You never know what strong is until strong is your only choice.
I wanted to see my kids grow up.
They are really the ones that
kept me going when I didn't want to anymore.
I became the Fuel Yard and Safety Manager at this small biomass power plant.
I had been working there a year to the day when the accident occurred.
They had detonated explosives
And looked like a big, huge fireball
The guys fighting the fire saw it and they dropped their fire hoses and ran and yelled "Run!".
I remember feeling the heat and looking down and just seeing orange below me; just flame coming up at me.
The soles of my boots had melted. My shirt was completely burned off, the only thing left was the collar.
My hard hat and my safety glasses had melted to my head, fortunately. That's what saved my scalp in my eyes.
I was thinking about my kids.
One of the things that came came to mind is, "Jean's gonna kill me."
They finally let me in, and I said "That's not that's not Brian."
I couldn't recognize him
He's intubated and they had him on all kinds of machines and I went home and I just remember thinking to myself
Okay, it's gonna be better tomorrow. He's gonna be better tomorrow. I had no idea
I wouldn't talk to him for four and a half more weeks after that.
I was burned over 90% of my body, and
65% were full thickness burns or were third-degree burns
Brian is a person of great fortitude, his military career
testifies to that that, and that helped him rise to the occasion of overcoming
this massive injury. We know patients can get well and go on to great lives,
but only if they get all of the resources and all of the support that they need
Paradigms philosophy is that the way to provide that best care is to plan ahead,
to outline a course of treatment in order to get back to the best possible outcome.
We assemble a team that consists of a network manager who is our boots on the ground.
There's a director of clinical services, we usually call that person the "quarterback" of the team. There's a Paradigm medical director
who is an expert in the field. We have a series of meetings where we outline the
course of the patient what kinds of treatment will be needed and then the network manager carries that out.
Support the family while the patient is in the intensive care unit and probably not able to converse, and we work together as a team
thankfully, it's not all on my shoulders
When Diane came on board. I really thought I was just send a guardian angel, and from that moment on that's how I felt;
I'm not gonna be alone.
We want to put all the effort and management and care
upfront, not waiting to see if you get better on your own. We want to get you back to your life.
I can't imagine
how my recovery would have turned out without someone like Diane. She had been going to bat for us through all the specialists.
My hand reconstruction, which it's pretty miraculous even the hand surgeon that did it
was surprised that the outcome he was able to achieve.
One of the things that's really unique about Paradigms model is that the medical directors that are involved are really experts in care.
Whatever the patient needs, whatever the particular problem involves,
Paradigm has an expert that can focus on that specific issue and provide the best quality advice.
Took a while before I could see a light at the end of the tunnel.
I was in this constant cycle of surgery and recovery and repeat,
and that went on for several years, and during that time there wasn't much I could do.
I think when you have such a traumatic
catastrophic injury where your physical presence is so different than it was prior,
you absolutely need some kind of support
psychologically. I don't think you can recover with just physicians sewing you together.
You've got to heal the heart, and the mind, and the body.
As we were continuing in my recovery,
I remember reaching out to Diane, saying we need to do something to save our marriage.
She facilitated that, and found a phenomenal therapist that did save our marriage.
The Navy was a big part of his life. His Navy friends were an incredible support to him, especially in Washington.
I heard from a lot of my shipmates that I inspire them
That's really humbling.
I think our greatest achievement is that when we're not needed any longer,
that we have passed on the tools and the strengths and
how to get things done so that they can then pick it up and take it from there
You go through a life-threatening situation
and you start to appreciate life more, and it's certainly done that for all of us. Say no  regrets, and pay it forward.
That's probably how we'll continue to live as long as we live.
