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Family relies on faith after motorcycle crash
archived from: 2013-01-18
by: Patricia Bartos

God is our strength says accident victim's father

Dominic Balash faces a lengthy recovery following his serious motorcycle accident of four months ago.

But the young resident of Pittsburgh’s South Side is relying on a support team made up of his parents and six older siblings — and the family’s strong faith — in addition to his medical team.

Balash was heading to work at the Cochran auto dealership in Robinson Township, where he worked as a service writer, early Sept. 13 when he struck a pickup truck that turned in front of him.

As he was rushed to the trauma center intensive care unit at Allegheny General Hospital with massive head injuries, a broken right arm and other injuries, his far-flung family moved into action.

Three sisters arrived — from their homes in Altoona and Windber, Pa., and Fairfax, Va. — in those first hours, joined by his favorite aunt, Joann “Cookie” Cramer, a surgery technician from Fox Chapel.

His parents were en route, too — Larry from Alaska, where he had been on a fishing trip with his oldest son, and Jane, who had been in Missouri helping her grandson and his wife care for their newborn child. Another daughter met her in Indianapolis to accompany her to Dominic’s bedside.

And his pastor, Franciscan Father Rod Soha of St. Anthony of Padua in Windber, Somerset County, arrived to administer the sacrament of anointing of the sick.

Dominic faced possible significant swelling in the brain from his diffuse axonal injury. Doctors inserted a shunt and placed him on a respirator as his family began an around-the-clock vigil.

But they were also joined in prayer by another team. They estimate at least 225 people around the country were offering thousands of prayers for Dominic.

The family used social media — mainly Facebook — plus telephone tree calls, church announcements and the family members’ own personal networks in what they call “an amazing amount of prayer support,” culminating in a “cyber vigil” on Dom’s 23rd birthday, Oct.1.

“Their mother raised good kids,” Dominic’s father, Larry, said of his wife, Jane, in explaining their call to prayer.

Dominic regained consciousness 11 days after the accident, and two days later took his first steps. That was when doctors found a new complication. A serious knee injury had been overlooked and required surgery.

He was transferred to UPMC Mercy’s Brain Injury Center, began physical therapy and, on Oct. 2, first spoke, responding to questions. Three days later, all of his siblings arrived to share a day with him. His two brothers live in Alaska.

A month after the accident he made his first “field trip,” venturing out to a Subway restaurant with his sister, niece and nephew, and four days after that was released for outpatient treatment.

“It was like coming out of a fog” when Dominic finally left the hospital, his mother said. She found comfort in attending daily Mass in Mercy’s chapel.

The family’s support continues. His parents sold their home in Windber and moved into an apartment on Pittsburgh’s South Side to care for Dominic and get him to therapy. He will be evaluated again at the end of January.

“Because of the brain injury we basically have a 23-year-old adolescent right now,” Larry said. “It will be a long road to full recovery, but physically he’s been doing astoundingly well.”

His mother, a nurse, agreed. “Our priority is helping him to regain as much independence as he can.”

They bought Dominic a laptop computer so he can work on brain activity development. He’s working hard on therapy, but he is also frustrated and fears what the future holds, she said. “But as he finds more things he can do and sees improvement it helps him to have a little more patience.”

Larry said, “I find pretty great solace in God’s words in Isaiah 41:10: ‘Fear not, I am with you; be not dismayed; I am your God. I will strengthen you, and help you, and uphold you with my right hand of justice.’”

“This wasn’t in my plans,” he said. “We made some pretty significant changes in our life, but it’s an opportunity for us to do everything necessary to support a member of our family.”

Jane, an only child, was struck by the dedication of Dominic’s siblings in supporting him and their parents.

“Having all the children gather together and being able to see them all care for each other is really heartening,” she said. The family also includes 10 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

For now, Larry is also concerned with job hunting. He was terminated from his job in late August and is going on interviews. A 32-year Air Force veteran, he had most recently worked as a business development manager on a project with the Predator mission aircraft.

Both parents are natives of the Springdale and Cheswick area, and Larry left for the Air Force Academy after high school. The family spent many years in Alaska because of Larry’s service career.

They plan to be here through at least April, “but we’ll see what God has lined up next,” Larry said. “He is our strength, that’s how we deal with these kinds of things.” Jane added, “God will see us through it.”

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