Dave Bissonette's Road Home

The road is long

With many a winding turn ...

He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother

So on we go

His welfare is of my concern

No burden is he to bear

We’ll get there

For I know

He would not encumber me

He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother

He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother

a song performed by The Hollies, written by Bob Russell and Bobby Scott

In the early morning hours of July 6, 2022, David Bissonette sustained a severe brain injury. A neighbor heard noises in the road and saw a man lying on the ground and dialed 911. His wife, Amy Harris, awoke to voices outside and then saw the flashing lights of emergency vehicles. When she looked out the window, she recognized the man on the ground as Dave. We now know that Dave sustained a severe, life-threatening brain injury that night.

Hi! I’m Tracy Harris, Amy’s sister. While Amy and Dave focus on his stabilization and recovery, I have set up this site to ask for your generosity because we know that although he’s made recent progress, Dave’s road home (#davesroadhome) will be long and arduous. Amy says that road will be comprised of baby steps and although she has some words to say about “the marathon and not the sprint,” it will indeed be a very long road.

To give you a bit more background information, I’ll return to those early morning hours of July 6th. Dave was rushed to the hospital and then rushed into emergency, life-saving brain surgery. He remained in the Intensive Care Unit of the University of Vermont’s Medical Center in Burlington, Vermont for three weeks after two additional brain surgeries and other procedures, as well. He receives excellent care and is followed intensively by a team of neurologists, cardiologists, an infectious disease team, respiratory specialists, critical care nurses, licensed nursing assistants, and certified patient care assistants. Having just made it off of the ICU and onto a “regular” hospital room on the neurology wing of the hospital, speech-language pathologists, physical therapists, and occupational therapists have now been added to the mix.

To make a really difficult time even more challenging, our brother (Dave’s brother-in-law), Richard Max Harris, passed away from a fierce fight against an aggressive form of cancer the day after Dave’s injury. One week later, Dave had to miss the funeral of his mother, Kay (Cronk) Bissonnette, who’d passed away a few months earlier near her hometown in Michigan. Immediate members of the Bissonette and Harris families have some grieving to do but haven’t had the time or space to do so fully as they cope with Dave’s immediate and critical care needs.

There you have the recent past and present, so onto the future! Once he’s medically stable, Dave will move to a rehabilitation facility nearby to begin the second phase of his road home. There, he'll engage in the arduous work of gaining back his strength and coordination, improving his ability to function at home and in the community, adapting to changes that may occur during his recovery, and preventing/treating any medical, physical, or psychological complications of his traumatic brain injury (TBI).

It has been a whirlwind of ups and downs, but what the injury did not take from Dave is his feistiness, spunk, and tendency to keep others entertained. Although Dave’s condition is severe, we believe his mischievous, tenacious spirit will get him home!

Family education and training are a large part of rehabilitation for people who’ve endured traumatic brain injury. Amy will need to continue spending time in the hospital and rehab facility to learn how best to support Dave in his healing and recovery. Even after he’s traveled this long road and reaches home, he’s likely to need continued outpatient therapies to retrain his brain to do many activities of daily living. We don’t yet know if he’ll need adaptive equipment or home renovations.

All of this is our way of keeping you informed but also letting you know that we simply have no way to predict what the medical costs alone will entail, and lost wages will be another hurdle Amy and Dave will face in the many months ahead. We intend to update you with a breakdown of the costs, so you will know how your contributions are helping.

As I mentioned previously, Amy has been by Dave’s bedside for nearly all of her waking hours, and she’s been joined by their incredible son, Eli, and their amazing daughter, Missy, who flew in from Florida to be here for a couple of weeks. While their third child (second in birth order), Donny, wanted to jump into his truck and drive the 16 hours from his home in Michigan to be by his dad’s side, Amy asked him to bat clean-up. Donny will bring up the rear and provide the support they’ll need when his dad returns home. If you know Amy or Dave, you will know that their network of family, friends, customers, coworkers, and neighbors is vast. Amy and Dave feel the support from so many people and are ever grateful. Offers of food, support, time off, and logistics have been flowing. They are blessed and feel so very loved!!!