A Stone, a Skull Fracture and Miracles

Since July 5, home for Juan Donis is a small couch on the second floor of UCI Medical Center in Orange. For his wife, Jeanette, it’s a slightly more comfortable bed in an RV parked on the hospital’s lot.

For Bryan, their 5-year-old son, it’s the pediatric intensive care unit.

When a 5-pound block of paving stone crashed through the family’s truck windshield as they were driving home 10 days ago, their lives changed drastically. Bryan, struck in the head, has been in critical condition since but is continuing to show signs of improvement.

A few days ago, Bryan used his right eye to look out into his strange new environment and at his mother. When he had opened the eye previously, he had been heavily sedated and did not seem to be cognizant of his surroundings, his father said.

On the left side, where Bryan’s skull was fractured in two places, the eye is still swollen shut.

Reconstructive surgery will be needed in the near future and is dependent on the boy’s recovery, according to Juan Donis. Doctors are telling the parents that their son is expected to fully recover.

Jeanette Donis said she knows her son is aware of her presence and shows excitement when he sees her. She rarely leaves his side and showers him with affection.

A turning point came Friday, when doctors removed the breathing apparatus from Bryan’s mouth. As his mother beamed from beside the bed, his father slowly walked over to the boy. Juan Donis had just come back from picking up some clothing at home and was seeing Bryan breathe for the first time on his own since the tragedy.

Juan gently began to caress the small boy’s arms and told him quietly in Spanish: “I love you very much. Do you know who I am? This is your father.”

Nearby, Bob Ricks keeps watch over the boy. He is Jeanette’s boss. He and his wife Le Ann have been coming to visit every day and often bring the family dinner.

At the foot of the bed, Jeanette talks to another parent who has just given her a warm embrace and has become an important source of support.

“This is the miracle of the day,” Judy Schulte said, nodding toward Bryan. Her 12-year-old son Trevor was hit by a car more than three weeks ago in Huntington Beach but has been out of his induced coma for more than a week.

“When I talk to her, it makes me feel so much better,” Jeanette said of her new friend. “And we pray for each other and the kids.”

Families with gravely injured children often bond in the hospital as they look after their loved ones.

The friend of a child recently discharged from the hospital stopped by to give Schulte an inspirational book, “Where Angels Walk: True Stories of Heavenly Visitors.” When she finishes reading it, Schulte said, she will give it to Jeanette.

Jeanette and Juan Donis try not to forget the daily joys of family life before the accident: kicking soccer balls around in the park, going shopping and throwing water balloons at each other.

But for now, their Laguna Niguel apartment is sadly empty, Juan says, and they have only been back to retrieve personal items. Toys are still scattered about and the television has not been turned on since the accident.

The day their lives changed started innocently enough. It was the Fourth of July and the family had gone shopping for a gift at Best Buy. Bryan, described as a mature and unusually considerate child, was content playing with a new hockey toy.

Late that evening, they dropped off a visiting relative at Los Angeles International Airport and on the way home, Bryan snuggled up against his mother and began to doze. Only moments before, father and son had been talking about fishing. Then, the concrete stone came flying through the windshield; police believe it was thrown by someone from the San Diego Freeway overpass in Westminster.

“You watch the news and you never think you will be a part of it in a sad way,” Juan said.

Juan said he’s grateful for the outpouring of help from family, friends and even strangers who have come to visit. Calls from their native Guatemala are constant. Juan’s brother is taking care of the family’s bills and business matters, his sister is doing their laundry and relatives are squeezing in as many as three visits a day to the hospital in between their jobs.

Last week, a San Diego doctor began raising money for a reward for information leading to the conviction of the stone-thrower. A day later, a Coto de Caza family established a trust fund in the boy’s name.

Juan is still weighing whether he will return to his paper delivery job tomorrow or continue to focus on his son. But for him, there is no question his son is the family’s priority.

“The day he calls me Daddy again and asks me for something . . . it’s going to be beautiful when I hear him talk,” Juan said. “God is big, God makes miracles. I feel my son is a big miracle.”