Today’s Honorees are Michael & Linda Maloney

On September 18th, 2004 @ approximately 2:30 AM I, being a dumb 21 year-old took a fall out my 3rd floor college dorm’s window. What ensued was a real-life nightmare, my parents were called in the middle of the night and told to rush to the hospital because I was injured at my school. When my parents arrived at the hospital doctors had to break the news to them that I was brain-dead. Despite these emergency personnel’s apparent death sentence, my folks convinced one neurosurgeon to attempt a last minute brain surgery even though the diagnosis was that I would most likely “expire” on the table. The surgery concluded with mixed results and I was in a coma for over three weeks and questions arose as to whether or not I would ever awake from the brink of death…

I did awake and spent several more weeks in a sem-coma (constantly gaining & losing consciousness). From there, I have overcome many obstacles. I went from a wheelchair being my only means of transportation to running the Boston Marathon.

I went from being a Traumatic Brain Injury survivor to being a college graduate and I couldn’t have overcome these challenges without the support of my large & loving family. More specifically, my parents – Michael & Linda Maloney.