Allie and Daniell Gohman have had an extremely fast-moving, trying 2015-16.

 

In July of 2015, they got married after being together for 11 years. In January of 2016, they bought a new home in Becker and they and their three sons moved themselves in and renovated the formerly foreclosed home. 

 

Then in July of this year, the whirlwind of the past year came to a heart-stopping, scary halt when the family of five nearly became a family of four.

 

July 10, the Gohmans were in Fergus Falls visiting Allie’s parents. As night began to fall, the boys — Kaleb (10), Brayden (7) and Bentley (2) — were all getting ready for bed to spend the night at grandma and grandpa’s.

 

As Daniel was standing near the top step of the home’s spiral staircase, little Bentley (whose nickname is Bentley Boo) took a step or two and fell between the spindles of the staircase to the floor below.

 

About eight-to-10 feet was the distance from the top stairs to the floor.

 

“I’ll never get the sound I heard out of my head,” said Daniel. “It took me a step or two and I was down those steps to my boy.”

 

Bentley had landed on the tile floor below and immediately starting wailing as Daniel picked him up. Daniel, an EMT by trade, began checking Bentley’s bones for breaks and observed his vital signs. One of the first things he noticed was Bentley’s pupils were not responding.

 

“That’s when I noticed the bump and bruise on his head,” said Daniel. “His mouth had blood in it (bit his tongue), but when he started throwing up, I knew we had to get him to the hospital right away.”

 

The Gohmans rushed to the Fergus Falls ER where he was looked at and doctors there did a CT scan that revealed a skull fracture and pressure on the brain. Bentley needed to be seen in Fargo, so they called for a chopper.

 

The Gohmans say that particular night the weather was “horrible” as torrential rains were falling from the skies and winds were very high. The helicopter arrived and began the flight to airlift Bentley to Fargo, but the weather was troublesome and the pilots were forced to make a stop in Hawley to allow for an ambulance to take him the rest of the way.

 

“It was maybe five-to-six hours from when he fell to when they had him in surgery,” said Daniel. “That was pretty fast but it felt like forever.”

 

The doctors saw that Bentley had a fractured skull hematoma and a mid-line shift in his brain. The swelling on the side of his head had bulged so large they had to discharge around 500ccs of blood from his brain.

 

To relieve pressure on his brain, the doctors were forced to remove part of Bentley’s skull during the surgery.

 

“The doctors told us the injury was very severe and they weren’t sure if or when he’d wake up or if he’d not know us or be able to function at all,” said Allie. “Two days we had to wait while he was unconscious.”

 

Little Bentley laid in his bed following surgery with tubes coming out of him and a scar across his tiny head that required 80 stitches to close.

 

But after the second day of unconscious silence, the Gohmans heard the most precious sound.

 

“He saw me and said, ‘mama’,” said Allie.

 

Allie even remembers the surgeon telling her and Daniel later that they haven’t seen a skull injury this bad that the child has survived from.

 

For about a month after being released to go home, Bentley was required to wear a helmet to protect the soft part of his head.

 

Aug. 22, Bentley was back in the hospital for surgery to have the removed skull part put back in and fused to the rest of his cranium. In October, the doctors will do an MRI to see how the skull is fusing and how the injured brain looks.

 

 

While the Gohman family was in Fargo for the surgery and recovery of Bentley, they were put up at the local Ronald McDonald House. There, they were accommodated with a clean room, daily home-cooked meals, laundry facilities, play areas for the kids and toiletries.

 

“That was special to us and we are so grateful for their care and support during that time,” said Allie.

 

“With all the costs associated with the surgery and hospital care, it was nice to see we didn’t have to pay to stay that far away from home.”

 

The Gohmans still have no idea what the long-term affects will be on their little boy, but as of today, he seems to be doing fairly well.

 

“He has a few circumstances where he has some indecisiveness and separation anxiety,” said Allie. “Other than that, he’s back to normal being a kid.”

 

The Gohmans will annually have Bentley checked out by a psychologist to determine the after-effects of the brain injury.

 

The medical bills are piling up, so friends and family members of the Gohmans set up a GoFundMe page (www.gofundme.com/2hgxdg6k) and a Caring Bridge page (www.caringbridge.org/visit/bentleyboo) to keep people updated on his progress and help by donating to the family.

 

“My step-mom and dad gave us a little break when they stepped in and took the kids for a while,” said Allie. “We also had someone drop off a cooler on our doorstep that had food, milk and other goodies in it to help us out. That was so nice.”

 

The Gohmans have also been receiving help and support from their church family — members of Riverside Church in Big Lake.

 

“We’ve received care packages, letters, cards and were told we have a prayer chain of over 150 people praying for us,” said Allie. “People have been so generous with their time and money.”

 

They even have had two people from the chopper flight crew stop in the hospital when Bentley was there to check up on him.

 

“They (flight crew) said there are some cases you just never forget,” said Allie.

 

The Gohmans and Bentley are eternally grateful to their friends, family, neighbors, church friends, doctors, nurses and strangers who have helped them get through this terrible ordeal.

 

“Thank you for your continued love and support,” said Allie. “We are blessed by so many people who have reached out to us offering their prayers and well wishes. It means a lot to our family and has definitely made a difference.”

 

Bentley Boo would have to agree.