Second Chance

Derek Bogardus’ life took a sharp turn late one November evening in 2007 as he drove his motorcycle home from a softball game. He collided with a truck and was pinned underneath it. The accident totaled his motorcycle, the truck and Bogardus almost lost his life.

“They say a truck made a left-hand turn in front of me and I don’t remember anything after that,” Bogardus said.

However, Bogardus got a second chance at life when he was taken by ambulance to Community Regional Medical Center in downtown Fresno – home to the only Level 1 trauma center between Los Angeles and Sacramento. He was in a coma for months. His family drove from Coarsegold, about 45 minutes away to be by his side.
 
“You get a phone call in the middle of the night, saying that your son’s been involved in a critical motorcycle accident,” his father, Rick Bogardus said. “It was the worst thing I ever had to do is drive down that hill all the way to the hospital and thinking if he’s going to be alive when I get there.”

Derek Bogardus broke several bones in his right arm and leg and also suffered damage to his brain and internal organs. Today, several steel rods in various places help hold the 23-year-old man together. He also lost the use of his right arm but still has a little movement in his right hand.

“I didn’t even want to know my injuries when I woke up. I didn’t want to know because I was scared,” Bogardus said.

His family saw him through his most difficult days.

“I needed somebody in my room or I needed my mouth moistened because I couldn’t drink. My family was there to do that,” Bogardus said.

While his family was there for him night and day during his recovery, they said a closer place to stay would have been less stressful for them.

“It would’ve been so nice to have a place to stay right next to him and be able to go get a shower or get cleaned up or do whatever we needed to do,” Rick Bogardus said.

According to registered nurse Lynn Bennink, director of the trauma program and transfer center at Community Regional, family members of critically injured patients often need a safe haven.

“We are a regional referral center so we get patients from all over the Valley and beyond. So, these families then come to see their loved one in the hospital,” Bennink said. “They need a place to stay, to lay their head, to get a bite to eat, a place to just get regenerated and rejuvenated.”

That’s why Bennink feels that a facility like Terry’s House is so important. Terry’s House is an affordable and convenient lodging facility to be built across the street from the entrance to Community Regional. Bennink, who also is the director of Terry’s House, says it is crucial to keep families close to their loved ones in times of need.

“It breaks your heart to see these families that don’t want to leave their loved one’s side, but they really don’t have any place to go,” Bennink said. “Many of our families can’t afford a hotel every night. They can’t afford to be eating out at restaurants every night.”

Terry’s House will be a 17,000-square-foot, two-story home within walking distance of the main entrance of Community Regional, on the corner of Fresno and R streets. It will feature 20 guest rooms with private baths, in-house refrigerators, an activity lounge, sitting areas, family resource center, children’s activity room, exercise room and a healing garden.

The construction of Terry’s House is dependent on private gifts and contributions. Community Medical Foundation’s goal is to raise $4.5 million to build the house, with additional funds to be raised to cover internal furnishings, operations and housing to those in need. The project’s financing began with gifts from Tom Richards, Bank of America and Lennar Homes.

Richards’ brother, Terry, is the namesake behind Terry’s House. Terry was seriously injured in a car accident when he was 5 years old, and Terry’s mother drove 80 miles a day for five months to be with her son.

Rick Bogardus knows firsthand how a place like Terry’s House would ease the strain on families with loved ones receiving critical care.

“They could stay there 24 hours. They wouldn’t have to leave and go all the way home and then get cleaned up and then come back down,” Rick Bogardus said.

After over a year of rehabilitation and recovery, Derek Bogardus is back on the road, just not on a motorcycle.

“It was the happiest day of my life. Just walking out, being out in society and back with my friends,” Derek Bogardus said.

He even got a tattoo that sums up how he feels about getting his life back after the accident. It reads, “Second Chance.”

To learn more about Terry’s House or making a gift, call (559) 459-2648 or (888) 538-8088, or visit http://www.terryshousefresno.org/.

This story was reported by Jennifer Avila-Allen. She can be reached at javila@communitymedical.org.

Monday, July 06, 2009