Dustin Wood: Reclaiming His Life After Brain Injury

On Dec. 31, 2022, Dustin Wood was celebrating the impending New Year by riding his dirt bike near his home town of Fort Worth, Texas. However, when a deer ran into his path, he collided with the animal and was thrown from his bike.

Dustin was taken to a local hospital for emergency care, where he was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury. Physicians were able to save his life, but he was unresponsive. After two weeks in that hospital setting, Dustin showed some signs of improvement by periodically opening his eyes and squeezing his wife Jessica’s hand.

He spent the next several months in a rehabilitation hospital in Dallas, where the team worked to maintain his medical stability and Jessica learned how to care for Dustin in preparation for his return home.

“In July 2023, Dustin went into cardiac arrest,” said Jessica. “Following the cardiac arrest, they wanted to send him to a long-term acute care facility, but I refused that option.”

While determining her next steps for Dustin, Jessica met with a liaison from TIRR Memorial Hermann.

“She told us about TIRR Memorial Hermann and showed us a video about a former patient, Jaclyn Pellicotte, and her recovery at TIRR Memorial Hermann after being a patient in their Disorders of Consciousness (DoC) Program. I immediately knew that Dustin needed to go to TIRR Memorial Hermann.”

A disorder of consciousness is a condition of altered consciousness in which a patient has severely impaired levels of awareness and wakefulness, often following a severe traumatic brain injury or stroke. The TIRR Memorial Hermann Disorders of Consciousness (DoC) Program focuses on patients in a vegetative or minimally conscious state. Although these patients are often not ready to begin a traditional rehabilitation program, they can significantly benefit from a program that specializes in treating disorders of consciousness. The DoC Program applies state-of-the-art technologies, targeted therapy and scientific advances to assess and treat patients and to help maximize potential recoveries and outcomes.

Dustin arrived at TIRR Memorial Hermann in August of 2023, where he immediately began physical, occupational and speech therapy. Upon his admission to TIRR Memorial Hermann, Dustin needed nearly 100% assistance to perform any task.

“I noticed that his TIRR Memorial Hermann care team would pick up on the slightest movements from Dustin, and they realized he was trying to communicate with us,” said Jessica.

“When he first came to the DoC Program at TIRR Memorial Hermann, we could tell that he was misdiagnosed as vegetative,” said Dustin’s inpatient occupational therapist, Haley Holland, OTR. “He was able to use a pen on his first assessment and then he started answering “yes or no” questions. As his therapy progressed, he started to slowly have more arm movement and was even able to trial using an adaptive game controller for a race car video game.”

His physical therapist, Elizabeth "Liz" Larkin, PT, DPT, PhD(c), CBIS, included activities that Dustin enjoyed as part of his rehabilitation.

“Standing for Dustin involved a very intense stretch for his legs, so we often incorporated a fishing activity to help provide distraction and to utilize one of his hobbies for motivation,” said Liz. “There were so many powerful moments when Dustin would all of a sudden figure out how to move his body again—when it would just click all of a sudden.”

Dustin was also able to use technology to assist with his walking, including a system that incorporates the use of a harness to reduce the amount of weight being supported through the legs. This technology allows patients with severe weakness greater opportunities to begin moving their legs during early walking training.

Dustin was discharged from TIRR Memorial Hermann in October 2023. At that time, he was using a platform walker which offered additional upper body support, and Jessica was provided with the tools and information she needed as she and Dustin returned home to Fort Worth.

“Today, Justin can walk with assistance around our house,” said Jessica. “He performs his own personal hygiene and grooming with some assistance from me, and he can write his name. He also enjoys crafting with our daughter and he has taken up adapted kayaking and fishing.”

Jessica has periodically sent updates to Dustin’s care team at TIRR Memorial Hermann on how he is doing.

“His family and his determination are the reasons Dustin is doing so well today,” said Haley. “Jessica would do so much outside of therapy and continued this when they left TIRR Memorial Hermann. She has since shared videos of him kayaking, walking with assistance and other fun activities.”

“It brings me such joy to get updates from Dustin and Jessica that show him reclaiming his life, step-by-step,” said Liz. “They applied everything we could teach them and paired it with their love of life and determination.”

>> Learn more about the Disorders of Consciousness program at TIRR Memorial Hermann.