It’s easy to build artificially inflated perceptions of our problems, which sometimes give us an overwhelming feeling of hopelessness. During those times, we could all stand to ponder Donnie’s story, one that truly involved life-altering circumstances and life-changing challenges.
He survived a traumatic incident, but doesn’t want to deliver lectures about drunk driving — the LSU junior would rather inspire people to fight back against obstacles in their way.
Donnie and his buddy, Jay, partied together on March 6, 2002. Both were intoxicated, and as Jay was driving home, their vehicle reached speeds upwards of 100 miles per hour and crashed at the corner of Nicholson and Gardere.
Donnie’s laundry list of injuries included a broken jaw, broken ankle, broken femur and several cracked ribs. Even more serious were his internal injuires: collapsed lungs and brain hemorrhages, the latter of which caused him to slip into a coma. Jay received minor injuries but did not require hospitalization.
Donnie was near-death and unconscious for 11 days. On St. Patrick’s Day, he woke for the first time, but still faced serious health problems. Once Donnie awoke, his time in the hospital was marked by periods of delirium and disorientation, during which he struggled to regain a grasp on reality after prolonged unconsciousness. “I remember seeing what I thought was going on around me — people talking and doing different things — but I found out sometimes that wasn’t going on at all,” he said.
Donnie’s left frontal lobe, the area of the brain controlling personality, had been damaged. Doctors initially speculated he could be childlike for the rest of his life and potentially would have problems learning to walk again. They also told him he would not be able to return to school for a fairly long period of time, perhaps ever.
As he recovered, Donnie was able to interact more with those around him. “My first vivid memory was like 15 of my friends coming by to see me,” he said. “We all went outside, somebody brought a Frisbee. We all just hung out while I was in a wheelchair.”
Less than a month after the accident, Donnie had recovered enough to move to a hospital in New Orleans, closer to his family. Only two weeks later, he returned home.
Determined by his doctor’s grim predictions, Donnie immediately began rehabilitating his damaged legs and finished a two-month rehabilitation program in only two weeks. His personality and cognitive skills remained intact, and he enrolled at the University of New Orleans in fall 2002 to continue his pursuit of a business degree. He finished the semester with a 3.5 GPA, his highest since he entered college, and a far cry from his pre-accident academic performance, which was marked by “sleeping all day and then I’d wake up and party. Even classes at 12:30 I missed.”
The guy who was told by doctors that he may never return to school re-enrolled at LSU this semester. He expects to finish the semester with another 3.5.
The lessons of Donnie’s story are almost agonizingly simplistic, but inspiring nonetheless. His words and story contain universal truths we all would be better off heeding.
“Doctors told me I wouldn’t be able to go back to school, wouldn’t have the same personality, wouldn’t walk. It’s inspiring to know I could go back now and let them know they were wrong.”
“I was given another chance, and I’m taking full advantage of it.”