In the middle of 2005 Tim and his family decided to return home to Maine from North Carolina where they had been for 3 years.
They found a house out side of Belfast on Swan Lake. Tim had started a successful Automotive Consulting business in North Carolina and together he and his wife decided it was in the family’s best interest to move back to Maine because of the long travel schedule. This was supposed to be a year for achieving all of the family’s goals.
Corey was set to graduate and pursue music. Kasha was busy with getting acclimated in her new school making friends and starting sports.Hayley was set to run the business from home while Tim traveled.
Labor Day weekend the family was un-packing the rest of their boxes when Corey was invited to hang out in Waterville one last weekend before the “Bros” go back to school.
During the middle of the night Tim’s mother called to tell us Ryan was trying to get in touch with us because Corey had an accident. The 3 of us got ready and went to his parents to swap cars. During the ride we talked about the last time we had this call when Corey had caught his earring and needed 14 stitches. We had no idea what we were in for. As we got closer to Waterville we had a signal to call. We called Brad’s cell phone and he described how Corey fell 12 feet onto concrete on his head and was in a pool of blood while at Ryan’s house. He told me they would wait for us in Thayer’s parking lot. Once arriving we were met by Mike, Jesse, Brad, Ryan, Casey, Courtney, and Callie. The emergency room doctor, who had life flight on stand by and called in a surgical Neurologist offered to let us see Corey, but had explained what the situation was. I understood what he was talking about and refused to go in to see him at that point. Tim not knowing went in while they were breathing for Corey and he was swollen and blood stained. When Tim came out into the waiting room he had to be held up by Brad and Ryan. The grandparents and 2 uncles were all called and in route to the hospital. Soon after Dr. Posey came out and explained to us that Corey sustained a Basil and Temporal skull fracture with a hematoma and a few small cracks that ended up relieving the pressure so there was no need for surgery. Dr. Posey did say that Corey would be deaf in his right ear.
At that point he was going to be moved to CCU and we both went into see him now that he was breathing on his own, but heavily sedated.
Better understanding the whole situation we then discovered that Corey’s friends saved his life. We sent them all home because of school starting later in the day. Ryan wouldn’t leave until we got him into CCU. This whole process through CCU and into Seton Rehab Corey’s friends at different times came every day to see him. It didn’t matter if he was sleeping or sitting up talking. They all were a strong part of his recovery. His sister started 8th grade almost 2 weeks late. She would not leave until she knew he was going to be ok. His father stayed in CCU until Corey woke up and spoke. After that His mom stayed the rest of the time. The difficulties came after Corey was discharged. He was scheduled for speech and OT within a hospital and not the Integrated Rehab Center. The doctor that should have followed the whole thing to the end discharged Corey 3 weeks after being home. The primary doctor just kept prescribing random medications and then others that followed because of the side effects from what was prescribed already. There were so many hurdles to jump and no end in sight.
At the suggestion of Corey’s aunt we switched him to Dr. Calcott at Bucksport Family Medicine. She has been the saving grace for Corey and the whole family. To this day she is one of the only doctors that has done right by Corey.
During this past year Corey’s recovery has been based on the ability of our family’s resourcefulness and what we were able to get in place on our own.
This time was beyond stressful. The family needed something to relieve the stress in our life. This was the beginning of Komet Motor Sports. During the summer Tim was able to find a car that was within the budget and through the winter. Tim tore the car down to the bare chasse and began to rebuild it. This project became a family affair. Tim’s brother, brother in-law, sister in-law, father, and father in-law and sometimes even Corey worked on the car during the winter weekends.
Tim came to a decision, while working on the car one night to partner with the Brain Association. He put this idea into an email and in the process we have formed a partnership with the Brain Association. This is something that is close to our hearts, but to Tim it’s more. He is driven to bring awareness to the public on the effects of the brain injuries. Knowing the loyalty of the race fans, he brainstormed the fundraising events based around the racing community. This is something that will never leave Tim’s heart. His goal is to someday make brain Injury’s as well known as cancer in everyone’s mind.To learn more about Tim’s vision please visit www.kometmotorsports.net.20% of all winnings will go to the Brain Injury Association Of Maine.Also Komet Motorsports will hold various fundraisers throughout the year to benefit this Great cause.