When Greg Aikens woke up from a coma after a seven-story fall from a parking garage, he was understandably confused.

I slowly began to realize how severe the situation was, says Aikens, a 22-year-old student at the University of Michigan. I woke up eight days after the fall and it was very confusing. It was hard to tell whether the things happening around me were real or just in my head.

The accident, in October 2016, left Aikens unconscious with a frightening list of injuries: a shattered left elbow, open fractures in both tibias and fibulas in his legs, fractures in his left foot and right ankle, a severed pelvis injury, and damage to his chest, bladder and liver, among other injuries to his arteries, skin and head.

He was rushed to Michigan Medicine where he immediately went into the operating room for surgery to his intra-abdominal organs and blood vessels. He would need multiple surgeries to repair all of the damage followed by an extended stay in the Michigan Medicine Trauma Burn Center Intensive Care Unit.

It was a very complex case because of the number of injuries he had sustained and the severity of those injuries, says Jill Cherry-Bukowiec, M.D., an associate professor of surgery at Michigan Medicine and Aikens first surgeon.

The first few days of Aikens time spent at Michigan Medicine was what James Goulet, M.D., a professor of orthopaedic trauma surgery and the lead on Aikens orthopaedic procedures, called the limb- and life-saving phase.

After Cherry-Bukowiec and team performed an exploratory laparotomy, a surgery to open the abdomen and examine the abdominal organs, they were able to repair Aikens damaged gastrointestinal organs and created a temporary colostomy to be used while the organs were healing.

Next, Chandu Vemuri, M.D., an assistant professor of vascular surgery at Michigan Medicine, performed a vascular surgery in which he repaired the posterior tibial artery, the artery that carries blood down to the bottom of the leg and foot, in Aikens right calf.

That surgery was critical to saving Gregs right foot, Goulet says. Without the expertise of Dr. Vemuri and his team, we would have had to consider amputating Gregs foot.

Even though Aikens was in a coma and on a ventilator, he had experienced trauma to his head during the accident that required him to undergo intracranial pressure monitoring, a procedure where a probe is inserted through the skull to measure how much pressure is in the brain. If the pressure is too high, it can lead to serious brain and nervous system injury. Aikens results showed his brain pressure appeared fine.

Over the next few days, Aikens had multiple orthopaedic surgeries to fix the injuries in his back, legs, arm and foot.

Gregs pelvic injury was more complicated than a typical pelvic ring injury, Goulet says. The injury extended into his lower spine, which occurs almost exclusively in high-energy injuries. We used plates and screws to secure the pelvic fractures.

Goulet also says that Aikens nerve injuries were a serious concern.

The neurosurgical team coordinated with us to stabilize the spine adjacent to the pelvis and to decompress the nerve roots, he says. When you have an injury like Greg had in the lower back region, the team wont know at the time if he experienced central or peripheral nervous system injury. If he experienced a central nervous system injury, theres little chance of that being restored. Luckily, it was mainly peripheral nervous injury in his back, which meant much of his muscle function could be restored over time.

In addition to Goulet, Aikens orthopaedic surgery care team included James Carpenter, M.D., Aaron Perdue, M.D., Aidin Eslam Pour, M.D., Paul Talusan, M.D., and Jeffrey Lawton, M.D. He also had a skin graft performed by plastic surgeon Adeyiza Momoh, M.D.

Greg is the reason we do what we do, Goulet says. It speaks to how severe his injuries were that we needed to involve so many different physicians and specialties from across Michigan Medicine to make sure he received the best care possible. All of the care providers, not just physicians, are called to intervene at unscheduled and often late hours, and do this without hesitation for our patients.

Eight days after the accident and with many surgeries behind him, Aikens began to come out of his coma.

The doctors had warned us that he might not be the same when he woke up, says Linda Aikens, Gregs mother. But as soon as he opened his eyes, we knew it was still Greg. His humor started coming back over the next few days and thats when we really knew it was the same Greg.

Aikens also required so much blood over the course of his stay in the hospital that Linda makes it a goal to give blood as much as possible because she knows how much it can help those that need it.

Each surgery really brought success and life back to Greg, Linda says. The nursing care was unbelievable. And when Dr. Matthew Delano was slowly weaning him off of the ventilator and taking out staples, stitches, catheters and casts over the coming weeks, I still remember him saying to me that he wished all patients were as determined to heal as Greg.

Aikens adds, The one-on-one care from my physicians really made a difference for me in recovery.

In addition, the Aikens family found support in their community and from family friend, Kim Eagle, M.D., a cardiologist and a director of the Frankel Cardiovascular Center at Michigan Medicine.

The waiting room was constantly filled with students, friends and family sitting vigil with us through the grueling days of surgeries and the agony of the unknown, Linda says.

And she mentions support even came sometimes from where they least expected it.

My husband, Bruce, left defeated one night after a particularly brutal day and he said see you tomorrow to the valet attendant, Linda says. The attendant said that was a good thing because that meant Greg was still alive. Everyone made such an impression on us, down to the tiniest things.

After weeks in the hospital, Aikens was cleared to go home and start his recovery.

More here:
They Put Him Back Together Again - University of Michigan Health System News