Goodrich – Dan Burke, 25, started Jan. 23 perhaps as he started many other days? with a workout and a shower; however, what happened next turned an ordinary day into something inconceivable.
Burke’s wife, Melissa, painfully remembers what she would rather forget.
Four months pregnant, Melissa said she was still lying in bed.
‘Danny started complaining about having an unusually bad headache,? she said. ‘Then he got really hot, so he jumped into a cold shower. He started to tumble as he got out of the shower from being so dizzy. When he started to pass out, I knew this was more than a headache,? she said.
Melissa said she called 9-1-1 first, and then called her mother to watch her 3-year-old son, Tanner, so she could follow the ambulance to the hospital. When medics arrived at her home, they transported Danny to Genesys Regional Medical Center in Grand Blanc.
With Danny in and out of consciousness, doctors immediately ran an MRI. What they found would first stun, and then sicken, Danny’s entire family.
Doctors explained that an arteriovenous malformation had ruptured in Danny’s head. The condition, also known as AVM, is a defect of the circulatory system. The family learned that people with the condition are mostly unaware they have it.
Open brain surgery was done as soon as possible to conduct what doctors say was an immobilization. ‘They coiled and glued the leak,? said Melissa. ‘When Danny’s brain started to swell too much for his skull, they did a second emergency surgery to relieve the swelling, so they removed part of his skull. They had to, he was dying.?
Melissa said they removed most of the clot and part of the right side of his skull was removed, which will be put back into place during a third surgery yet to be scheduled.
Unable to see or speak clearly, Danny was also left with left side paralysis, which includes his arm and leg. Although Danny’s sight is starting to come back, he only has 20 percent vision in each eye.
Transported to Harper University Hospital in Detroit, Danny is now learning everything all over again at the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan (RIM).
Once Danny comes home, Melissa is hoping to get him back and forth to RIM for treatments. ‘They are supposed to be one of the top institutes in North America. So I know if he gets rehabilitation there, he will be getting the best,? she said. However, she said getting him back and forth during her pregnancy and with a young child seems daunting.
The insurance Danny is receiving through his job as a salesman at Bowman Chevrolet in Clarkston is covering medical expenses, but it is the loss of employment to pay for the mortgage, car loans and every day expenses that has Melissa, a stay-at-home mother, feeling overwhelmed.
Both Danny and his father, Brian, work at Bowman Chevrolet. ‘I taught Danny everything he knows about the car business,? said Brian. ‘This is going to take over a year of rehabilitation, and I will need to teach him everything all over again and we don’t know where his income is going to come from right now.?
Brian said he must get between ten and 15 phone calls a day asking how Danny is. ‘It’s amazing how many people have called,? he said. ‘Even though Danny sold customers a car a long time ago, they still remember who he is and want to know how he is doing. Sometimes they cry on the phone or come in to the dealership to talk to me.?
Melissa said there is only one thing that will make her feel OK again.
‘We are a very close family, so just having Danny back home and part of our family again will be the best healing I can get from all of this,? she said.
Close friends and neighbors, Rick and Ali Reickel have organized a benefit to raise money for Dan Burke and his family.