Man with Severe Traumatic Brain Injury Lives to Tell the Tale

John Kaczmarczyk’s wife, Noelle, and their son, Dylan, were at home when they heard a thud. They went to investigate the sound and found the alarming cause. John, 58, was unconscious on the floor at the bottom of a flight of stairs with shattered glass around him.

Rapid response

Noelle and Dylan quickly assessed the situation. They suspected John fell backwards while walking up the stairs to take out the recycling. He was breathing and they did not see blood at first. Noelle stayed with John and Dylan called 911.

Everything that happened next felt like rapid fire to Noelle. Emergency medical services quickly arrived at their home and transported John to the Norwalk Hospital Bauer Emergency Care Center, where the trauma team examined him immediately.

The trauma team suspected John had a serious neurological injury and would need surgery. John was still unconscious, his head was indented and bleeding, and most concerning, he had a blown pupil, which indicated that his brain was being squished and death was imminent.

The trauma team alerted neurosurgeon Dr. Scott Sanderson, gave John medicine to control brain swelling, took a CT scan of his head, and proactively prepped the operating room (OR) for surgery.