1994 Miracle Yearbook

Kennedy Pulls College Family Together When one has a heartache we all share the tears, and re- joice in each victory in thisfam- ily so dear." - from the hymn "Family of God." Once again the college fam- ily has come together to sup- port a brother in trouble. On Tuesday, November 9, Scott Kennedy wasrushed tothe hos- pital after incurring a head in- jury during double overtime of an intramural soccer game. The college family rushed to help Scott rightfrom the begin- ning,Pastor Harold Green said. On the field,students laid a pile of coats around Scott to help prevent shock. Although most coats were given back,the two underneath him werecaughton the stretcherand went with him to the hospital. Immediately after the acci- dent, P.G. received four phone callsfrom concerned students. He wasn't the only one either. Dean of Student Services Don Rickard,who lives close to the hospital in Xenia,also received a call. By the time P.G. got there, Dean of Men Jon Purple, and Lee Webb, the R.D. at Brock, had arrived. When he arrived at the hos- pital Green saw at least 25 stu- dents there. By the end of the night there were close to 60. "They were everywhere, in the waiting rooms,in the lobby, in the hallways. There were little prayer meetings going on all over the hospital," he said. At about 10 p.m., after re- ceiving a reportfrom the doctor before Scott's initial surgery, P.G. and Erin Weaver,a friend of the family, went to pick up Scott's father at the airport. When they got to the hospital, hospital staff told Mr.Kennedy that Scott had just come out of surgery. P.G.said that he was relieved to hear the report be- cause when he had left no one waseven sure that Scott would make it through the surgery. Dr. Randy Merriott, a 1985 Cedarville graduate and a graduate of Wright State Medi- cal School,met with Scott'sfa- ther. He said that he could not determine the extent of the in- jury and referred them to the neurosurgeon. He was able to reassure them that Scott's speech and sight would befine and he explained exactly what kind of an injury it was. At this point, P.G.asked the students to go home. It was now after 11 p.m. and many of them had been thereforfour to five hours. "There was really nothing else they could do by being there,so we asked them to go on back to the college," P.G.said. While Scott was uncon- scious in the hospital,the col- lege family prayed and minis- tered to the family. During chapel on Wednesday morn- ing, Dr. Dixon asked the entire student body and faculty to kneel and remember Scott and hisfamily in prayer. Many con- tinued to go to the chapel throughout the day to pray for him. Otherscalled hometo ask their families to pray. On Friday evening, he re- gained consciousnessand rec- ognized his parents. He was unabletospeak because he was on a respirator,but he was able to wave to his sister. Unaware of his situation, at first he tried to pull out the tubes and other equipment,butnurseswereable to calm him down. He had no memory of the accident and thought he had only been in the hospital one night. On Saturday morning, the doctor took him off the respira- tor. Theneurosurgeon wassur- prised by his quick response to simplecommands.Hewasonly able to whisper at this point, and P.G. prayed with him and his family. By Sunday morning Scott was walking around, and on Sunday night he spoke on the video that was shown during Thanksgiving chapel on the Wednesday before break. At thattime,Scottwas mainly wor- ried about his studies. Admin- istration has given him perma- nent incompletes. These will allow him to retake classes or begin again where he left off. Before Scott left for home Saturday, November 20, he ran with his physical therapist. He said that he did not feel tired afterthescheduled run,and the therapist said that he looked well. P.G.said that Scott would be able to come back winter quar- ter, but his doctors recom- mended that he have a plastic plate put over the unprotected area of his brain before making that decision. For the plane trip home, the doctors recom- mended that Scottweara hel- met to protect the injury. Afew days before the trip, he was given a biker's helmet. "People would come in and ask mewhat it was. When I told them whatit was for, they laughed. They laughed even morewhen I told them I wasn't goingtowear it," Scott said. He wasfrustrated that he had to ride a wheelchair into the airport. "I kepttelling them that I had just gone jogging three days before, and could defi- nitely walk through an airport. Theydidn'twantmetogettired," he said. However, any time someonetold him to puton the helmet, he would tell them that he would put it on oncethey got to the airport. He avoided it until he was sitting down in the plane. Once there, he said he would wear it on the plane ride from Philadelphia to his home. By the time he got there, they realized that he wasn't going to wear it. "I went the whole way just carrying the helmet," he said. Scott said that going home was quite an experience. He wasn't allowed to do much of anything until after the second surgery."Forthefirsttwoweeks or so,I had no life. I sat around and wrote letters. I didn't like that at all," he said. For Scott, December 14 was a kind of Christmas. "After the surgery, I wasfinally able to do things,"hesaid.Thereal Christ- maswaseven better. "Itseemed like I got more stuff than I ever did before. And it wasn't just me-- everyone in myfamily got morethan usual.Wespentmore than we usually do for each other. I didn't even care how much 1 spent for anyone. It brought my wholefamily a little closer. Isawacousin whocame in from Florida that I haven't seen in years. I guess we all appreciateeach othera lot more since the accident," he said. Many friends came to see Scott in the hospital, which re- allyshowed him how muchthey cared. He said that he wastold beforecoming backthat hewas going to be a celebrity. "That's not what I want. I want to go back to normal life at Cedar- ville. I've had lots of people come up and talk to me. That part is great. Some people look at me and don't know what to say,so I just introduce myself. I especially want to meet all those people I didn't know who sent me cards," he said. •Melody Curtis 54 Student Life