January 20th, 2011 by Conor

Keep em coming everyone. Send your photos to 603-496-6621 or donations@dannyisthebomb.com

January 20th, 2011 by Conor

Everyone is trying to make Danny a little more comfortable with his new dew. Check out our latest two additions Trevor Jacob and Mike Wade.

These dudes are the Bomb. Nice work guys!

January 19th, 2011 by Conor

SHRED 4 DANNY T.

Im pretty sure it was winter 08′-09′, or maybe 07’…Too many years in california will take its toll on your memory. Anyways, one of those winters was the first time i met up with Daniel son and his brother Conor.

So i had been down in mammoth shredding with a bunch of dudes from Burton, Anon, Analog, and some SoCal shop guys. I had just met Sisky who at the time was working for anon optics doing marketing out of Irvine. If you know Sisky you know he’s so stoked on life and guaranteed to put a smile on your face. We rode all weekend and chatted, i explained how mammoths ok, but tahoe’s wheres its at and that i lived there. He got more stoked because he was gonna be in Northlake Tahoe that week for some demos and he now had a guide, me. Sisky then kept bringing up over the weekend how i HAD to link up with this kid who just moved to Tahoe and kills it, i just HAD to link up with him he kept saying and saying. Being i just met Sisky and already could tell he wouldn’t set me up with some boring doosh i said i would make the effort to meet up and shred with this “kid”. Now for some reason i had it in my mind that i was gonna take some grom ripper for some park runs and show him a few things. I don’t think i’ve ever told Danny this, but before i met him and the plan to shred with him, was in my mind to be with some lil 10 year old hahahhaha….

So i was asked to meet back up with all the Burton dudes at Alpine Meadows in Tahoe for a demo and shred it up and stoke people out. The plan was to meet this “kid” Sisky had been ranting about. To my surprise this kid was an adult, slayed the park, had his own videographer(his bro),was super motivated, and to this day, Danny Toumarkine is one of my best friends. That very first day we meshed really well. I had just gotten the first generation of gopro’s and was amping on it, and Danny and his brother had a cam and were allllll about filming everything to start their new webisode venture, Shreddy Times. Perfect, you’re down to film, I’m down to film, lets do the damn thing. Since that first day we’ve filmed a bunchhhhh of viral online videos, have traveled together, done photo shoots together and have become really good friends. I love the “kid”.

The snowboard world is crazy, you know so many people and ride with tons of different people with different riding styles. Some people just kind of fade and you run into them time to time but you’re just not on the same page anymore. Danny’s all over the place, as am i, but i know that if i havent seen Danny for a while and were able to link up i can go lap the park at northstar, or call him up cause i have a feature we should go hit in the street and hes down. Were on the same page, mostly ,haha. I see so much laziness in the world, and im guilty for sure. People talk a lot about doing this and that blah blah blah, yea right sure you are homie. But Danny’s always stood out for the reason that he comes through with his shit, bottom line. He said he was going to the Cholula triple air a few years ago to win it, and he did. The effort he’s put into Shreddy Times has clearly paid off and blew up more than any of us expected. He started his own facemask company, Tubular…Thats what i’m talking about, Danny doesn’t just talk bullshit, he makes it happen….

Stoked on you homie, i dont think i need to say anything about how fucked what happened is. I just wanna say i’m lucky to have Danny as a friend and I know he will make it through this and come out stronger and more focused on his ventures once this dark time is finally over. Wish i wasn’t so broke and far away from you right now dawg, i wanna be there for you so bad. You’re always in my thoughts Danny, and everyone is sending their positive thoughts towards you, love ya dawg. SHRED 4 DANNY T.

-silver

I put this in because I think this is an awesome edit that Silver and Danny filmed on Danny’s birthday last year (May 7th) Although it ends kinda rough you can get an idea of how much fun they have riding together.

~Conor

January 19th, 2011 by Conor

D~C~T

I first met Danny at a wedding we both attended for Tim and Missy McClare – on lucky 7.7.07. The ceremony took place outside at the fields of Attitash; a beautiful mountainous setting. As my luck would have it I was fortunate enough to sit next to Danny.

While I didn’t know Danny that well in school (I’m slightly older) he ran in the same pack as my brother, Justin Umlah.

It’s bizarre that I can recall the smallest of details from that wedding – ranging from where I sat, who I sat next to, what he was wearing and how he presented himself; when oddly enough I can’t remember what I ate for dinner last night. No, really … .what did I eat for dinner last night? All that being said I would have to attribute my ability to recall to Danny and his contagious outgoing “glass is overflowing” personality; not to mention his style and swagger 🙂 At the risk of sounding like a crazy woman I would like to describe my first impression of Danny – a go getter from the Mount Washington Valley.

I located an empty seat at the ceremony and asked if it was taken (Danny was sitting next to the empty seat). Danny stood up and shook my hand – I remember he shook it like a gentleman – first realization that I was dealing with someone who had game 🙂 After a mini introduction I sat down next to Danny. I recall a very handsome man with brown curly hair – styled just so for the dance party to take place later. I remember his cuff links, which caught me by surprise – cuff links – as if my brother would wear those I thought….this kid has style! Danny wore his loafers with bare feet, perfectly pressed pants and dress shirt – weird that I can recall all of this – and the most noteworthy of all I remember his killer brown eyes. We carried on a delightful conversation in which he told me about his clothing company Fligi – he truly is a Fly Guy – and then we watched the ceremony.

While a brief encounter at best, Danny left an impression. I’ve been an active reader on www.dannyisthebomb.com and have learned how many lives DCT has touched. A true gentleman with unconditional grace.

As many of you know first hand, the Mount Washington Valley is an extraordinary place to grow up; the close knit community truly bonds together during times of happiness and heartache (not to mention everything in between). I’m thankful to this community and proud to say I know Danny because of it. I will continue to pray for his speedy recovery.

Danny, you have a whole community rooting for you…I read the updates on your site each morning and have learned that you have an entire empire cheering you on from near and afar. I’ve never used the word “shredder” (other than playing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with my brother) before learning of your accident and it’s now become second nature….GET SHREDDER DCT. As my brother would say, “you got this”

My Best,

Kristen U. Noyes

January 19th, 2011 by MIchelle

Not sure if we mentioned yesterday that Danny is no longer on the ventilator. He still has the tracheostomy in and the hole where the vent used to plug into is now where Danny breathes from. He had a few cough attacks yesterday which look horribly uncomfortable, but since I’ve been here today, he’s been doing well with it. He also got the voice plug put in today. Usually they only leave it in for a couple of hours or so, but Danny’s vitals are doing well enough that they can leave it in. If you haven’t figured it out already, this means that Danny can talk. David and our day nurse Kye got to hear it first hand. Conor and I haven’t heard it yet. I’m not one to pressure Danny into doing things that he doesn’t want to right now, but I would love to hear him speak. He mouthed words to me today, but didn’t make a peep. He seems very reserved right now. He’s hanging in there, bored with the questions, and over being strapped to a bed all the time. In physical therapy he is impressing everyone. He’s sitting up and balancing by himself. The doctor won’t let him stand up until the bone flap is put back in. That surgery might be on Monday. If you guys have any ideas as to how to entertain Danny while he’s hanging out in bed, let us know.

-Michelle

January 19th, 2011 by MIchelle

It’s 6:47 AM. I just got home from the night shift. Danny didn’t sleep much at all tonight. As many times as I asked him to try, he just didn’t seem comfortable or content enough to sleep. If it’s not the cuffs on his legs to prevent blood clots, it’s the spaghetti mess of IVs wrapped around his right arm. If it’s not the humidifier that makes a loud gurgling noise and attaches to his tracheostomy hole, it’s the catheter. There is so much going on, so many tubes and wires attached to him, and all of that is on top of not having a quarter of his skull in his head. Wild. I probably wouldn’t be sleeping either. Even if he does fall asleep there’s something to be done nearly every hour. Draw blood for labs, respiratory therapy, physical therapy, occupationally therapy, nuero exam, shift change. Phew, I need a break. I asked Danny if he was overwhelmed and he shook his head yes. There’s always something going on, even when he sleeps. This is all just progression though. It’s tough, but it’s necessary.

I’m off to sleep, I hope I don’t hear the ventilator in my dreams.

-Michelle

January 19th, 2011 by Conor

Things are getting complicated emotionally. All of the fun medical stuff that we have been dealing with for the last 15 days has now been replaced by unbelievable feelings of sadness and frustration. It’s easy to tell how bummed out Danny is. He constantly raises his arm and crashes it 3 or 4 times in a row about every two seconds before he turns his head to the side. He turns only to try to looks as far away from everything that is attached and in front of him. It all symbolizes the reality that he very much understands is going on.

We still haven’t explained any of the specifics to him of what happened and he doesn’t even fully know the extent of things. For example he doesn’t know there is an entire website in his name with a dedicated following, or that he has been in the ICU for 15 days. He does know that he was in a snowboarding accident and that he is still in Montana. He remembers bits of the day that he got hurt as well. He remembers our early riding session as well as one of the features that we hit in the terrain park. He even seems to remember the lift breaking down that Moss mentioned in his piece “For Reasons Unknown.” He doesn’t seem to know how exactly he got hurt. Ill fill him in when it’s appropriate.

Danny seems to be fully grasping thoughts, sentences, ideas, humor, sadness, pain, and many more sensations, emotions that I can’t all list. The only thing that we have yet to really get a read on is his ability to talk. From what I understand the nurses would be expecting him to talk by now if things were going as ideally as they possibly could be- I don’t see what that would start happening now. We wouldn’t be able to hear him yet because they haven’t put in the valve for the trache, but Danny should be mouthing words. I guess the speech therapist was able to get him to mouth the word “Hi” earlier today. We will see how this develops over the days and weeks to come.

Poor Danny, everytime he even sees liquid in the room he motions with the Hawaii hang 10 and turns it up like “lemme get that drink.” His mouth must be so dry and horrible feeling. So what do they do to quench his thirst here in the ICU. They dip a sponge that is about an inch long into a cup of ice water. Then he gets to put the sponge in his mouth and suck on it. I swear there must be like 30 drops of water in it. The funny thing is how quickly he becomes frustrated with the sponge and reaches out to try to grab the whole glass. The one thing simple request that he has they just can’t fulfill.

Interesting turn of events. I am listening to my music at full volume and writing in boxers. I am now in hotel room 303. It’s 4:00 AM and Danny kicked me out of room 5109. I am kinda bummed, but mostly happy. He is coming back! Here’s how it happened…So things were getting a little hectic in the room on more than one occasion. Both times stemmed from the water I was just talking about. The water is making him cough and very uncomfortable. It’s a total mess when he starts to cough really hard and the respiratory therapists have to get involved. The suctioning of his lungs that they have to do to get the water out makes him alert and very uncomfortable. He doesn’t like me seeing him that way- understandably so. When I got up from my chair to head towards him he signaled me away by raising his arm and pushing the air away from him. To me this said “Conor, don’t come over here you can’t help a damn thing, and it’s annoying that you want a closer look.” It’s amazing how much an arm can mean between two brothers.

So after the second one I got the impression that I might be kind of annoying him. So I asked him calmly if he would like me to leave. He nodded his head. So I packed up my stuff and headed out. At this point I really think he is understanding everything that is going on so despite his inability to talk I think he truly wanted me the hell out of there.”

Here’s the thing. I think that the request is two fold. 1) He doesn’t want to see him in that condition. 2) He wants more alone time with Michelle. She has done everything but hop on that bed with him. I think he really needs her right now and I think this particular time period might be a little better suited for her. Here’s how I justify it to myself… See, I have never, in the 25 years of my life, hung out with my brother in almost complete silence and stared at him from two feet away while I hold his hand for hours at a time. I imagine that this is at least somewhat more typical of their relationship and I don’t find it offensive at all because I would actually find it strange if he DID want me to do that.

There really isn’t much that can be said right now because Danny still can’t talk. When it comes time to watch snowboard movies and listen to music my being there might be a little more beneficial. Until then, he can cuddle bedside with Michelle all he wants. I really don’t think it’s necessary that I am there during that time.

It’s probably going to be hard for me to be in that room for long periods of time now. It was easier to that when he was all drugged up and not really there. I am happy that I have to deal with this new dilemma. This may or may not be the last graveyard shift. To be discussed later today.

Glad to have you kick me out! Welcome back!

~Conor

January 19th, 2011 by Conor

Very soon after word of Danny’s injury, Ian Stacey took a picture of himself at a barber shop with his head shaved. The idea was to make Danny comfortable with his new dew. Danny loves, I mean LOVED, his long hair. And now it’s shaved, just like back in high school. The other night I shaved my head and today a couple more came in (not that the two are related). So if you are up for it, need a new dew, your hippie tendencies are more on the hippy side now, go for it, give it a shave.

January 19th, 2011 by Conor

For Michelle’s 7th hat we are going to change it up a little bit. We are going to raffle off this hat and Danny will be choosing the winner. Here is what is going to go down. For the next 24 hours you can buy a raffle ticket for your chance to win one of Michelle’s hats. We will put all the names into a hat and then have Danny pick one tomorrow morning at 6:00 AM. You can enter as many times as you want. Each ticket that you purchase is another chance to win. We will video the drawing and post it tomorrow morning if it seems appropriate. If not we will take a bunch of photos. Thanks to Maura Garrity for inspiring this awesome ide

Here’s the 7th one. It’s Awesome.

$10.00 per ticKet