Brain Injury

Mason Ellsworth’s story is one of pain, despair, unbearable hardship and the kind of love few people can even dream about. Brian and Sylvia Ellsworth will never forget the news they got on the afternoon of July 23, 2008. Their son, Mason, then 18, was involved in an auto accident. He was driving his parents’ SUV on Country Club Road between Flowing Springs Road and U.S. 340 north of Charles Town, W.Va., when he lost control on a sharp curve. The vehicle crossed into the oncoming lane and was rammed by a dump truck.

Friday night lights. Gridiron glory. With the start of a new school year comes another fall ritual - the return of football. But as teams step onto the field, coaches are chalking more than Xs and Os. Concussions are now part of their play books. There was a time when head traumas were called dingers and playing with injury was a sign of toughness. You got your bell rung, you sat out a play and then went right back into the huddle. But with former National Football League players bringing more public attention to the topic, the affects of concussions are being addressed at all levels of athletics, including youth programs.

by Kevin G. Gilbert / staff photographer Phoenix program helps people with acquired brain injury By KATE COLEMAN Staff Writer There were five days remaining in Scott Thrasher's senior year as he drove to school the morning of May 22, 1989. The 6-foot-2-inch Oakland, Md., resident had celebrated his 18th birthday 11 days earlier. Thrasher never made it to school that day. His car, which he had owned for less than a month, drifted across the center line and hit a fertilizer truck.

julieg@herald-mail.com Even when Bob Gerace had gained back most of the use of his left arm and leg after his Nov. 23, 2003, stroke he was having trouble with his vision and was given little hope for improvement. He missed his passions for reading and long bike rides. Nothing was wrong with his eyes, but the stroke had left his brain unable to see or interpret anything on the left side of a person's normal field of vision. His balance was off on the bicycle and he feared not being able to see something coming at him from the left.

The trial for a man charged in a February 2011 bar fight in Martinsburg that left a man with severe injuries was set Monday for Aug. 27 in Berkeley County Circuit Court. Benjamin Jason Bean, 37, who was indicted on one count of conspiracy in October 2011, made a brief appearance in court Monday for a status hearing held by 23rd Judicial Circuit Judge Christopher C. Wilkes. Bean, aka “4th Grade,” along with Waynesboro (Pa.) Borough Councilman Craig L. Newcomer, were charged for their role in an altercation that involved then-45-year-old Ernest E. Cumbie at the Dirty Dawg Saloon along South Queen Street on Feb. 13, 2011, according to court documents.

Total Rehab Care employees receive certification Total Rehab Care of Washington County Hospital recently celebrated the certification of 14 of their employees as certified brain injury specialists (CBIS) by the American Academy for Certified Brain Injury Specialists (AACBIS). "Becoming certified shows our dedication to providing brain-injury care that is up-to-date with current literature and research for best practices," said Khrys Thompson, program manager at Total Rehab Care.

Washington County Hospital will host an open house Friday, Sept. 3, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., to celebrate the kickoff of the Maryland NeuroRehab Foundation's (MNRF) new inpatient brain injury rehab program. The program is in the CIRS unit on the sixth floor of Washington County Hospital. MNRF inpatient provides highly specialized rehabilitation care for clients recovering from traumatic brain injury and their families. More information about the MNRF inpatient program and other programs offered by Total Rehab Care can be obtained by calling 301-714-4025.

julieg@herald-mail.com At first glance, Charles Butts Jr. looks like any guy. He's a working father with a muscular build. The effects of the severe brain stem injury from a car accident 13 years ago are noticeable when he talks and walks - he limps. "Some people are really sweet to me. Some people are really arrogant," said Butts, a salesman at Circuit City at the Centre at Hagers-town. Beyond learning how to walk and talk again, Butts has had to learn how to cope with the cruelty he occasionally encounters from people who get a "look in their eyes" when talking with him or think he's retarded or drunk because his speech is muffled.

Jason Hitchner's defense attorney said a combination of a traumatic brain injury and alcohol consumption left him with little recollection of sexually abusing two children, but Washington County Circuit Court Judge Daniel P. Dwyer went with the state's recommendation and sentenced him to 15 years in prison. Hitchner, 30, pleaded guilty in December to sex abuse of a minor and a second-degree sex offense charge in exchange for other related charges being dropped. At the time of the plea, the state recommended Hitchner be sentenced to 15 years.

MYERSVILLE, Md. -- A routine gutter cleaning on the roof resulted in Bob Pitt's brain injury. The accident happened June 2006. Pitt, 60, slipped from the roof peak of his two-story Colonial home in Myersville, Md., slid down the roof, banged his body on the gutter and landed on his asphalt driveway. He suffered severe head trauma, bruising the part of his brain responsible for higher-level brain function. But Pitt survived. He's also regained most of his old abilities, though he may never be quite the same as before.

The trial for a man charged in a February 2011 bar fight in Martinsburg that left a man with severe injuries was set Monday for Aug. 27 in Berkeley County Circuit Court. Benjamin Jason Bean, 37, who was indicted on one count of conspiracy in October 2011, made a brief appearance in court Monday for a status hearing held by 23rd Judicial Circuit Judge Christopher C. Wilkes. Bean, aka “4th Grade,” along with Waynesboro (Pa.) Borough Councilman Craig L. Newcomer, were charged for their role in an altercation that involved then-45-year-old Ernest E. Cumbie at the Dirty Dawg Saloon along South Queen Street on Feb. 13, 2011, according to court documents.

A Waynesboro (Pa.) Borough Council member who was charged in a 2011 bar fight in Martinsburg that left a man with severe injuries was ordered to serve 200 hours of community service Monday and placed on probation for five years. Craig L. Newcomer, 48, who also was ordered to pay $2,900 in restitution, was sentenced in Berkeley County Circuit Court moments after he entered an Alford plea to one misdemeanor count of battery. A one-year jail sentence was suspended by 23rd Judicial Circuit Judge Christopher C. Wilkes, who accepted a plea agreement that was presented to the court in February to resolve what had been a felony case.

Jason Hitchner's defense attorney said a combination of a traumatic brain injury and alcohol consumption left him with little recollection of sexually abusing two children, but Washington County Circuit Court Judge Daniel P. Dwyer went with the state's recommendation and sentenced him to 15 years in prison. Hitchner, 30, pleaded guilty in December to sex abuse of a minor and a second-degree sex offense charge in exchange for other related charges being dropped. At the time of the plea, the state recommended Hitchner be sentenced to 15 years.

A Chambersburg woman accused of sending text messages about her then-4-year-old stepson's deteriorating medical condition, but not taking him to a doctor, testified in court Thursday. Michele Renae Hunter, 28, is charged with aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of children, simple assault and conspiracy. She told a Franklin County (Pa.) Court of Common Pleas judge that she was “depressed” and “spaced out” when she gave statements to police in March 2011. “I was not functioning at all,” Hunter said.

It's difficult to make concussion statistics scarier than they are. But here are a few eye-openers:  Each year, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1.7 million people in the United States suffer a traumatic brain injury. About 475,000 of those cases are children.  High school football players alone sustain 100,000 diagnosed concussions during a season, while the average college lineman sustains between 950 and 1,100 subconsussive blows — hits that are enough to cause cumulative damage to young brain tissue but not enough to cause immediate symptoms.

Friday night lights. Gridiron glory. With the start of a new school year comes another fall ritual - the return of football. But as teams step onto the field, coaches are chalking more than Xs and Os. Concussions are now part of their play books. There was a time when head traumas were called dingers and playing with injury was a sign of toughness. You got your bell rung, you sat out a play and then went right back into the huddle. But with former National Football League players bringing more public attention to the topic, the affects of concussions are being addressed at all levels of athletics, including youth programs.

Doctors didn't think 17-year-old Malory Weller would survive the accident that trapped her inside her vehicle without food, water or medical treatment for more than 11 hours. But, they didn't take into account the fighting spirit of the spunky Greencastle-Antrim High School senior, who has battled back against the odds and will return home soon to her family and friends. Malory's mother, Tressa Weller, who has been at her side every day since the Aug. 4 accident, called The Herald-Mail with good news.

Approximately 100 people participated in a fundraiser for the Wounded Warrior Project on Sunday that centered around a 75-mile ride to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., organizer Chad Craig said. Forty motorcycles and a couple cars took part in the Ride for Recovery, which was sponsored byHarley-Davidsonof Williamsport, Cancun Cantina and 101.5 Bob Rocks, said Craig, who organized the event with his wife, Lisa. The ride began at theHarley-Davidsonshop, and participants were invited to Cancun Cantina for a party afterward, he said.

A delayed autopsy report prompted a Washington County Circuit Court judge on Tuesday to postpone the trial of a Hagerstown man who is charged in the October 2011 death of a 2-year-old boy. Washington County Circuit Judge M. Kenneth Long set Brian Michael Miller's trial date for Sept. 11. Miller, 33, of 360 Buena Vista Ave., is charged with 16 counts, including first-degree murder, second-degree murder and manslaughter in the death of Logan Sellers, according to court documents.

Hagerstown police and the Washington County State's Attorney's Office are investigating the circumstances surrounding brain injuries a toddler suffered in March which a report said have left the boy with “no chance of a meaningful recovery.” “It's still technically in the investigative stage,” Assistant State's Attorney Michele Hansen said Wednesday. It had not been determined whether charges would be pursued or an attempt made to get a grand jury indictment, Hansen said.