happened I have been checking for updates multiple times a day. Dannyisthebomb.com is perpetually on my computer screen. The second day the web site was up my daughter came and sat on my lap to see what I was doing. I was reading through the text and had refreshed the page to see if anything new was added while I was reading. This action made the screen reset and the header was in view. My daughter, Julianne, looked at the picture and stared. After a second or two her eyed widened and she said, “Ohhhh Mama, who is that?” I simply told her, “Danny.” As my suspicions we right there was an update while I read. I immediately started reading the new entry. Upon coming to the end of the page I scrolled down. This action provoked a profound and violent action in my usually well-mannered two-year-old. It didn’t take me long to figure out she wanted Danny’s picture back on the screen. After scrolling back up, Julianne calmed down and intently stared at the face that smiled back at her. Just when I was about to lose patience (I wanted to finish reading) she put her had up on the screen gently rubbing his cheek with her tiny hand and said, “That’s Danny. He’s so cute, he has a star on his nose.” She continued to stare and talk to him as if he was in the room. This conversation continued for a short time and I couldn’t help but wonder what she was talking to him about. Although she speaks very well for her age and I can understand 99% of what she says, when she isn’t talking to you specifically she says things very quietly, very fast and sometimes through giggles. All I know is at the end she sat back in my lap with a smile on her face and looked at him intently with her head tilted to the left. I had to leave his picture up all day.

I am not sure if she was just smitten with his picture or she knows more than she is saying. I have always heard that children of a young age are more perceptive to things and can feel what others are giving off. I didn’t tell her that he was hurt or in the hospital. But she could have been perceptive to my feelings as I read through the posts. Either way it was very touching and I thought when Danny wakes up he would want to know he is blowing the ladies away!

Claudia
North Carolina

January 13th, 2011 by Conor

~Jess Richitelli

January 13th, 2011 by Conor

This came in anonymously.

January 13th, 2011 by Conor

First Day

I arrived today in Great Falls, MT around 1p local. Conor and David met me at the airport with a couple of long over due hugs and we came right to the hospital. There was some brief catching up on the ride over and I was cautiously warned of Danny’s condition. Upon entering the room I had no idea what to expect. To my surprise I saw Ellen sitting in a dimly lit room reading a book to Danny. As great as it was to see her for the first time in 4 years, my attention was immediately drawn to our friend. Initially I thought he looked better than the image I had dreamt up in my head during the 6 hour flight over, but the closer I got to Danny the more I felt overwhelmed with the reality of his condition. I stood there for a moment and was wanting to begin an inspection of all the tubes, the machines, the incisions, etc. when a nurse poked her head in the door and said “the tummy taxi is here”. Immediately Conor ran out of the room and I was left standing there with Ellen. I had only been in the room for 5 minutes so I had NO idea what the “tummy taxi” was. All I could I think is that it was some kind of code for Danny needs to take a shit. After sharing this thought with Ellen we both had a good laugh and she informed me that the tummy taxi was the local food delivery service. In other words lunch was here. The remainder of the afternoon we all sat in the waiting area and talked about old times, good times, and the time that had passed since we had all last seen each other.

At 5p we all gathered around a laptop in the lobby and joined in to a fundraising meeting with a large group of friends back in North Conway. Thanks to Joe from Hula networks, he was able to connect 25 of Danny’s friends through a webinar in order to collaborate on ideas to help raise money for Danny and his cause. It is incredible to see the amount of support, especially those big hearts back in the valley!

I can’t tell if we are frozen in time or if it is actually just flying by. I have been awake for 24 hours now and I am losing any sense of time. We are back in the ICU with Danny, and I have entered in to a whole new world. It’s mostly quiet in the room with the exception of the respirator. It’s an eery sound. The machine looks to be breathing for him but the doctors assure us that he is able to breath on his own. I stood bedside to examine everything going on. He has tubes plugged in all over his body. His eyes are shut and his mouth is open. I’ve seen this look on his face before but It was at a party I hosted for him. He had a couple too many beers and passed out. I want to be able to shake him like I did that night to wake him up, but the paralytics and sedatives are too strong this time. This is a pretty helpless feeling that we all share.

The doctor just came in to conduct a neurological test. This is the most excitement we have all seen for a couple of hours. As they temporarily weened Danny off the paralytics you could see his eye lids begin to open. The doctor was loud and spoke right into Danny’s face asking him to make a fist…passed, give a thumbs up….passed, give a thumbs up on your left hand…no response, wiggle your toes…passed, squeeze my hand…passed, thumbs up again…passed. At this point Danny had almost opened his eyes all the way. We all started to talk to him hoping for some kind of sign that he could recognize us, but we only got a blank stare. The doctor used his hands to open Danny’s eye lids all the way and loudly asked him to look over at him multiple times…each time just a blank stare. Conor, Michelle, and I took turns and held his hand. Each time we asked he would squeeze our hand. He might not be able to see us but it’s exciting to know that he can hear us and has the ability to control his hands.

I’m now going on 27 hours without sleeping and we still have another 3+ hours to go on the graveyard shift. I never expected to be awake this long, but we are doing it for Danny. I think we are all passed any reasonable level of sanity and we have been entertaining ourselves with endless Chuck Norris jokes. The doctor said he wants to do another neurological test soon. I hope I can stay awake long enough to see if anymore progress has been made since earlier.

This is all I have to offer up for this long day. It’s hard to see him in this condition but I’m very fortunate that I was able to make it out here. I know everyone would love to be able to be next to him during this time. I can only hope that this entry will give all of you some idea of what it would be like if you were.

We love you Danny and we are right here with you!

~Josh Belcher

January 13th, 2011 by Conor

The thought of organizing a whole fundraiser might seem a little over your head. Maybe you don’t live in NH where the meeting took place, but still want to raise money to help Danny through this. One simple idea is to make donation jars, like the ones pictured below, and display them at local businesses (ski shops, coffee shops, etc.).

Make them fun and crafty. Get as creative as you want. Print out and tape the following onto your jar:

On January 3rd of 2011, Danny Toumarkine suffered from a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) while snowboarding at Teton Pass. He is currently in the ICU at the Benefis Hospital in Great Falls, MT. Danny has had two craniotomy surgeries and is in stable condition. Though heavily sedated, Danny shows signs that he will eventually recuperate from this injury, but it will be a long road to recovery.

Conor, Danny’s brother, has created a website in his name (www.dannyisthebomb.com). This website aims to raise awareness of TBI along with supporting Danny’s family and himself through this indispensable moment in their lives. Danny and his family would be grateful for any donation you could contribute to aid in the financial assistance that is essential to Danny’s recovery and current medical care.

If you would like to contribute further or in a different way please visit www.dannyisthebomb.com.

Thank you for your contribution!

---

Feel free to take a picture from the site and tape it to your jar as well

Make as many as you want and collect the money once a month (or if your jar looks like these maybe try for once a week!). “Don’t talk about it, be about it.” Good luck!!

Make Check Payable to:
Danny Toumarkine Assistance Trust

Mail to:
Danny Toumarkine
℅ Jack Deislinger CPA
404 Main Street
Wilmington, MA 01887

January 13th, 2011 by Conor

The good thing about something this bad is the connections that are reformed. It’s been a year since I have seen my good friend Josh Belcher and probably many more than that since Danny has seen him. Danny and I grew up with Josh. The three of us snowboarded, played lacrosse, went on ski trips, and hung out for I have no idea how many hours.

Josh flew in earlier today from Knoxville, TN and is now apart of the graveyard shift with Michelle and I.

It’s hard to reconnect under these circumstances but we are doing our best.

I know I will look back on this whole hell in a month or two or three and and remember the outbreak of laughter that errupted in 5109 just a little while ago. I don’t really know how it got started but sure enough, Chuck Norris again. Here we are going through site after site looking for laughter–the way Danny would want it to be. Our bond was formed and sealed through our drug of choice… laughter. Not 8 or 10 feet away from Danny, Josh and I nearly lost our breath while imagining the all mighty Chuck Norris. Danny’s ICP spiked a bit on our loudest outbreak. I’d like to think that Danny was laughing with us. Yea, I know, chances are it was more out of the irritation of our sound or the constant cycle of his ICP, but either way, it was a much needed moment.

It’s great to be hanging out with Josh again and I am looking forward to the time when the three of us can all laugh together.

Here are some of our best finds:

Chuck Norris is the only one who can tear a Facebook page.

Chuck Norris always knows the EXACT location of Carmen SanDiego!

They once made a Chuck Norris toilet paper, but it wouldn’t take shit from anybody.

Chuck Norris does not wear a condom. Because there is no such thing as protection from Chuck Norris.

Chuck Norris has already been to Mars; that’s why there are no signs of life there.

Chuck Norris doesn’t read books, he just stares them down until he gets the information he wants out of them.

Chuck Norris knows Victoria’s secret.

Chuck Norris can kill two stones with one bird.

Jello Doesn’t jiggle, it shakes out of fear for Chuck Norris.

Chuck Norris doesn’t throw up after a long night of partying… he throws down!

Big thank you goes out to Ian Stacey for inspiring this search from halfway around the world.

~Conor

January 13th, 2011 by Conor

From what I hear the fund raising meeting went really well tonight. I say it that way because I was lucky enough to actually get to listen in to the meeting thanks to some handiwork done by my friend Joe at Hula Networks. Despite the wild weather a dedicated group gathered together at the Red Jacket in North Conway, New Hampshire, to discuss some potential ideas.

Tom Januzzi took charge and ran the group through ideas ranging from wine tasting to a big air competition. The diversity in the ideas was wonderful and the mood in the room was upbeat- all things considered. I don’t want to get into the details too much because we should have notes as well as an audio clip posted later on today. All I can say is that there are some awesome fund raising ideas in the works.

If you didn’t get to attend the meeting, and you won’t be able to attend the fund raisers you can still help. I am willing to bet that almost everyone reading this blog has a Facebook account. Here is what you can do: Spend 15 to 30 minutes spreading the link of this blog to as many people as you possibly can. Whether they are businesses or friends it doesn’t matter. Help spread Danny’s story. I want the whole world to have his back when he wakes up from this mess.

If facebook spamming isn’t your thing, understandable. There are a million ways you can help raise money for Danny. Check out these steezy Dannyesque donation jars complete with zebra print- the way he would want it.

The Danny is the Bomb fundraising team is ready for any idea that you have. Please send all ideas, thoughts, concerns, etc. to fundraising@dannyisthebomb.com

~Photos emailed to me by Tom, I have no idea who took them

~ Words by Conor