Former traumatic brain injury patient, Kel Matabah, returned to TIRR Memorial Hermann to donate $22,500 in therapy scholarships for patients. Matabah’s miraculous recovery has led him to starting the ‘Kel Strong’ Mabatah Foundation, which helps individuals and families who have been impacted by traumatic brain injuries on their road to recovery.
One of the patients who will benefit from this scholarship is Dontel Jones, a 17 year old patient who suffered a traumatic brain injury from a car accident two years ago. After his mom, Alfredia, learned about TIRR Memorial Hermann, she knew it was where she wanted her son to receive care. Dontel's goal was to walk across his stage at graduation and he succeeded.
Mabatah, a graduate of Texas Christian University (TCU) in Fort Worth and a former professional tennis player, suffered a fractured skull and lost teeth during a brutal attack on his family’s business compound in southern Nigeria. In December 2014, he was hit in the head with the butt of a rifle, stabbed in the stomach and left for dead. The assault resulted in a severe traumatic brain injury that left him paralyzed on the right side and unable to speak. Found by police, he was rushed to a local hospital in Agbor and transferred the next morning to a medical center in Asaba, 20 minutes away, where he had the first of four brain surgeries. Thirteen days after the attack, he made the 12-hour flight to Houston, where he underwent his second brain surgery at Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital. He was transferred to Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center for his final two brain surgeries. After a three-week inpatient hospitalization, he was admitted to TIRR Memorial Hermann, where he underwent a rigorous program of physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy, followed by outpatient rehabilitation at TIRR Memorial Hermann Outpatient Rehabilitation at the Kirby Glen Center.
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