Johnny's Transcript

Sheri Ghindea (mother): The worst call you could possibly get. We need to get to the hospital right away. "Is my son alive?" "We cannot answer that, you just need to get to the hospital as soon as you can." John was driving on a street, a road, I guess a County road, in Mechanicsburg, crossing an intersection, and was hit in the door by another driver. Both vehicles rolled over and ended up upside down in the ditch. We were told that he was not ejected from the car but he had to be removed from the car through the back window. He had to be CareFlighted to Miami Valley Hospital.

John Bini, MD: The first time we heard about John, was when our trauma pagers went off and we found out that CareFlight was coming in with a category 1 trauma from the scene.

John Bini, MD:Category 1 traumas are the sickest patients. John was a category 1 trauma, because he wasn't breathing on his own, because his blood pressure was low, and because of his head injury.

Kurt Forrest, (coach): The one thing that I kept wrapping my head around, other than the Big Man upstairs, and keep praying to him was, Johnny's a fighter, and if there's any chance of survival, he's going to grab it and he's going to run with it.

Alyssa Gans, MD: The ER is a fabulous place for receiving patients, evaluating patients and stabilizing patients, but we knew that John was sick enough that he was going to need a lot of support over a longer period of time, so once his injuries and been evaluated, and once we knew what kind of care he needed, we brought him up to our intensive care unit for monitoring and to take care of all of his injuries.

Charlie Samples (father): We started counting hours.

Sheri Ghindea: We started counting hours, because they told us the first 24 hours were going to be the most important, and once we hit that milestone, the next milestone would be 48 hours, and then the next milestone would be 72 hours. If he makes it past the first milestone, that's a reason to celebrate.

Charlie Samples: Right.

Sheri Ghindea: The second milestone, the same. 72 hours ... once we get through 72 hours that's a good indication that we may be okay.

John Bini, MD: Unfortunately, at that point in time it's still very early when you look at things, globally. We don't know where he's going to end up and what his highest level of function is, and, that's the hardest thing to counsel families on. It's, "I know your kid's hurt. He's young, he has that going for him. All we can do is wait and see where he ends up." That's a very hard thing to have to tell families, it's a much harder thing for families to have to hear.

Alyssa Gans, MD: After John had been here for about three or four days, when we were able to send him down for a second study on the blood vessels in his neck, and, we found out that the blood vessels in his neck were okay, meaning that the blood flow to his brain was okay, and the pressures in his head stayed okay at the same time? I got a lot more optimistic. That was the point at which I was sure he would survive. The trouble with an injury like John's, though, is that you never know how much function they're going to recover. My next big concern was that he wasn't as awake as we wanted him to be, and, whether or not that was ever going to change.

Charlie Samples: I just kept telling myself, "One step at a time." I said earlier, you kind of count the minutes then you count the hours. I just kept saying that, yeah, John wasn't ... he wouldn't give up so I'm not going to give up, either."

John Samples: It just means that it was a day when everything I think changed. Like, before, my main goal was to get ready for football season. I was in the best shape I was ever in ... Now, it's, get recovered from the accident.

Kurt Forrest: Watching his family go through it has been such a testimony to how strong those people are, and, that their faith and their belief in their son and how strong it was. I've watched his sister, basically, never leave his side. She's been there every single time I've been here she comes to football practice. She might sit up on the hill and leave him alone, but she's still there. She's been right there through everything. Mom and dad have just been some of the toughest people I've ever seen through this. It's been a brutal journey, but it's one that's been a journey of triumph at the same time.

Sheri Ghindea: Miami Valley saved John's life. Miami Valley enabled us to keep John around to see what comes next.

Charlie Samples: Right.

Sheri Ghindea: If it were not for Miami Valley Hospital, and their phenomenal staff, emergency department, CareFlight ...

Charlie Samples: The EMT's here at Mechanicsburg ... Everything had to happen exactly the way it happened in order for John to survive. After John's accident, it was very critical that he ... He needed care right away, so, from the EMT's, to CareFlight to Miami Valley, everything happened the way it had to happen in order for John to survive. I know when we were down there, waiting to see John it was hard for us, but, when you hear what was going on? Like when we took the tour down there, when we were actually down in the trauma room ... in the Level One trauma room, the girls were telling us there was like, 30-some people in there.

Sheri Ghindea: Yeah. They didn't ... He went to the best place in the ...

Charlie Samples: They saved his life. They're the reason why we still haven't given up, you know?

John Samples: You just got to keep your head up and keep grinding ... it may seem bad, but it's like, you know it can get better.