Better Every Day

Better Every Day

Traumatic brain injury almost claimed the Lattuada’s son, but despite their shock and Josh’s ongoing struggles, this Sacramento family discovered hope in the midst of their heartbreak, and a community brimming with compassion.

By Brandy Tuzon Boyd

Heidi and Chris Lattuada had just met up with friends for a rock concert in Marysville when someone's phone rang. It was the Lattuada's oldest son calling, trying to track down his parents. His little brother, Joshua, had just been in a serious accident.

Josh was walking home with his brother Nick, sister Grace and their babysitter from a school carnival. As the four crossed a street, one block from the Lattuada's home in Sacramento, Josh was hit by a car. He had celebrated his ninth birthday six days earlier.

Sheriff's deputies working the concert gave the Lattuadas a police escort to the Yuba-Sacramento county line. All Heidi and Chris knew for sure was that Josh was in an ambulance headed for UC Davis Medical Center. As one drove, the other called their pastor and then a family friend, a nurse who lives two blocks from the hospital, and asked to meet them there.

“Heidi was frantic and I was trying to stay calm,” Chris says. “I was thinking at the same time, 'Please let him live.'”

While Josh suffered no internal injuries, his condition was grim. His skull was fractured, one leg broken in two places, there were numerous facial fractures, an orbital eye fracture, a broken clavicle, several broken ribs, and a traumatic brain injury.

“His [brain injury] was in the frontal area and the back,” says Dr. Robin Timm, clinical neuropsychologist at UC Davis Medical Center. “That means the brain went coup-contra-coup ... against the skull on both sides.” Dr. Timm adds, “He had some seizures – all not really good.”

A CAT scan of Josh's brain showed toxic bleeds and swelling. Doctors prepared to perform a craniotomy, an operation to remove part of the skull and relieve the pressure. But 48 hours after the accident, swelling stabilized and the procedure was canceled. Josh, meanwhile, remained in a coma.

“We were concerned about severe brain damage,” says Heidi.

News of Josh's accident spread quickly throughout the Lattuada's close-knit neighborhood in Natomas, and both friends and strangers rallied to support the family.

A prayer vigil held just days after the accident was attended by 100 people, many of whom were Josh's classmates. A Web site was set up to broadcast regular updates on Josh's condition. Dozens prepared meals at the local Dinner My Way store, which offered a discount on behalf of the Lattuadas. Within the first week, 200 people had visited them at the hospital.

“It really jolted me as well as the whole community,” says Fred Hammer, a family friend and Josh's former Little League coach. “It could have been any one of our kids.”

The Lattuadas will tell you out of the tragedy, they witnessed miracles. Doctors told them Josh would likely be in a coma for two months, but after only two weeks, the little boy known for his wit and sensitivity started to wake up. Still, doctors warned that a child who suffers a traumatic brain injury always has a brain injury. Just how much Josh would recover was uncertain.

Back to Life

As soon as Josh was moved from the intensive care unit to the pediatric recovery ward, he started speech, physical and occupational therapies. Work to coordinate movements between his mind, eyes and hands proved challenging, especially given his bodily injuries. Some aspects of Josh's recovery were harder than others. For example, he could recognize and name letters in the alphabet but at first could not put them in order. Still, every day Josh's parents watched as he made progress.

While outsiders might think the Lattuadas pushed their son to do too much, too fast, the science proves otherwise.

“A child's brain is still growing, still flexible and can accommodate more quickly,” says Dr. Timm. “We encourage kids, as soon as they are ready, to get back to school and back to life.”

Doctors originally estimated Josh would go home after a four- to six-month hospital stay, but only five weeks after the accident, Josh was back in Natomas. He returned to school three days later thanks to his third-grade teacher who had experience with traumatic brain injury.

Linda Valentine says she worked with Josh at the hospital three times a week and tutored him while he was off track to catch him up before he returned to school. Academically, Josh didn't miss a beat in terms of what was expected of him – it just became harder. He had forgotten his multiplication facts, writing was a challenge for him, and unless he heard something read out loud, he had difficulty comprehending what he could read. Since Josh struggled to retain information in his mind and then write it down on paper, all of his testing was done verbally one-on-one.

Valentine shares much of the credit for Josh’s recovery with Heidi and Chris. “They are the most amazing parents I've seen in my life, and I have been a teacher a long time,” she says. “Josh wouldn't be who he is today if it weren't for them. He's the luckiest kid, there's just so much love and support in that family.”

“He went back to school and did real well,” says Chris. “The next year started, and he had a teacher who didn't understand traumatic brain injuries.”

Educating the Community

Natomas Park Elementary School has a full inclusion program, but Josh is their first student with a brain injury. When the Lattuadas met with school officials to talk about special education services for their son, they came armed with data showing the difference between learning disabilities and brain injuries. They even went so far as to arrange a free, daylong training session about the brain, brain functions and teaching techniques for Natomas Unified School District employees, given by UC Davis medical experts.

“In some areas there is no difference [between Josh before the accident and after], he's still quick-humored, still very positive and wants to do well in school,” says Principal Brent Johnson. “In other areas he acts impulsively because of the traumatic brain injury.”

Now a fifth grader, Josh has an instructional aid assigned to him while he's at school. He continues to receive accommodations in areas such as testing; he takes them in a quiet place and is not timed. There is also an open-door policy at the school's learning center which provides Josh a place to go when he becomes overwhelmed.

Physically, there is nothing Josh cannot do, but there are things he should not do—such as play hockey, tackle football and wrestling—that might further injure his brain. His eye injury continues to be an aggravation for Josh. Josh says he doesn’t really have a favorite subject in school. “Everything is difficult.”

“He asked the other day, 'When will I no longer have a brain injury?'” says Heidi. “He is still an 11-year-old boy, so he thinks about it. And we continue to tell him that he gets better every day.”

Brandy Tuzon Boyd is a local freelance writer, blogger and mother of two.