Words. Laurel Coffey

January 14th, 2011 by Conor

I’ve been following Danny’s progress daily via the website. It’s absolutely amazing how many people have come together to offer support and assistance to Danny and his family during this time. It truly is a testament to how many people Danny has touched throughout his lifetime.

I first met Danny in high school. We were in the same freshman class. I don’t recall our first interaction, but I remember shortly after we met we became good friends and remained good friends throughout high school. Danny was so friendly and funny and we hit it off right away. I remember calling Danny all the time on the phone and getting so nervous when Connor answered because he was a junior (and Danny’s older brother) and I was only a freshman. It wasn’t long before I realized that Connor was just as funny and kind as Danny and I quickly got over my anxiety.

One thing I remember about Danny was that he was always rockin’ out to good music. In high school Danny (and I think Tom) made these “Pimp Mixes.” They were home made CDs of the best songs and while I am sure he never intended on them becoming so popular – shortly after Pimp Mix Volume I came out everyone wanted to get their hands on a copy, myself included. Another memory of Danny that sticks out in my mind was senior year in Mr. Fayle’s English class. We had just spent the last couple of weeks drafting our college essay’s and Mr Fayle made the whole class stand up and one by one discuss the topic of their essay. I remember when it was Danny’s turn, he stood up and proudly told us how he chose to write his college admission essay on his brother Connor and how their relationship had impacted Danny in so many ways. Reading Danny’s essay brought me to tears and I will never forget reading it. I remember thinking how truly special their bond was and how I hoped that i could one day share the same bond with my little sister that Danny and Connor shared.

One of my funniest memories of Danny was Christmas 2004. We were in college at this point and home on Christmas break. Let me preface this story by explaining a few things – my dad’s birthday is Christmas Eve. Every year he has a party on his birthday with a big Christmas Eve dinner. When we were kids, Berkeley and Zac would come to my house for dinner. As we grew older, Berkeley and Zac began having their own party at their house which was two houses down from mine. Their parties were usually well attended and quite certainly a bit more exciting than my parents and their friends. My dad is a pretty traditional guy and so we always said grace before dinner…..

So there we were…Christmas Eve 2004, my parents, myself and 12 of my parents closest friends had just sat down to the dinner table. My dad was just about to say grace when we hear a loud noise at the door and the voices of 3 guys in hot pursuit of a raging party…all of a sudden Danny, Conor and Dave Soroka blow through my front door all with 30 packs in tow. They rounded the corner to see us all sitting at the dinner table, which took all of us by surprise. Immediately, Danny realized that they were in the wrong house and had actually intended on going to Berkeley and Zac’s, but because we lived so close, they must have been confused by all the cars outside which belonged to my parent’s friends. It was so funny and when he realized that they had crashed the wrong party, Danny instantly let out his signature laugh. It wasn’t long before we were all laughing in hysterics. My family still talks about that every year on Christmas Eve to this day and I will never forget it…especially the expression on Danny’s face.

When I heard about what happened to Danny I felt so terrible. I am currently working as an Occupational Therapist at Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii. I work very closely with patient’s who have sustained similar injuries to Danny. Some of these patient’s have sustained TBI’s as a result of the war and others have been from non combat related injuries and accidents like car accidents and motorcycle crashes. One of the best parts of my job is seeing these patient’s progress from following simple commands such as blinking or wiggling their toes to being able to sit at the edge of the bed without assistance. One of the largest predictors of progress throughout the rehabilitation process for patient’s with TBI is a strong support system. This is obviously not going to be a problem for Danny!!!! He has an amazing support system and sooo many people behind him that will make a tremendous impact on his recovery and rehabilitation.

Conor – you are a truly amazing brother. This can be a really hard time for family members and I am literally in awe at your strength and unwavering support for Danny and your family during this time. You amaze me!!!! I have worked alot with patients with TBI. Occupational therapists are usually key players when the patient’s medical status has stabalized. We play a key role in the patient’s rehabilitation and return to independence. While I am sure the nurses and doctors are keeping you pretty informed and the Occupational Therapist is not even in the picture yet, I just wanted to let you know that if you have any questions or want more information or research or help throughout the rehabilitation process, please don’t hesitate to ask. I am thinking of you and Danny and your family, especially Ellen Shea every day. I am sending you guys positive vibes and look forward to hearing great things about Danny’s recovery.

-Laurel Coffey 🙂

Shout Outs!

January 14th, 2011 by Conor

More Throwbacks!

January 14th, 2011 by Conor

I believe Sally Smith uploaded all these pics to Facebook. Someone correct me if I’m wrong.

Danny’s Journey Ahead

January 14th, 2011 by Conor

Hi – I read this and couldn’t wait to post it – made me think of Danny and his journey “underneath the snow”. We all want him to wake up – but this helps us realize that he’s preparing for his new life – there is growth where we cannot see it 🙂

From the book Journey to the Heart

Cherish the winter.
Cherish its quietness, the time of going within to rest and heal.
Cherish this time of preparation that must come before new life.
Cherish the hope that lies beneath the snow.

-Annie

Documents for Fundraising

January 14th, 2011 by Conor

If you want to approach business to gather items use this document:
Letter to Potential Businesses

If you want to see the notes from the fundraising meeting the other night check this document:
Notes from the Fundraising Meeting 1.12.2011

Here is a list of some of the ideas that were talked about at the meeting.
OUR FUNDRAISING IDEAS

Hoping to post audio from the meeting very soon.

Feel free to use the comments section of this page to discuss the fund raiser.

Danny in 8th Grade

January 13th, 2011 by Conor

~Ana Waitkun

Words. Zachary Quinn

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!

Words. Myles Spaulding

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

Megooon and McKenna

January 13th, 2011 by Conor

Words. Claudia Goguen

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

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