Jon Gilson opened his eyes for the first time after being in a two-weeklong coma. He awoke in a bed in St. John’s Intensive Care Unit, but without the ability to move his legs.
He was five months away from bringing his curveball, slider and 93-mph fastball to the Lincoln Land Community College Loggers’ pitching mound, but his dreams of playing baseball at any level were dashed.
His dreams of having any future in the game of baseball were
shattered in a matter of seconds.
Gilson, a 2011 graduate of Rochester High School, had a traumatic brain injury and an American Spinal Injury Category B spinal injury, meaning he had incomplete sensory but no motor function below the neurological level.
In layman’s terms, he was paralyzed from the shoulders down.
Gilson had suffered his injuries on Oct. 13, 2011, at 3:15 a.m., after losing control of his Ford Explorer and driving straight through a curve on Fifth Street, just past Stanford Avenue. Gilson’s explorer then ran up a curb and into a steel billboard post, nearly missing the Ayerco gas station in Springfield.
“My whole life was baseball,” said Gilson, who had a 2.77 earned-run average in 55 2/3 innings as a senior on Rochester’s baseball team. “(Baseball was) basically my one true love. It was something to say that I have accomplished, and not to be able to do the one thing that you truly love to do is probably the hardest thing to live with.”
But before the accident, Gilson had been at a party with alcohol.
Gilson, then 18, was heading to his home in Springfield from this party after a dispute with one of his friends.
“I wanted to leave (the party), and he (my friend) tried to stop me from leaving, but that didn’t work,” said Gilson, now 21. “So I left his house, and the last thing I remember is getting in my car, driving along down the road, and I don’t really have any recollection after that.
“I remember waking up in the hospital after that, and the only thing that I could do was shrug my shoulders.”
Gilson said he had an idea of why this was the case, but his mom, Carol Gilson, was the first to break the news.
“(My mom) revealed the news to me for the first time that I was paralyzed from the shoulders down, and I was just shocked, and I didn’t know what to think,” Gilson said.
This, however, was not the only hardship his family endured.
In fewer than two years after Gilson’s accident, his dad, John Gilson, suffered a stroke, while his mom, Carol Gilson, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. But they have since become closer to what life used to be like.
Having suffered a traumatic brain injury, I’m thankful to have my head on my shoulders.
– Jon Gilson
Already overcoming a grim 30 percent chance of surviving his accident, Gilson remains optimistic about his and his family’s future.
“Having suffered a traumatic brain injury, I’m thankful to have my head on my shoulders,” he said. “I have my memory, and I can think clearly.”
Gilson is inspired by his parents to earn an associate degree in business administration at Lincoln Land Community College and have a successful future.
“One thing I keep in mind: ‘There’s always someone out there that is worse off then I am. … It could always be worse.’”
Future plans
Gilson has since regained some arm strength, thanks to weekly physical and occupational therapy at Memorial Medical Center’s Koke Mill Medical Center.
“I’m more worried about trying to get a job more than anything, trying to get strong … trying to get my education. So I can get a job, so I don’t have to penny everything down every month,” he said. “(I’ll) have some money to actually spend … on what I want, instead of just spending it on medication and all that.”
Gilson takes 120 milligrams of muscle relaxers and 1,600 milligrams of nerve medication each day to avoid muscle spasms, which he says are like “mini-seizures.”
“The medication they got me on is ridiculous. … I’m actually really looking forward to this medical marijuana to see if I can get off all this pill stuff,” he said. Medical marijuana is low in THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol) to help reduce the number of seizures one has. “It’s just eating up my organs.”
Carol Gilson, on the other hand, successfully underwent a session of chemotherapy every four weeks last fall. However, one incision reopened. Doctors used a mesh to close it, but found two more spots of cancer.
“It’s bad that it (the incision) ripped open, but luckily it did, because when they went back in, they were actually able to visually see the cancer that wasn’t picked up on the scans,” Gilson said. “So she got lucky there.”
Gilson said his mom has since improved after six more months of chemo.
“She’s a strong woman,” said Gilson, a Cardinals fan who played wide receiver and middle linebacker on Rochester’s football team. “I definitely admire her. She’s been able to overcome something that’s so horrific, and it seems like she kicked cancer in the butt, not letting it take control of her.”
Gilson’s dad is also doing better from his stroke, which caused memory and psychological problems.
“I’m blessed that I have my mom and my dad to help,” Gilson said.
The Gilson family recently bought an accessible van for Gilson to use. But he does not plan to drink again.
“Even though I turned 21 (years old), I don’t really have a desire to drink. … I don’t have any motivation to drink again,” he said. “It’s not worth ruining you’r life over. I mean waiting until you’re 21 is not as bad as it seems.”
Ryan Wilson can be reached at [email protected] or 217-786-2311.