March 15, 2002

3:40 AM

My friend Duncanis comatose in a hospital clear across the country after a horrible car accident last weekend, and there is little I can do. His brother is keeping us all updated as to his progress, but the prognosis [shockwave: diffuse axonal injury] is not good. Yesterday, he suffered a mild heart attack, and they can't give him so much as an aspirin, because of his recent cranial bleeding. There's no time for establishing a formal open source project, but if anyone's got a few spare cycles to ping him (as his sister said, one of those wires plugged into him has to be a T3) and let him know we miss him, it'd mean a lot to us.
posted by birddog (26 comments total)

I'm so sorry - the <BR CLEAR="ALL"> tag I included in my post screwed up the home page. Damn it, if Duncan were here, he'd check my syntax!
posted by birddog at 3:45 AM on March 15, 2002

I wish him a speedy recovery. He will recover. Have faith.
posted by ericdano at 3:51 AM on March 15, 2002

I considered it a moment of silence for whatever is appropriate. We humans are a fragile species, but resilient. Don't lose hope.
posted by internook at 3:54 AM on March 15, 2002

God, please take care of Duncan and those who love him.
posted by alumshubby at 4:15 AM on March 15, 2002

A prayer for Duncan from sunny Portugal has been pinged too.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 4:25 AM on March 15, 2002

I don't understand the stuff about pinging or open source, but please pass on best wishes to him, friends and family from this MeFi'er.
posted by Frasermoo at 5:13 AM on March 15, 2002

I'm praying for you, Duncan - It sounds like a lot of people are looking forward to seeing you up and around - God Bless -
posted by jalexei at 5:27 AM on March 15, 2002

That "clear all" tag made the entire front page of metafilter, except for this post, disappear if you're viewing with IE. It made the topic of this particular post seem even more solemn. Best wishes for a speedy recovery, Duncan.
posted by Badmichelle at 5:34 AM on March 15, 2002

Man, I'm really sorry that happened. I'll be praying for you too Duncan, and I wish you and all your friends well. There is reason to have hope. God has a plan in all of this.
posted by aaronshaf at 5:34 AM on March 15, 2002

I'll be praying for Duncan, and I hope you're getting some support too, birddog.
posted by iconomy at 5:44 AM on March 15, 2002

It is so strange to find out about this horrible accident from a website in San Francisco, as I work here on campus in a building just down the street from the UK Med Center. As a fellow Lexingtonian, the world feels at once very small. The staff at UK are top-notch, as you can tell from the weblog. I have seen them perform miracles there and have much faith in their skills. My heart goes out to Duncan and his family and friends.
posted by cowboy at 6:16 AM on March 15, 2002

Best wishes to Duncan for a speedy recovery.
posted by Oriole Adams at 6:21 AM on March 15, 2002

Get well quickly Duncan, my thoughts are with you and your family and friends.
posted by Tarrama at 6:30 AM on March 15, 2002

a span of accidental quiet.
we're all armed with morning coffee and burning through the daily reads,
and the sudden silence is like a retro-rocket slowing our descent.
its welcome.
bless duncan and bless birddog.
posted by grabbingsand at 6:50 AM on March 15, 2002

ping -f
posted by jcterminal at 7:07 AM on March 15, 2002

Duncan, I've said a prayer for you. Hang in there, a lot of people are expecting you to pull through, we're waiting for your post!
posted by Jubey at 7:26 AM on March 15, 2002

Best wishes for Duncan from DC.
posted by GriffX at 7:46 AM on March 15, 2002

is this another scam?
posted by surfmoc at 7:57 AM on March 15, 2002

MetaTalk.
posted by Su at 8:06 AM on March 15, 2002

I'm going to be the ogre here.

I'm sorry for your friend's difficulties, and you will be in my thoughts, but this wasn't the place for it. Metatalk might have been appropriate. I would hate to see this type of post appear more frequently.

It's nothing personal, and I do wish you the best. I just don't want to see the floodgates opened.
posted by frykitty at 8:06 AM on March 15, 2002

I gotta concur with frykitty, both in the well wishes and the placement of the post. Also, I think that Matt possibly would have sideblogged this with a personal request. I sincerely hope everything will turn out okay.
posted by Avogadro at 8:10 AM on March 15, 2002

I surprised Matt hasn't kicked this post. He doesn't allow self-serving or personal ones. Is an exception made because it's sad?
posted by fleener at 8:19 AM on March 15, 2002

It doesn't look like Duncan Murphy was a Mefi user, but he has a weblog.
posted by waxpancake at 8:36 AM on March 15, 2002

frykitty, avogadro, fleener: metatalk.

Duncan: best wishes.
posted by arielmeadow at 8:36 AM on March 15, 2002

Maybe this post be more appropriate if the FPP looked something like this:

An estimated 5.3 million Americans—a little more than 2% of the U.S. population—currently live with disabilities resulting from brain injury. Many more people now live than die, but most are never the same.

My prayer's are with Duncan, but this isn't the movies: Recovery can be a long, slow process. Brain injuries are weird, and can affect not only physical (motor control, balance) and sensory abilities (vision, smell), but also fundamentally alter people's personalities. My father suffered a near-fatal head injury 15 years ago, and in many ways he's still recovering.

This process is difficult for family and friends, as well as the head-injured person. Where is the mango princess? is a funny, excruciating book by the wife of a man with a similar injury. Take heart.
posted by oddovid at 9:08 AM on March 15, 2002

Sorry for the disturbance (both physical and emotional). Thanks for the support - I've replied to Matt's request to take down the post.
posted by birddog at 9:28 AM on March 15, 2002