“There is some brain activity,” the neurologist stated somberly.  A near-drowning upended the life of 12 year old Adam Dzialo.  Three weeks on a ventilator, six weeks in a rehab hospital, and then home.  The previously healthy, vibrant boy returned to his family, rigid as a board, nonverbal, tube-fed, and severely traumatized.  He would scream without sound and cry without tears.

Doctors, nurses, aides, and therapists surrounded Adam, offering surgery, medication, and speech, occupational, and physical therapy.  Sharon, his mother, wanted the experts to fix her Adam.  This led to nothing but disappointment, fear, and frustration.

Then Sharon met a clairvoyant who kindly informed her that Adam's spirit was not in his body but hovering in a corner in his room.  This woman then guided the Dzialo family to open their hearts and minds to a gentler and deeper approach to Adam's recovery.

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Once this family stepped away from the traditional approach to brain recovery, they entered a world previously unknown to them.  They met a Japanese healing community who taught them a very different way to look at Adam's accident.  The Dzialos learned about the power of ceremony, bringing Adam to the accident site to make peace with the river. They encountered massage therapists, body-mind-centering therapists, craniosacral therapists, acupuncturists, and chiropractors.  Each alternative practitioner promised a deeper and gentler approach to Adam's rehabilitation. Healing had replaced fixing. The path was not always smooth, but Adam was progressing.        

While wandering in this alternative world Sharon and Philip were also firmly planted in the practical demands and considerations of a family stressed to the brink.  They declared bankruptcy, filed a lawsuit against the State of Massachusetts, the ultimate entity responsible for the community college that sponsored the adventure camp where Adam nearly drowned, supported their daughter through high school and college, and participated in a formal mediation that led to a public apology for the way this family was treated by the institution after Adam's accident.

Over time Sharon joined her son's journey as more than a caretaker and researcher. Each member of her family experienced the trauma of Adam's accident, thus potentially allowing each of them to take on the “victim role.”  They chose a different path time and again, finding ways to empower and heal themselves, finally understanding that their own issues could impede their son's healing.

About seven years ago, Sharon, Philip and Adam met a Russian mathematician who was developing a very promising and dramatically different approach to brain injury, a complete paradigm shift—the missing piece of the brain recovery puzzle.  They traveled to Canada  to meet with him and joined a community of intensely devoted parents who are  trained to provide hours of therapy each day with the goal of maximizing their children’s potential.