9/4/20 - 9/10/20

Our precious daughter, Callahan Marsh, a junior at the University of Alabama, had a tragic fall that resulted in a severe head trauma and brain injury late Friday evening, September 4, 2020. She was taken to DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa; where she was met by an amazing team of doctors and staff.  She was taken into surgery early morning Saturday, September 5, to address immediate dangers and remove a blood clot.  We were notified shortly after the accident and flew in to be by her side. We will always be grateful for the staff and Doctors of DCH for their quick actions and wonderful care of Callahan that saved her life.  We are also so thankful for their kindness and understanding towards us so that we could all see Callahan when we arrived.  Our family was facing the toughest time imaginable, not sure of what tomorrow would bring, at the same time being so blessed by the love and support of our family and friend via texts, calls, and messages.  Thank you.  We were strengthened by all of your support and couldn’t be more grateful.

The next morning, Sunday, September 6, she had a CT scan which showed another blood clot and was taken back into surgery. Surgery went well. Callahan was heavily sedated and resting. Along with her roommates, many of Callahan’s friends, some parents and even two of Callahan’s nurses, we held a prayer vigil for healing.  We were overwhelmed by the stories of people praying across the country for Callahan, the stories of friendship, and the amount of people wanting to help in some way.  Callahan was stable and it was just a waiting game at that point.

Monday, September 7, Callahan had another CT scan which was good. She was stable and still heavily sedated but doing well. We continued to be overwhelmed by everyone’s love, support and prayers and so thankful.

Tuesday, September 8, more of the same. The doctors considered no change at this point to be a positive thing. They wanted to start reducing the sedation level and see how she responded. It was a balancing act to see what she could tolerate then increasing levels to give her rest.  More prayers.

Wednesday, September 9, Callahan had another CT scan that looked good; no bleeding or strokes. Then the neurosurgeon came in and said it was time to wake her up. He told us worst case would be no response, best case would be following a command like giving a thumbs up. Callahan responded somewhere in the middle; reacting to touch/pinch but not following commands. Right where he would expect her to be.  He said that she was doing well and would be able to transport to CT soon. We were all trying to process what that meant. Then a couple of hours later we were notified that she responded by wiggling her fingers and toes, holding up 2 fingers and nodding in response to a question!  Nothing short of a miracle considering where she was 3 days ago!  We were also being contacted by doctors in CT that they were orchestrating a plan to have Callahan transferred.  Within a couple of hours, we were finalizing Callahan’s transfer that evening. Jim, Kelly and Sheralyn and are beyond grateful and thankful for everyone’s love, prayers and support! The power of prayer and God is amazing!

Thursday, September 10, 2020. After a long night, we are all home and Callahan is in the ICU at Hartford Hospital.  We are so thankful for the care Callahan received in Tuscaloosa and will always be grateful that they saved her life. We are excited to be working with an amazing team of doctors here in Hartford for the long term. Please continue your prayers for Callahan’s healing. She has a long bumpy road ahead of her but we know she is a fighter and can with God’s will prevail. 

We will continue to update on posthope. Thank you again to everyone for your love and support.