LI Boy's Recovery After Bike Crash Makes Him 'Miracle Kid': Mom

Patchogue NY

12 August, 2021

4:32 PM

Description

PATCHOGUE, NY — One of the first things 14-year-old Ryan Kropf said when he came out of intubation was a typical teenager's reaction to the predicament of wearing an open-backed hospital gown. "'Where's my pants?'" his mother, Lisa Marie Morrone of Patchogue, recalled him saying. Eleven days ago, Morrone received a call that no parent ever wants to receive, especially not a retired emergency medical technician. Her ringer went off as it does with the distinctive ring that she has for all of her children — the sound of Baby Stewie from "Family Guy," pleading, "Mom, Mum, Mummy." When she answered the call, it wasn't her son. A Suffolk County police officer who was at a crash scene was calling from Ryan's iPhone. She was able to access his emergency contact features, although he had it locked — it's a special feature, not a lot of people know exists. The officer's call was to notify Morrone that Ryan was struck by a car while riding his bike and he was not wearing a helmet to protect his head. "No matter how many times every adult in my son's life has told him to wear a helmet, he made the decision to not wear one," said Morrone, who lives in Patchogue. Ryan was hit by a car at the intersection of Barton and Washington avenues, near the elementary school, at about 1:30 p.m. on Aug. 1. Morrone later learned that Ryan hit the side of the car, flipped over the handlebars, and his body hit the windshield, then he landed headfirst to the pavement, she said. Thankfully, the driver of the car stopped, called for help, and stayed with Ryan, and multiple good Samaritans stopped to help him, including two women — one held his hand and the other stabilized his head to prevent further injury. "All he could say was his name," she said, noting the rest of his words did not make much sense. Familiar with notification protocol through her training as an EMT, Morrone asked the police officer if she could speak with her son. When she was told that she could not and that he was being prepped for transport to Stony Brook University Hospital Medical Center, her heart sank. Her fear intensified. "It was ridiculous that this was my kid," she said. "All of the calls that I had made to parents and family that were in the same position in my 15 years in EMS ... now I was on the other end of the phone," she said. Morrone went on to describe the grueling twist in her fate that now has her on a mission to get the word out that helmets and accessible emergency contacts are a must for everyone. "That's what saved my son from being a John Doe," she said. Once at the hospital, she was told that Ryan was not in the children's section, but the adult section and she would not be able to see him, she was then placed in a separate waiting room from her ex-husband, Ryan's father. These were also bad signs. Ryan had to undergo emergency brain surgery at Stony Brook University Hospital Medical Center. / Lisa Marie Morrone Morrone then heard a page overhead for a trauma team and knew it was for her son by the calling of the code. It seemed like forever before she was told that Ryan had been projectile vomiting, became combative, and needed to be sedated — all common occurrences with head injuries. She was able to see him covered in blood for a few seconds as the team worked on him, intubating him as he was prepped for a CT scan. The sight of it became a terror that she cannot put into words. As Morrone and her family were waiting outside the building, a doctor came out to inform them that Ryan had a brain bleed and a fractured skull that required emergency surgery to save his life. She and his father had a "split-second" with Ryan when the trauma team paused from "running him down the hallway." They did what any parents would do in that situation — they kissed their son and told him that they loved him. While Ryan was in surgery, his older brother, who is 16, was sobbing, as he recalled when he went out himself without a helmet and was scolded for it. "That boy cried on his knees and said, 'I can't lose my brother, he's my best friend,'" Morrone recalled, noting that he asked her to order him a helmet right on her phone. "I ordered one on my phone as my son was still in brain surgery because my other son would not stop sobbing, 'I'm sorry, Mom, I'm sorry, I messed up.'" After Ryan's surgery was over, Morrone learned Ryan had bruised both of his lungs also, and once in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, she was told there were no guarantees about his recovery and that it was a process that would not be measured "in hours or days, but weeks, months and years." Ryan was intubated for about two days, and when he was ready to breathe on his own, the removal process had to be done slowly, as is the process with traumatic brain injuries. Sedation was slowly pulled back and he was awake while his parents held his hand, again telling him that they loved him. When he passed the neurological exam, the tubes were slid out carefully, and he was asked to give a few hard coughs, and he did, along with some crying added in there. "It's terrifying," she said. "I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy." Then he was able to say his name. Morrone recalled losing it when he was able to say his name. "I got to say I'm was pretty tough through most of it," she said adding, that she knew he "was in there" and didn't care "what condition we were getting him in. I knew he was alive, and I knew there was something to work with, you know. Now, that was amazing." "As a mom.... that was one of the points where I was like, 'Oh, God, you know we can do this,'" she said. That moment over minutes later, Ryan reverted to his teenage self as he angrily asked where his shorts were, Morrone recalled. It was the first time the family laughed together since the accident. Morrone said that while there is still a long road ahead for Ryan, she is thankful that he does not have any neural deficits. He still needs to recover from the plate and staples in his head, as well as his broken thumb, so it might take some time before he returns to school because he still needs medical clearance. There are also quite a few off-limit activities now, including sports and swimming — one of his faves. Morrone looks at the journey with her son's accident as though there have been multiple angels that have looked out for him right from the moment he was hit, starting with the driver who showed both integrity and compassion by stopping to report the crash. "He stepped up as a human and a lot of people don't," she said. "They go the other way in that we live in a world where most people don't....It's an accident, so a terrible accident, and I wish it never happened, but if it did have to happen, I'm glad we had a lot of angels on our side." She learned by sharing her story on Facebook in a group for moms that a couple with young children had stopped to help Ryan and the father used his car to shield him from traffic, which further protected him from harm's way because it is very common for a second accident, even a third to occur after the first, Morrone said. Other 'angels' were found in the police officer, emergency medical technicians, and staff Stony Brook, as well as the Patchogue-Medford community, which set up a meal train to take care of the Kropf/Morrone family, which includes not only Ryan but his eight siblings. "My son is at home right now, because all of those people," he said. Morrone hopes that people reading her story will share it and spread the word about the importance of wearing a proper helmet when riding a bicycle, which is a requirement under state law. She also hopes that people will take advantage of the emergency contact feature available through iOS. It can be found in the health section by tapping on the white square with a heart icon and it comes preloaded on phones. If enabled, it can be accessed — although a phone is locked — by swiping on the lock pad and tapping the word "emergency," then "Medical ID" on the next screen. First responders need to get in touch with family members quickly to find out about a patients' medical history, Morrone said. "In a trauma, we have what's called the golden hour," she said. "It really is the first hour that makes a difference in that person's life in a trauma, and that's going to be the telltale sign of how the outcome is going to be." Kropf having fun in a pool, something he will not be able to do for a while, considering his recent surgery, his mother said. / Lisa Marie Morrone