News about Drew Vigneulle


As a lot of you already know Drew, which is Mick's son, was in a bad skateboard accident and is in the hospital in ICU.  Please be praying for Drew and his family as they all need strength to pull through this.  I will let you know what happened, how it happened, and when it happened when I receive all of the information from Mick.  I will also be posting updates of his condition whenever information is passed on to me.  If you would like to email Mick and Sue you can email them at RickMickministry@aol.com.  Their phones have been ringing off the hook and they have to talk to doctors and be with Drew, so email is the best and easiest way to reach them.  If you have any further questions you can also email me at Brandon@RickandMick.com.   Thank you for your prayers and your concerns.  UPDATES BELOW PICTURE


I have an urgent prayer request for my son, Drew. Sunday night after going to praise and worship at our church, my son and several of his friends decided to go out and have some fun longboarding (it’s like a skateboard, but longer with faster wheels). He was hanging on to a spoiler of a car to pick up speed, but lost control landing on the concrete headfirst. What we thought at first was a concussion became much more serious as he had fractured his skull, penetrating his sinus cavity. He has had swelling and bruising of the brain, and he has also experienced a couple of small areas where bleeding has occurred. At the present, my son is stable and is at the best condition possible for the injuries he has sustained. However, we’re not out of the woods yet. The next 24 to 48 hrs. are critical. He has no further room to swell and the bruising cannot grow without having to perform surgery, where they would have to penetrate the skull. Pray that things would remain the same as they are now so that the surgery would not be necessary.
 
                My son is in extreme pain and hardly has a moment’s relief without heavy drugs and morphine. This is Day 3, and we were told that this would be the toughest day. Pray for the grace my son needs to get through this, and for the emotional challenge it is, as his mom and dad are watching moment by moment. He is continually pleading with us to make the pain go away.

The frontal and temporal lobes are where the damage has occurred, which affects emotion, speech, and cognitive thinking. We’ve already been informed that this is a 6-12 month recovery period and that there could be permanent deficits.

The good news is that there’s been a lot of prayer cover, and that he is ahead of schedule and is saying words and even complete sentences at times. This is somewhat of a surprise to the medical field. We have had an outstanding medical team at the Neurological Intensive Care Unit here at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, but they are limited. We know that our Great Physician is capable of overcoming any deficits that our son may have, and that God is going to use this for His glory. Just in the last couple of months, Drew has expressed a desire to go into the ministry. He has not been sure as to what capacity, yet he has a God-given musical ability far beyond his Dad and uncle. We’ve asked the Lord to use this to His glory, and that this may launch a platform of ministry for Drew one day down the road. We covet your prayers during this time. You may respond by sending us emails to this address, if you wish. Thank you for your friendship and love.
 

            The prayer requests are as follows:

  • That the swelling, bleeding, and bruising would not increase, but would remain at least the same so that surgery would not be necessary.
  • That there would be no long-term deficits.
  • That God would be glorified.

 

 

Sincerely,

Mick and Sue


 

UPDATE!!! 12/28/2007

My wife and I have been anxious to update you for the past several days concerning our son, Drew.  All of our time has been consumed with him and waiting on him.  There were several days where we had little or no sleep and were just too tired to send an update.  As you may remember, he was injured while long-boarding (a large skateboard), holding onto the spoiler of a car at about 10-15 miles per hour in a parking lot, but then lost control, fell and injured his head.  He fractured his skull and damaged his frontal and temporal lobes.  These areas control the emotions, cognitive thinking and speech.  We have seen all three of these areas affected. Yet, we have seen improvement in all of these areas, as well.

 

On Christmas Eve morning Drew started to decline, so his doctor put him back in NICU.  He wanted to perform surgery on his brain to remove some of the more bruised area of the brain, but Drew had a condition (that I can’t pronounce or spell) that put him at greater health risk and possibly even fatal, if surgery had been performed. His doctor put him on a couple of meds that relaxed his brain causing it to rest, so that the swelling and bruising could be eased.  This seems to be working, yet has not put Drew totally out of the woods in regards to the surgery, at least at this point. We hope to know more in a couple of days.

 

We covet your prayers and believe God is answering them.  Drew will need 6 to 12 months to fully recover according to his good doctor.  However, we are asking our Great Physician to take care of any deficits that might normally occur in an injury such as this, so that God might be glorified and Drew’s status greatly improve.  His condition has been labeled as serious, but stable. 

 

We appreciate the overwhelming response and out pouring of love from so many of you.  We are so rich in friends.  Pray for us, as we learn out of necessity, how to care for our son.  He has been such a testimony for the Lord through this ordeal.  Many times he has cried out to the Father for his pain to be eased and we have seen answers to this prayer in the last few days.  He prays so earnestly that the Lord would help him to learn from this, even thanking Him.  He has not sworn even once, yet we were told not to be shocked, as it usually happens with these types of injuries.  God is good, even in the little things.

 

Well, it’s after 1:00 a.m. and we have to be back at the hospital by 7:30 a.m.  So, we are hitting the sack and praising the Lord for a day of continued progress.  Please continue to pray as the Lord prompts you.  Blessings on you, as we trust you had a Merry Christmas.  We did……..we still have our son!!!!

 

Forever Family,

 

Mick and Sue Vigneulle

 


January 6 2008

 

We praise the Lord for so many faithful friends who have stood with us during our son, Drew’s, skateboarding accident, December 16th.  After being put back in NICU for the 2nd time on Dec. 24, we called for the elders of the church to come and anoint him with oil and pray, as is mentioned in the book of James chapter 5.  Present with the elders and staff were a group of friends who had received a miracle just like the one our son needed.  Two were college age students who would be in heaven today if the Lord had not intervened. 

 

Thank you so much for earnestly praying with us, as we saw an immediate answer to those prayers!  The swelling and the bruising of the brain have gone down significantly.  The doctor is now saying that Drew will no longer need surgery and is surprised at his quick turnaround.  Even many of the nurses and therapists have commented on how quickly Drew bounced back.  (We know where that quick turnaround came from.) 

 

Although he has made significant progress, his speech and cognitive thinking will still need rehabilitation.  He has had double vision, which has improved significantly, but he still has a weak left eye.  Besides head and neck aches, due to the trauma, he is making great progress in his recovery.  Praise the Lord!  

 

He is out of the hospital now and began rehab on Friday, Jan. 4.  He will be working on language skills, as he has lost some of his vocabulary due to the injury to the brain.  They have described it as reprogramming a computer.  It also seems to be compartmentalized.  Areas of the brain that were not damaged function well, such as his music ability on the piano and guitar.  This is a big answer to prayer.  Also, he can read and use his computer.  Some of the weaknesses are that he doesn't comprehend what he is reading or cannot identify certain familiar objects (ie: a “bed” he calls a “pillow”, a “garage door remote” is a “filter”, a “comb” is a “brush” etc.)  (At least Drew finds this humorous!)  These are the types of things that have to be reprogrammed.  We have truly seen how we are fearfully and wonderfully made through this! 

 

Again, thank you for praying for Drew and for us!  Your prayers have been answered, as we have felt carried by God’s peace for the duration.  You have truly born our burdens with us. 

 

God Bless You,

Mick & Sue

 

P.S. We met so many other families going through trauma with a loved one, many much worse than Drew.  One in particular that we would ask you to consider praying for is a 16-year-old boy, Brandon Cato.  He was in a high school wrestling match accident, injured his spinal cord and broke his 4th and 5th vertebrae.  His condition is critical and he is presently labeled as a quadriplegic.  He is scheduled to have surgery on Tuesday, Jan. 8th.  There is a 5% chance he will walk again.  Right now he is fighting for his life.  He and his family are Christians, and like us, in need of a miracle for their son.  Thank you for praying for him, as the Lord brings him to mind.