January 16th, 2011 by Conor

Michelle made me laugh when I told her she had to keep knitting because sales were booming. With a smile on her face she confidently said with a smile: “If he can go through this, I can knit.”

Danny tossed a pillow out of his bed. He is frustrated, however, I have seen him do things like this at home when he is sleeping on the couch. It is a sign of good things to come.

He seems restless. He is going to want to do some serious physical activity after all this is over.

Bad Dreams… How about the worst dream that you ever had. Really, take a second and think of a memorable horrible dream. Now imagine that it’s real… That is unfortunately what I fear Danny is about to go through. My guess, and most people’s experiences suggest that he will not remember the incident that led him to this state. So, imagine you are asleep and you wake up in a room you have never been to. There is an eerie sound of someone breathing a little too loud. People are hovering over you and trying to communicate with you. They want you to give them a thumbs up. You don’t want to do it because things are not all good. You do it anyway because you desperately want them to shut up, the sound of their voice is painful to your swollen brain. You try to ask what happened but something is blocking your ability to speak. You can feel an uncomfortable tube penetrating an area of your neck that you would otherwise not want anyone touching. A single tear slowly forms out of the corner of your eye because you are scared, very, very, scared. You know something is wrong but you don’t know what. You begin to try to wipe the corner of your eye with your hand but restraints make it impossible. The sedatives kick in and you slip away into a deep sleep while the single tear slides down your cheek… Now imagine doing that every 4-6 hours.

I just ate Brocoli alfredo at 5:40 AM. That is a first. It was absolutely delicious but wow life is getting pretty strange. On the same note I now wake up, on average, with 1 hour left of daylight. It’s pretty weird because I really love the outdoors and I don’t really get much of that either right now. I guess it will all be that much better when I get back out there.

Another night down. Love you Danny… Can’t wait to give you an EPIC hug after all this!

~Conor

January 16th, 2011 by Conor

Tyler and Paul are two of the late night regulars here in the ICU. They are awesome at their jobs but frustrated with the extended title they have acquired – The so called “Male Nurse.” Why is it that they are called male nurses? Why not just nurse? You wouldn’t say “Male Lawyer” or “Male Mechanic.”

Yes, they are males. Yes, they are nurses. And Yes, they are cool and very good at what they do. In fact these guys really guys hold it down here on the graveyard shift at the ICU. They deserve to be called nurses without any qualification.

Just to make sure you know how cool these dudes are we took a little family photo here in the ICU. That’s Paul on the left and Tyler on the right. Xgames was nice enough to send this gear to Danny so we thought we would do something fun with it.

[polldaddy poll=4396594]

January 16th, 2011 by Conor

I wanted to take a minute and thank everyone out there that has helped us out in one way or another. There are a LOT of you out there, and it really is hard to do it any justice with a simple blog post on the website. I hope to one day repay each and every one of you somehow or another even though I’m sure that wasn’t necessarily your plan by helping us.

The offers of time, resources, talents, goods and services, and words of love have been nothing short of amazing. There are a lot of wonderful people that surround us, and it’s hard to imagine this process without them. I want people out there to know that the nursing staff does not see this kind of thing all the time- at least from what I hear. There are people in other rooms that don’t even get visitors. Often times the visitors they have have very limited support systems. I know that because I have talked to a fair amount of them. We are very fortunate to have such generous and loving people in our lives. Even though we are not physically near any of our support systems the love that has come in for Danny and our family has been nothing short of remarkable. We LOVE YOU ALL!

My only hope (and I have mentioned this before) is that everyone can be as supportive (if not more so) when Danny begins to understand what has happened. For us, this is the hard part. We see simple human progress as monumental growth. And given what happened, it is. Danny moving his legs is a big deal for all of us. I am not looking to take anything away from those moments, but I do want to keep one thing in perspective; we are all going to be elated at some moment of progress when we feel satisfied that we can move on mentally from this event. Chances are the moment that we all feel relief is when this event is going to be just starting for Danny. Remember the pain that this moment caused you when you first heard that it happened. That is what Danny will feel. Make sure that you help him get back on his feet with love and support. He is going to need each and every one of us to be there for him. That is when his journey is going to begin. That is when Danny is going to need your love and support.

Thank you all for being there so far. There is a long road ahead and Danny is going to need you.

January 16th, 2011 by Conor

The shout outs keep coming in!

Make sure to send your thoughts, images, etc. to 603-496-6621 or donations@dannyisthebomb.com. My guess is that Danny might be able to see some of these images in the next week or two and my hope is that there will be an overwhelming amount of them to cheer him up. Danny is gonna be bummed out with what happened (If he can processes disappointment), and my hope is that we can all come together with what we have done and cheer him up.

Also, if you have time make sure you send a shot of you rocking your gear when it shows up. That would be pretty awesome. Even if you just put it on the Facebook page I can take it off there and put it on the site.

Keep the material coming everyone!

January 16th, 2011 by Conor

Danny is normally a pretty chill guy. Today, however, his behavior was far from chill. He’s tapping his hand up and down, moving his feet off his bed, and yawning an awful lot. He’s keeping the staff busy by repositioning himself in the bed and keeps us entertained with the new progress. I was talking to him earlier and he lifted his hand up on my shoulder. I kept talking and he started to rub/scratch my shoulder. I told him thank you for the shoulder rub and he clumsily let go and dropped his hand to his side with some of my hair in it. Ellen also got a head scratch. His eyes open more regularly and blink and he had a few tear drops which he was able to wipe off himself. Danny is movin’! The doctor said that this is regular. There is a possibility that he’ll be agitated for a while, but it’s totally normal behavior. He’s brought a lot of smiles to his room today and some good laughs with the shoulder rubs and head scratches. Keep it up Danny!!

-Michelle

January 15th, 2011 by Conor

Conor,
This picture is very special to us right now. Danny came to see Braeden the week we brought him home from the hospital. It meant a lot to us. Hope you enjoy.
Btw, we are praying. Hard. And I know God hears us, and that He is faithful. Hang in there, we are expecting good news.
Lots of Love,
Renae C.

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.”