By JILL FANKHAUSER
Alaska Star

Friends, family and community members came out in droves to Lions Park June 25 to help Conor Daugharty - a 22-year-old man with deep Eagle River roots - and his family.

Conor is suffering from a traumatic brain injury he sustained in a May 8 car crash.

Daugharty

Conor is in St. Elias Specialty Hospital in Anchorage, a long-term care facility, as he recovers from his brain injury. He is making slow but steady progress, said his 21-year-old sister Katie Daugharty.

He is not in a coma, Katie said, but he is not fully awake either.

“He’s awake in a sense that he knows his surroundings,” Katie said.

Conor responds to yes-or-no questions by blinking his eyes. He had a tracheotomy tube to help him breathe, but that was unplugged June 22, and he can now breathe on his own. Before he had a valve put in to block the hole in his throat, he could only mouth words.

The day before the procedure his mother, Patty Daugharty, asked Conor for a kiss. He puckered his lips together as if to blow her a kiss, Katie said. That small action was a milestone.

The accident that changed everything

Conor was set to graduate from the University of Alaska Anchorage in December and had plans to go to Arizona State University for law school.

Before the accident, Conor had been at a breakfast at Mountain View Elementary School to be a volunteer coach.

Conor’s car was at the intersection of the Glenn Highway and Mountain View Drive at about 10 a.m. May 8. Conor waited at the stoplight on the highway when 78-year-old Earl Stidham drove his Ford Expedition into Conor’s Chevrolet Malibu at about 65 mph, said Tommy Wanat, one of Conor’s closest friends. Tommy said it was possible that Stidham’s gas pedal got stuck when he tried to brake.

Tommy said Conor was wearing his seatbelt and only had a small cut by his nose and on his forehead. But the collision caused Conor’s brain to hit the inside his skull. The car was sent into a spin, landing in the southbound lane of Mountain View Drive, further agitating Conor’s brain. He also hit the driver’s side window with his head.

Rescuers saw the accident and people were there at just the right time to help Conor, Tommy said. There was a nurse and an emergency medical technician in an ambulance at the intersection. The rescuers were able to pull Conor through the passenger-side door and gave him air. Conor was taken immediately to nearby Alaska Regional Hospital. He needed a respirator to breathe.

Conor has since been moved St. Elias to receive long-term care and therapy. He can stand with the help of parallel bars, drink juice and is starting to vocalize. He is breathing on his own, and as soon as Conor’s doctors say he can go, Conor will be transferred to Craig Hospital in Colorado, where he will get more intensive care

Devoted family and friends

Patty and Scott Daugharty, Connor’s parents, were once teachers in local schools and are well known in Eagle River. Conor and Katie have lived here since birth. The family has a reputation of being kind, active and involved in the community. Even in the hospital waiting after the accident, Conor’s parents consoled their son’s friends.

“His parents were the ones comforting me when I was supposed to be comforting them,” Tommy said.

Patty recently accepted a principal position at Chinook Elementary School in Anchorage. Scott is an administrator with the Matanuska-Susitna School District. Both are taking leave from their jobs to care for Conor and move with him to Craig Hospital. The timeline for his recovery is unknown, Katie said. It could take six months or two years.

Conor’s family and friends have not left his side. Tommy just graduated from college in Arizona and got the news only two hours after his commencement ceremony. He was on a plane the next day. Another friend, Ryan Starr, was in Utah when he heard about Conor - and wasn’t far behind Tommy. Both men have been friends with Conor since elementary school.

“There is a core group of about three or four that are with him all the time,” said longtime family friend Jacque Starr. “The morale, camaraderie in the waiting room at the hospital - it’s intense, it’s so incredibly positive.”

Tommy and Ryan visit just about every day and are impressed with Conor’s progress. He’s squeezed Tommy’s hand. He’s trying to put words together. He even said his friend’s name the other day. He’s going to rebound from this accident, his friends said.

It’s more than a fundraiser

Inside the Lions Club, pictures of Conor and a guestbook filled with good wishes welcomed about 200 friends, classmates and neighbors to a fundraiser dinner for Conor.

Friends welcomed people, some of them strangers, and invited them to bid on silent auction items or to make a donation in honor of Conor.

Lines of people snaked around the room - some waiting for hamburgers, some bidding on art and fishing trips, and others waiting to make their contribution. An extra-tall jar on the greeters’ table filled with cash - including several one hundred-dollar bills - and checks.

The money will help cover the Daugharty’s living expenses in Colorado and help Katie, who plans to stay in Alaska, pay for trips to see her brother. Conor has medical insurance, so the money will be used to help the family when they need it. His parents are living in an apartment near St. Elias to be as close to Conor as they can.

They are all very devoted to each other, Ryan said.

The fundraiser felt like a party. There were fresh flowers in wine bottles decorating the tables, chips and salsa to snack on, music to bop along to. People laughed and joked - sharing how they knew the Daughartys.

A few of his friends manned the grill out back, cooking up 150 pounds of fresh sirloin donated by Mike’s Meats for the occasion. They toasted to Conor and joked about past parties.

Tommy said the event was therapeutic. It was a chance to talk about their memories and do something good to help their friend.

Friends and family said Conor was always opinionated and would butt heads with them, but remained their best friend. Katie and friends describe him as smart, vibrant, unique, athletic, capable and a devoted friend, brother and son. They don’t expect any of that to change.

“It makes you wonder, how can someone can be so alive, so vibrant, and be so not alive the next second?” Jacque asked.

“I don’t think it could have happened to a more better person,” Katie said.

“You kind of numb yourself to what’s happened,” Tommy said. “It’s sort of unreal.”

Well-wishers can read more about Conor’s progress or make a donation at caringbridge.org/visitor/conordaugharty. Donations are also accepted at any Wells Fargo Bank in Conor’s name.

As of June 30, Conor’s friends raised more than $20,000 to help his family with expenses.

Reach the reporter at jillfankhauser.@alaskastar.com.

This article published in The Alaska Star on Thursday, July 2, 2009.