Submitted by son, Gerard.
On May 10, 2013, our father was out on his early morning bike ride. At the age of 71, he wasn’t your run-of-the-mill retiree. Logging 100+ mile weeks all over the back roads of Bucks County, PA was how he relaxed. His energy seemed limitless. However all of this almost came to an end when he literally and figuratively hit a bump in the road while on a solo bike ride. He suffered a traumatic brain injury as a result of the fall and was airlifted to St. Luke’s Hospital in Bethlehem, Pa.
The man that couldn’t sit still was now incapacitated, laying in a hospital bed, hooked up to numerous machines, fighting for his life. He had fractured his skull, pierced a lung, broken multiple ribs and had countless bruises and contusions. The idea that his personality might be permanently altered due to this injury, if he survived, was just another blow.
We watched helplessly as our dad battled pneumonia, a high fever and struggled to breathe. Laying in front of us was not the strong, witty guy we knew, but rather a vulnerable older man struggling for life. His prognosis looked bleak. We all began to wonder what we were going to be left with. The doctors warned nothing would come to light until he woke up from his coma. So we waited.
After eleven long days, he awoke from the coma, confused and tired. Armed with his wheelchair and his Hank Williams music, the long arduous process of recovering and healing began. The doctors managed our expectations, explaining that we should expect 18 months of intensive physical and psychological therapy.
As the days and weeks went on, that prediction shrunk. The term “miracle” was thrown around a lot, as our dad continued to regain what he had lost at an unexpectedly fast pace. He learned to walk again, dress himself, feed himself. He began talking about getting on the road again, yearning to run. After only 51 days, our dad was able to walk out of Kessler Rehabilitation Center and go home. A few months after that, he was able to get his driver’s license again. He not only survived his accident, he triumphed.
As a 71-year old man, you would think that suffering such a traumatic injury would have slowed him down, that it might have made him hang up his running shoes and log a few more hours on the couch. This is not the way Gene Birmingham is wired.
When our dad heard about the St. Luke’s Half Marathon, he felt it was the perfect way to pay tribute to the hospital that saved his life. The rest of us are running with him to say thanks as well. Thanks for saving our dad, thanks for saving our kids’ grandfather (11 in total) and allowing them to continue to know him as an incredibly strong, funny and special man.
That fateful day back in May could have gone either way. But due to the incredible care he received he’s still here and back on the road – which is exactly where he should be.