Cathy McCoy is part of one of the eight families that founded On With Life. Her brother, John Konkol, sustained a traumatic brain injury from a motorcross accident in 1985 and after his stay in the hospital, had nowhere to go. Lack of post-acute support for brain injuries not just in Iowa, but throughout the country, is what led John’s family, and several others who echoed their concern, to take action.
“We felt like we were on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere with brain injury back in 1985,” said Cathy. “There seemed to be no specialty for this particular arm of medicine.”
While establishing this specialty was important to the founding families, so was supporting future families who would find themselves in this same situation. Being heavily involved in John’s recovery journey, Cathy knows how a brain injury can impact not just the individual, but the entire family.
“On With Life was started by families who have been through it,” said Cathy. “It was our way of extending out a hand and saying ‘hey, we understand what you are going through.’”
Almost 40 years after those initial conversations started, On With Life has grown into an organization that supports individuals living not just with brain injury, but a variety of neurological conditions, through an array of programming - while keeping family at the center of it all.
The Western family is one of many who have since benefitted from what those families created. Megan and Joel’s son, Bryant, was admitted to On With Life's postacute program in July 2023 after sustaining a traumatic brain injury in a side-by-side accident earlier that year. During Bryant’s stay at On With Life, which lasted a total of four months, his entire family was heavily involved.
“We have always been a tightknit family,” said Megan. “And from the beginning we had heard that family was what was going to help him through this the best.”
Despite being from Edina, Missouri, about three hours from On With Life's main Ankeny campus, Bryant had a family member by his side at all times. This expanded beyond his parents; Bryant’s grandparents, aunts and uncles all became familiar faces around On With Life during Bryant’s stay, traveling from as far as Arkansas to be there. Not only did they take turns staying with Bryant to provide comfort and support, but they also actively participated in many of his therapy sessions. This made a big difference in Bryant’s progress, just as Megan had heard.
“We could see a contrast in productivity of sessions when family was present with Bryant versus when they were gone. He was in a better mood when he had a family member attending therapy,” said Matthew Poots, a physical therapy assistant who worked closely with Bryant while he was at On With Life. “He rarely had sessions with no family in attendance, and those sessions were usually more of a struggle.”
This comes as no surprise to On With Life's chief clinical officer, Dave Anders, who has seen family involvement impact progress for years at On With Life. According to Dave, individuals tend to respond to familiar stimuli before responding to unfamiliar stimuli, which is why more progression is commonly seen when persons served are surrounded by family or loved ones.
“We rely on family to help us understand the best ways to engage persons served. What the persons’ served dreams, patterns, preferences, likes and dislikes are, and how we can integrate those into rehabilitation,” said Dave. “Additionally, the mere presence of someone familiar can be both comforting and engaging to the person served as they navigate the unfamiliar world of rehabilitation.”
One of Dave’s favorite memories was witnessing a man he was working with in On With Life's Disorders of Consciousness program say “I love you” to his wife. They were the first words he had spoken post-injury, and Dave said it was their relationship that was a core driver in progressing his communication. The Western family had a similar effect when it came to Bryant.
While progress wasn’t as obvious from day to-day, the family was able to look back at Bryant’s journey and see just how far he had come during his time at On With Life. As they gathered to celebrate Bryant’s discharge (his mom, dad and all four grandparents included), they reflected on special moments such as the first time Bryant held his head up on his own or when he was able to go down the giant slide at the Iowa State Fair. Megan says that they owe a lot of Bryant’s recovery to prayers and the staff at On With Life, and many staff members shouted out Bryant’s family and their impact during his graduation party.
In the end it was a team effort, staff and family working together as one, truly emulating On With Life's principle of “by families, for families” and showing that together, more is possible.
“Bryant and his family are why we do what we do here at On With Life,” said Matthew