Bensten Is Going Home Later This Week

March 9, 2015 10:59 pm

I’ve got some great news to share with you. Well, actually I’ll let Bensten tell you.

Fewer than 50 days after being hit by a car and suffering a life-threatening brain injury, the six-year-old Caps fan is leaving the hospital and going home.

Here’s the update from Bensten’s Uncle Tyler:

We have a lot to be thankful for today. This week we got some incredible news – Bman is coming home!!!!!! We are not positive what day, but believe it will be either Thursday or Friday of this week. B, yet again, has outpaced the doctors’ expectations of being ready sometime in April.

I don’t mean to throw the term miracle around lightly, but I honestly believe Bensten’s recovery has been an absolute miracle. We have tried to provide these regular updates so that you could share in the exciting progress as we get to experience it, but our words are unable to do it justice. The progress that B has made from even a week ago is truly miraculous. Over the past month, I have been visiting B on a daily basis. I have accumulated a lot of pictures and video of B’s recovery. Almost every visit I took a picture or video of B — each time I saw him, I would get so excited by his progress or the new thing he learned that day and I wanted to share it with the family. It was when I looked back at my phone earlier in the week, that it hit me and affirmed what I already knew: how lucky we are. I have pictures from under one month ago of B still using a feeding tube, struggling to wave, or give a thumbs up. I now have a video of B walking, doing stairs, swinging a wiffle ball bat, playing basketball, feeding himself, and discussing Caps games. B’s recovery has been nothing short of a miracle.

If I tried to single out every person who deserves thanks from our family, this post would be days long. The support from each and every one of you reading this has gotten us through. The prayers, the notes, the comments, we heard them all. B heard them all.

There is a lot for us to figure out between now and homecoming day. For the upcoming months, B will need a very controlled environment at home. Upon his return home, we have to find the balance of not overstimulating him and continuing to push him to improve. He will have regular therapy sessions as he did at NRH, but they will now be weekly outpatient sessions. We are so excited for him to be able to return home after each session and spend more time with his family. It is almost surreal that we are getting him back home. Not having a regular hospital element in our lives is something we have been looking forward to.

This whole experience has been an emotional roller coaster. I’m so happy for the family.

A few more photos: