| Three years ago, Russell Fullen was attending Texas State University in San Marcos, majoring in business marketing and enjoying college life. He would have been a senior in the fall of 2005.
Now, his mother, Linda Fullen hopes her son can just some day speak and take care of himself.
Right now, progress comes slowly for Russell, 23, who received severe brain trauma more than two years ago in a car wreck.
After months in the hospital, Russell now recuperates at his parents' home in Richmond. He receives around-the-clock care and has technicians who help care for him during the day and night.
A Lamar Consolidated High School graduate, Russell's life changed on July 12, 2005, when he was involved in a head-on collision in Baytown. The car in which he was a passenger sustained massive damage to its right side, leaving the driver, longtime friend Andrew Leach, not seriously hurt. The friends were going about 60 miles per hour when the other car, traveling about 10 miles per hour, turned in front of them.
Russell spent five months in the hospital in a minimally responsive state, coming home the day before Christmas.
Since then, he has progressed to the point where he can respond to stimuli, especially something that he finds enticing. It's not a lot, but it gives the family hope.
“Initially, they weren't sure if he was even going to survive,” Linda said. “And then they told us he would be in like a vegetative-type state. He has come a long ways, because he does respond. He makes a lot of facial expressions now. He will go ‘uh-uh' if he doesn't like something. He'll blink one time for yes when I tell him to blink.”
The family took Russell to Memorial Hermann-TIRR (The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research) for a swallow test in early December, which was not successful. Russell is not allowed to eat anything by mouth yet. He can't speak, although Linda said he has said “mom” and the first syllable of his first name.
Russell also has the ability to convey emotions, Linda said, protruding his bottom lip when he's sad. He enjoys hearing conversation, and the family does normal activities with Russell each week, as they take him to restaurants and for walks or rides in the car.
The family finds hope in many ways, from witnessing Russell's changes, no matter how small, to ongoing studies. The Cleveland Clinic is doing a research project on brain stimulation for which Russell is being considered, Linda said.
Mysteries of the brain
Dr. Gerard Francisco, co-director of the Brain, Injury and Stroke Program at Memorial Hermann-TIRR Hospital, said recovery of brain injuries vary from patient, but, generally speaking, the less severe the trauma, the more likely the recovery. Russell had a severe brain injury.
But also, in a general sense, Francisco said, “there's no way of predicting how someone will do,” because so many factors come into play, such as age - the younger the person, the more he or she will recover, with 40 being the age cutoff - and the type of care the injured person received immediately after the injury, because there are ways to limit damage to the brain after a trauma.
Researchers haven't fully understood changes in the brain after it suffers an injury, but discoveries are being made all the time, Francisco said.
“I would say a lot of progress is being made in all areas of bench and clinical research, but there's so much more to learn,” he said, explaining that new discoveries just generate new questions.
Reasons for hope
Russell's parents said they hope their son will resume some components of normalcy some day, such as his ability to communicate. In fact, Linda and Craig Fullen said their son does communicate.
“His recent improvement has been his ability to turn his head and follow with his eyes,” Linda said.
“He's come a long ways,” Craig said. “He's actually gotten better over time, but it's a really very slow process.”
Each day, Russell participates in rehabilitation exercises in his home. The family has a workout table, an exercise machine for his legs and a spa, the last of which Russell especially enjoys. He is visited by technicians twice a day and he has to be turned over at night during his sleep.
Long term, Russell's doctors said his recovery is “very, very good, that he's improving,” said Linda, a real estate agent in Richmond. Craig is a self-employed residential contractor.
“There are a lot of things on the cutting edge right now with brain injury,” she said. “There's a lot of (research) that's coming out. So we have a lot of hope that they can do more to get his brain (stimulated).”
“We just want him to continue to get better,” Linda said. “I just want him to have more independence and a better quality of life.”
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