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Brandon is extremely active in his church
in Sandy, Oregon. He is a worship leader, V.B.S. leader,
and writer/director/performer for two notable plays
premiered at the church. Recently he and Natanya Swanson
began “Open Door Ministries,” which is an outreach to the
poor and lonely in the community, serving dinner every
Friday night. Brandon truly has a heart for spreading God’s
love.
On July 3rd,
2007 after a fun day of hiking in the gorge with Natanya and
her parents, Brandon was critically injured when the car he
was in was rear-ended by a delivery truck. The driver was
driving while high on meth. He is in jail for the next 5
years. Brandon was life-flighted to the hospital where the doctors agreed
that he probably would not survive.
When Brandon’s family and friends
arrived at the hospital, they learned that he had a subdural
hematoma (an injury on his brain that was causing
bleeding). As a result, his brain was swelling down into
his spinal column, injuring his brain stem, a very serious
injury. The doctors said that he would not survive. Friends
and family filled the waiting room. We gathered together in
prayer and asked God to spare him.
Later that morning, July 4th,
things began to happen that can be explained as nothing
short of miraculous! The doctors planned to do surgery to
relieve brain pressure. As they prepared Brandon for
surgery, they realized that the hematoma in his brain was
completely gone, and the dangerously high brain pressure was
decreasing on its own! When they told us, we thanked God
for this miracle. Doctors and nurses agreed that it was
miraculous. The miracles continued--not only did the
pressure in Brandon’s brain keep going down, but by the end
of the day, he was moving both arms, both legs, and his eyes
were slowly responding to light.
Since then, Brandon has improved by
leaps and bounds. He has endured surgery to repair a broken
jaw, and to repair facial nerves. He will have another
surgery on facial nerves and we know that God’s healing
touch will bless him just as it has all along.
It has been a year since the accident,
and the healing continues, though the progress is much more
subtle than it was in the early days after the accident. In
addition to both physical and cognitive therapies, Brandon
helps serve dinner every Friday at Open Door Ministry, and
he has resumed many of his musical activities; including
guitar, marimba and singing. He continues working toward his
goal of returning to driving and to go back to school at
Multnomah.
It has been a long year, but it has
been full of blessings! Brandon’s family is so very thankful
to God, and to all of our friends & family and others whom
we don’t even know! |
