Amazing Brain Injury Recovery
Defying the Odds: Jason Crigler's Comeback
By Kimberly Papa
In the summer of 2004, Jason Crigler’s life was pretty close to perfect. The 34-year-old was a successful guitarist in New York City, playing with the likes of Norah Jones and Marshall Crenshaw, and his new CD was about to be released. His wife, Monica, was pregnant with their first child. But on August 4th, while playing a gig, Jason’s world came to a screeching halt. He suffered a near-fatal brain hemorrhage and went into a vegetative state.
The doctors said it didn’t look good. He had suffered from an arteriovenous malformation hemorrhage, which are rare, but tend to occur most often in young people. They didn’t know if Jason would live, and if he did, they didn’t know what would be left of him -- the bleeding had been severe, and he didn’t have very much brain function left.
Even though the prognosis was grim, Jason’s family -- his parents, his wife and his sister -- refused to accept that he couldn’t get better. They devoted themselves to round-the-clock care and rehabilitation. For the next year and a half Jason remained unconscious. When Jason was moved from St. Vincent's Hospital in New York City to Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston, his New York-based family moved with him. The progress was slow, but with each improvement -- the ability to blink, to swallow on his own, to say “Hi,” and to take a step -- Jason began to defy what doctors thought his outcome would be.
Eventually, his family brought him home, where the intensive care continued. They dressed, fed and bathed him. They took him to therapy appointments and continued to try to stimulate his brain as much as possible. Slowly, pieces of the old Jason began to emerge. Today, nearly five years later, Jason has made a 90 percent recovery from his brain injury. His family rallied around him, and together they defied the medical odds stacked against them.
Jason’s filmmaker friend, Eric Metzgar, documented this incredible journey in “Life. Support. Music.,” which premiered last week on PBS. (Watch a preview of the film on the right). In it, you can see footage from Jason’s earliest days at the rehabilitation hospital woven in with interviews of his family, with footage of Jason now. You can see the entire film here.
AOL spoke with Jason about his harrowing experience and how his life has changed since his brain injury.
Click through the photo gallery below to learn more about Jason's recovery and what his life is like now. (Story continues below gallery.)
Jason Crigler
Jason Crigler and Monica in 1999, five years before Jason's brain injury.
Jason Crigler
In 2005, soon after he returned home from a year-long stay in the hospital, Jason Crigler's family (his daughter, wife and father) take him for a walk in the woods.
Marjorie Crigler
Jason Crigler after returning home from a year in the hospital.
Marjorie Crigler
In 2006, Jason Crigler holds his daughter, Ellie, during his recovery from a brain injury.
Monica Crigler
In 2007, Jason Crigler gets a kiss from his daughter Ellie during his long recovery from a brain injury.
Monica Crigler
Jason, Monica and Ellie Crigler in 2008.
Barbara Gates
Jason Crigler and his daughter Ellie at a sing-a-long in 2008.
David Kominz
Jason Crigler plays a concert with his wife Monica in 2008 while their daughter Ellie keeps them company on stage.
Flip Scipio
There Was No Warning
AOL Health: Before the night of August 4, 2004, when you had the brain hemorrhage, were there any warning signs? Did you have any symptoms, such as headaches?
Jason Crigler: Believe me when I tell you, there was nothing. I was doing yoga four days a week; I was in great shape and eating well. I had a very active professional life, playing music most nights of the week and touring. There was nothing. I was in a good state of mind, in a good mood and active in every way. Even the night it happened, I remember having dinner at a little place near the club and the sound check, and there was no problem whatsoever. It was like a lightening bolt out of the blue.
AOL Health: Do you remember actually having the hemorrhage?
Crigler: I remember running off stage in the middle of the set and grabbing my wife, Monica. I remember being outside and getting down on the sidewalk and being put in the ambulance, but from that point my memory is gone for about a year and a half. It’s just gone.
AOL Health: You were in a vegetative state during that time. Did you have any sense of what was happening to you, or any feeling of wanting to communicate or move and being simply unable to?
Crigler: I was conscious at some points within that time, and later people would tell me about conversations I had with them, but I don’t remember any of that. Over time, little bits and little fragments have poked through -- I remember taking a shower or being excited to walk to a certain point in a hallway. We know now that I was definitely taking stuff in. There was a particular CD that my mom purchased while I wasn’t conscious. It was music from India, which I had never heard before that she would play every night before she left. Like a year after I had come home she put it in, and I knew every song on the CD, yet I don’t remember hearing it.
AOL Health: Is it frustrating to lose such a large piece of your life?
Crigler: I wouldn’t say it’s frustrating, and a lot of my family says I wouldn't really want to remember it, because it was mostly lying in a hospital bed and not being able to do much. So it was actually probably better in the big picture.
AOL Health: Has seeing the film and getting to, in some way, be a part of that time been a positive thing for you?
Crigler: At first it was bizarre, but now I can feel proud more than anything because I’m at a point in recovery where if you were to see me and talk to me face-to-face you wouldn’t know anything was wrong. When I see that footage of me from Spaulding [the rehabilitation hospital] it’s a huge reality check, because I can clearly see how far I’ve come. So it makes me feel good in a weird way.
Continued: The Long Road To Recovery
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Recent Comments
KristyK13 05:44:24 AM Jul 16 2009
This has nothing to do with health insurance. It has to do with the will to overcome. There are many people with excellent health coverage, myself included, who will be misdiagnosed or it will come on suddenly as explained in the article. Wake up people and stop blaming everyone else. Do you really want the government in charge of your health care?If you actually read the story you would see that this gentleman was fine, felt fine and in over all good shape, it was a sudden attack that left him in that state it has nothing to do with insurance!!!!!
TEGM55 08:29:45 PM Jul 15 2009
This is an amazing story about the love and support of a family as well as the support and dedication of doctors and others. It is also amazing that this young man survived and is now able to function on his own. What are the chances of surviving this anywhere in the world? Thanks for sharing this wonderful story.
Dottiempls 08:14:32 PM Jul 15 2009
Char 1446: I agree with you, the same thing happened to me and 3 years later I'm still thankful and dedicate much of my time making sure that I don't waste the opportunity I've been re-given. I was not very different from the way I am now but I think those of us who go through these things and survive, do so, to be living examples ~instead of the people who passed away (because many, many do) can't remind us everyday that life itself is both great and delicate. We all can't help but give it respect when such serious illnesses occur. I am so thankful for the lives saved everyday (in addition to my own) and hope that we all collectively will learn to enjoy the truly good (non material) things about life.
NYDayZee 07:36:26 PM Jul 15 2009
ATKN39, you're actually wrong. The US does not have the best health care in the world. We have the most expensive. Compared to all the other industrialized nations we have the highest rate of uninsured with the lowest access to available care. Our president is making all the right moves to try to insure that more US citizens have access to care. I am a nurse practitioner and I work every day with people who do not have insurance. It is very sad because they often cannot afford to get the care that they need.
RCwoods57 07:34:56 PM Jul 15 2009
Char446 put it best! This is a wonderful story of achievement. I wish everyone would quit making a political circus out of it. Are you all that negative? Didn't you learn anything from this man's story? Look at the positives. STOP AND SMELL THE ROSES and quit looking for the dog crap in the grass!
charlstern 07:26:03 PM Jul 15 2009
Evidently, Jason possessed comprehensive healthcare insurance coverage, which most Americans do not possess. Jason is the exception. Most of you Americans would be dead now, even if you suffered from a more benign burst of a blood vessel in the brain. Good luck suckers without your comprehensive healthcare insurance! Boy, are you Americans such stupid suckers!
Atkn39 07:21:02 PM Jul 15 2009
It is a good thing Mr.Odumba's healthcare was not in effect or he would have died.This ladies and gentlemen, is American Healthcare at its finest. However, IF Mr.Odumba gets his way anyone with this condition will wai t until he dies unless his name is Kennedy. Wake up America. We have the best healthcare system in the world. We DO NOT need this Horrible Healhcare ala Odumba. HBe is taking our freedoms away while the media "entertains" you with MIchael Jackson and the latest ltheory of who or what did Jackson in.
Char446 07:18:12 PM Jul 15 2009
I found it very interesting to read this story. I also suffered a brain hemorrhage without any warning. My family stood by me in the same manner and I know that had it not been for their dedication I wouldn't be the person I am today. If you can gleam one thing out of this story please let it be that you enjoy everyday of your life and don't sweat the small stuff. "Stop and smell the roses" took on a whole new meaning for me. I also realized that material things are just that material things as I laid there knowing I was dying all that I remember going thru my head was my family and the memories we shared not once did I ever think about any material thing I owned. Life can be too short enjoy every minute.
bocaack 07:01:36 PM Jul 15 2009
I saw this film this past weekend and it was an incredible journey! This man, his family, and his friends, both famous,and not so famous, will all be heroes for what they believed and made to be true. I was moved and cried at the end . This is a story for everyone to see and realize that life is pretty ,pretty good but there are people who just make it so much better!
