Time out with T.O. – Playing the hand you’re dealt

Every 60 days Barb Brey donates whole blood.

She likes to think there’s a reason she has a blood type of B-positive. “It’s the way I always try to be.”

The director of internal audit at UNMC, Brey knows first-hand how quickly things can change in the game of life.

Barb married Marc Brey in 1996. They were high school sweethearts, who dated for 10 years before finally tying the knot.

By 1999, Barb was pregnant. Life doesn’t get much better.

But, then in an instant — on June 10, 1999 — the Breys’ world turned upside down.

Marc was driving across Iowa with his brother-in-law in a heavy rainstorm when his vehicle hydroplaned across the median into an oncoming car.

Marc took the brunt of the accident. He broke his neck, lost his spleen, severed his diaphragm, had two tears in his aorta and bruised his spinal column. He was paralyzed from the chest down.

Sixteen years later, the Breys are still together and their family has grown.

They have two children — a daughter, Kimball, 15, born 10 days after Marc finally got home from the hospital, and a son, Willy, 6, produced by a successful in vitro fertilization procedure.

Both children have their dad’s characteristics, Barb said — Kimball in her love of music; Willy in the way he bites his tongue when he plays video games.

Every day is challenging. Marc, 46, is wheel chair-confined and requires around-the-clock assistance. He takes between four to eight medications four times a day. He can use his arms, but not his hands.

“We try to act as normal as we can,” Barb said. “We’re just different, but we make it work. We try to do things as a family.

“We look for little things — going to Kimball’s show choir, Willy’s sporting events.”

It’s all about working together, being more efficient — exactly what Barb does in her job, as she looks for areas colleges and departments can improve upon.

“We couldn’t have made it without our family, friends, the home health agencies,” Barb said. “Marc’s mom, Petie, comes in 2-3 days a week. She’s incredible.”

“We had no choice but to come together,” Marc said.

Through it all, they even share a laugh.

They have season tickets for Husker football games. A challenge, you bet. But, thanks to Marc’s condition, they joke, their parking and seats couldn’t be better.