Alpine Meadows Skier, Brennan Dekeersgieter

The following words by Sean Hartel

“At approximately 2:15pm on Thursday, April 1st, Brennan Dekeersgieter suffered a severe head injury at Alpine Meadows. While riding with a group of friends, Brennan hit a small cliff drop and caught an edge on take-off. The back right side of his head took the brunt of the fall and suffered severe brain trauma. He was life-flighted to Reno Renown Hospital and arrived at 3:00pm, thanks to the quick and effective efforts of friends, ski patrol, paramedics, and unknown skiers/riders who jumped in to help.

That night he suffered serious swelling, pressure, and bleeding in the brain. They decided to put him in an induced Pentobarb Coma to help control this. The following morning they performed a craniotomy with a bone flap to relieve the pressure and stop the bleeding, which went smoothly. Since then he has been absolutely kicking butt.
They began taking him out of the Pentobarb coma the next day, which can take up to a week to leave the system. They are continuing to keep him fully sedated and on a paralytic while they slowly wheen him off the drugs over the next few days/weeks until he regains consciousness.
He had several spikes in pressure and swelling in the first few days, but seems to be more stable in that effect lately. The neurosurgeon gave us some words of confidence this morning when he said that Brennan is probably over the hump with the life threatening swelling and pressure issues.
Now he’s dealing with the other complications that come with an injury like this…

So now half way through day 6… It’s a roller coaster ride, but Brennan is hangin in there and getting better every day.
They were going to do a tracheotomy on Brennan yesterday, and then pushed it to today, but now they decided to wait until tomorrow. They do this for two reasons. One is to help prevent infection in the lungs/throat/mouth and the other is to make it less irritating when he gains consciousness. It eliminates the need for so much stuff going into his mouth, that way when he starts to regain consciousness he can breathe easier without so much uncomfortable junk in the way. They didn’t do it today because he’s been a little too sensitive today and he’s coming off a rough night. Last night Brennan battled some respiratory issues and a small fever. Basically, after sitting here for 6 days his lungs get tired and stiff. This means it is more difficult for them to absorb oxygen. So to assist him they’ve been giving him nitric-oxide, which is a smaller molecule that is easier for his lungs to absorb. It’s seems to have worked though, because he is now back to a calmer state getting 100% oxygen absorption.
The good news is that through all of this, the numbers concerning his brain stayed really good. The swelling and pressure in his head stayed down, which was the most life threatening concern for the first few days. Also, they tested the cultures taken from him and no infections have showed up yet. They’ll check them again tomorrow.
So that swelling and pressure was the real scary stuff, now we just have to get over all these little bumps in the road. As the Trauma Doctor put it, “these things happen. they are part of getting better.”
So after 2 fevers, 2 bronchoscopes, and a respiratory deficiency(ARDS), Brennan is still strong as an ox. Every one of the complications that have come up so far, Brennan has beaten back down. He is one strong dude.

So keep praying and keeping that positive energy coming this way. It’s helping and he needs it. THANKS!”

Continue to follow Brennan’s progression through this website updates