Colter Pollock is an amazing, energetic, brave boy who suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury that
occurred during a tragic fall from his 2nd story bedroom window. On July 7, 2014, after a weekend of
camping, the evening was supposed to be spent winding down, but became our worst nightmare.
Five year old Colter was in timeout in his bedroom. I was just about to walk upstairs to
talk to Colter about why he was in timeout and the unimaginable happen. I heard a loud fall that
sounded like an egg cracking. I immediately ran outside to see Colter lifeless, lips turning blue lying on
his back on the concrete patio. Next to Colter was the window screen.
Frantically, I called 911. I was in such panic that I almost what number to dial. When the
responder answered, I yelled our address and repeated it twice.While on the
phone with 911, I was shaking badly and I wasn’t sure while checking Colter’s wrist if he even had a
pulse. All I knew was that his lips was turning blue and he wasn’t moving. Just as I was hearing the
sirens, a neighbor came, who calmly and quickly performed CPR on Colter
and confirmed that he did have a faint pulse.
At the ER, we learned that he had traumatic damage to his skull with severe brain swelling along
with a bleed and fixed, non-reactive, dilated pupils. Miraculously, he did not break or damage anything
else. All I could think about was whether or not he would survive. It never even
crossed my mind that Colter
suffered a Severe Traumatic Brain Injury along with a secondary diagnosis of left frontal temporal lobe
contusion and a small subarachnoid hemorrhage.
After being life-flighted in a helicopter to Swedish Medical Center in Englewood, Colorado, I was told by
neurosurgeon, Dr. Kimball that Colter was a very sick boy and the chances of survival were slim. He
explained that Colter would need a left frontotemporoparietal hemicraniectomy for subdural hematoma
evacuation to relieve the swelling in his brain. The only glimpse of hope that he gave me was when
he said he had performed a craniotomy over 100 times and that he hasn’t lost anyone yet. Signing
consent papers that one of the outcomes was death left me both hopeless and ill.
Over the next 4 months, Colter’s journey became a list of unknowns. The questions were
never ending.
Colter spent 3 weeks at Swedish Medical Center then was transferred to the rehab unit of the Children’s
Hospital in Colorado. It was at Children’s Hospital where Colter began learning all life’s simple, basic
skills again. We basically witnessed all of his milestones twice. At times, it felt like he would never be
“normal” again. But, what I didn’t know then that I know now, is that not only is TBI an invisible,
uneducated injury, but that he would never 100% recover. We would all have a new normal.
Colter is purely God’s miracle. As he was in an induced coma, his neurosurgeon, Dr. Kimball said that
Colter’s life will be a marathon.We have hit a lot of bumps along the way, but he is progressing to "normal"
We continue to not only advocate window fall prevention, but raises awareness on brain injuries and preventable accidents. It is our hope that we can prevent these types of accidents to happen.