in City Hall a week after her husband Bob
was nearly killed in a collision with a
car on Marine Drive.
(Photo © J. Maus)
During last year’s Sad October, our community endured several tragedies.
The two young lives we lost grabbed most of the headlines, but sandwiched between both of them was another tragedy that almost had a similar storyline.
Luckily, the collision between Bob Verrinder and a car on Marine Drive on October 18th did not claim his life. But even today, he struggles on the road to recovery.
His wife Jan Verrinder has been by his side the entire time. Initially following her husband’s brush with death, she became activated and made her face public at a City Hall bike safety press conference. But since then, she has focused solely on supporting him.
“They told me in the beginning over and over, ‘It’s long and slow.’ They were right.”
(Photo courtesy of Bob’s friends)
Jan says Bob is in good spirits and that, “Physically and mentally he is improving. ”
She credits the trauma doctors at Legacy Emanuel hospital for saving his life. Bob was diagnosed with post-traumatic hyrdocephalus (a.k.a. “water on the brain”) back in January and he recently “began to come back to life” after shunt surgery which Jan says, “saved his brain from drowning”.
Fully healed on the outside, Bob is now working with therapists to help heal is brain, relearn movements, and strengthen his muscles.
Jan told me she has read the blog of Anna-Carin Davidson, whose husband Eric is also still recovering from a hit-and-run with a car back in May. “It was difficult,” she said, “because her story reads so much like my log of daily letters I wrote to Bob before he came out of the fog.”
Her support has been steadfast, but Jan says, for people like her and Anna-Carin, there isn’t much choice.
“People marvel, but honestly there’s not much to do other than what we’re doing: hang in, look for the good, fight when you must, collapse when necessary, and love and support. I wish them well.”
Things will never be the same for Jan and Bob Verrinder, but they still have each other.
“I was told early on that I would have my husband back, but that he would be different. I can see that the doctors were right. Fortunately, I love New Bob as much or more than Old Bob, so we will make it, though our lives are changed.”
But even though much has changed, some things remain the same, and Jan remains optimistic about the future. “His sense of humor is just as good as it was. Every day I see something new and good.”