Wednesday, October 16, 2002
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Wednesday, October 16, 2002 |
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Fayette chips in to help wreck victim pay medical bills; benefit concert is Oct. 19
By JOHN
MUNFORD
Barbara Holloway once thought Fayette County had lost its small-town close-knit way of looking out for each other. But after seeing people reach out to her son, Justin, as he recovers from a traumatic brain injury he sustained in an auto crash last December, Holloway has changed her mind. "We really appreciate the way this community has been because everybody has been super supportive of Jay," Holloway said. "I used to think Fayette County had gotten too big, but the people still care and it's a nice place to live." Several groups have held fund-raisers to help the Holloway family defray mounting hospital costs. The latest event, a concert at Liberty Baptist Church this Saturday, will feature bands Above the Cover and clay covered souls; admission is $5 and donations will be accepted at the door. Previously, the church's youth group has raised money for the cause with car washes while the Fayetteville Masonic lodge has held numerous chickenques to benefit the Holloways. JoAnn Ohmsieder of Peachtree City gave the Holloways a "great deal" on a specially-equipped van to accommodate Justin's wheelchair. And thanks to his classmates at Fayette County High School, Justin also has a therapeutic dog to keep him company on the long road to recovery. Although Justin has about four or five more surgeries in his future, he has come a long way, according to Mrs. Holloway. For starters, he came back home in May to live in his parents' care, and just getting him out of the hospital helped brighten up his attitude, Holloway said. "That's a million-dollar smile," Holloway said "He wakes up with that smile every morning." And after losing a lot of weight in the hospital, the former high school football lineman is starting to get his weight back, tipping the scales at 190 pounds. "Now, he eats everything," Holloway added, noting that Justin has put on 20 pounds since he got home. "The eating is the best thing that could have happened." Justin has to relearn how to speak, and he's tackling spelling and multiplication again. Those developments have amazed his doctors because it proves his brain is starting to make "connections" again, Mrs. Holloway said. "We've still got a long way to go," she said. "There are a lot of things we'll still have to teach him to do all over again. ... He has his good days and he has his bad days." Justin's next surgery will be on his legs, and afterwards he'll have a cast from his feet to his ankles for at least six weeks. The family is hopeful the cast will be off in time for the Christmas holidays. The family has plenty of unwrapped Christmas presents from last year when the holidays were spent at the hospital; the family Christmas dinner was at the one place nearby that was open: The Varsity. Doctors have told Mrs. Holloway the estimated recovery time from an injury of this type is two to five years. She is optimistic Justin will recover on the shorter end of that time frame. "I just keep thinking, God got us this far," she said.
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