Cameron Michael Fathauer

Much occurred on September 18, 2015. I was wrapping up my senior year at Columbus North High School with a project entitled, “Why I’m Not a Christian.” The plan was for me to host a conference answering some of the most popular objections to the Christian faith. The speakers were myself, some local pastors, and the dean of the college I was about to attend. The conference was scheduled for October 31, 2015. Leading up to the event, I provided a sample teaching series at my youth pastor’s home, which was located near the school. The first meeting presented an argument in favor of the Christian worldview. The second and third meetings examined why one can trust the bible. And the fourth and final meeting explained how God is the supreme grounds for knowledge and understanding. This final meeting, which I called “Epistemological Explanations,” took place on September 18, 2015, around noon. About fifty high school students showed up to this final session, which was the largest turnout we ever had.

Approximately six hours later, I decided to get on my long board and enjoy the Fall weather. I had plans to meet with my fiancée later that evening. My parents’ house was located in a kind of subdivision: it was not near any major roads, and it was strictly within a 20 mph zone. I was about two or three driveways from my parents’ home when the speeding Lexus hit my pedestrian body from behind. Everything went black for the next twenty days or so.

I was life-lined via helicopter to IU Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. I recall nothing from this time. But I have these photographs that only a handful of people have seen (until now):

As the photos graphically portray, the right side of my skull fractured upon impact, with various skull fragments settled atop the vehicle, embedded in the windshield, and provided in the pavement. The physicians called it a severe diffuse axonal brain injury down to my brainstem. They warned that I might remain in a vegetative state forever. They also warned that if I did wake up, I’d likely have the mental capacity of an eight year old for the rest of my life. This prognosis did not come out of a vacuum, obviously, but came from the fact that my frontal lobes were highly damaged (i.e., the areas responsible for higher level thinking). Those close to me––especially Chelsea––suffered incredibly during my comatose stay. Everyone was just waiting for me to wake up. And eventually – I did.

Ever since September 18, 2015, the Lord has consistently demonstrated his powerful presence in my life. After waking up from the near month long coma, I relearned how to walk, talk, and perform basic arithmetic. My physical recovery progressed so rapidly that I was discharged from rehab six months ahead of schedule. (But my mental and emotional recovery tarried.) On October 31, 2015, my father helped me up the stage where I gave a forty minute defense of the Bible in front of hundreds of people online and in person. My senior project actually happened, yes, and more people showed up to the event because of everything that happened.

A couple months later, I graduated from high school a semester early. Then, come January, my parents dropped off their freshly brain injured child at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY, where I started college. I sensed a calling to the pastorate before the accident.

Chelsea and I planned to get married on March 26, 2016. What’s crazy about this is that, after the brain injury, coma, and rehab, Chelsea and I had to basically fall in love again. (I mean, there was a brief period where I did not remember who she was!). By the grace of God, I married the most incredible woman to ever take in oxygen: Chelsea Brooke. She lived out the marriage vows––e.g., “in sickness and in health”––before it even started. To say the least, I love her very much.

About halfway through college, while on our second honeymoon, I asked my wife about me going to law school. I sensed a new calling in life to help those who have been through suffering like me (i.e., as a personal injury trial lawyer). She thought it was a great idea. With her blessing, I began studying for the LSAT over the next six months. For a newly minted TBI victim, who was frequently told by doctors, “The hardest thing for you, Cameron, will be higher level thinking and executive function,” studying for that test was brutal. I mean, it is a hard test to begin with. Add a severe diffuse axonal brain injury to the mix and you have every bit of odds working against you. But I believed this was the direction God was pulling me towards. So, I studied night and day for that test at the library in Greensburg, IN. I took the LSAT less than two years after waking up from the coma. I passed the LSAT and achieved a high enough score to get into one of the top thirty law schools in the nation (at the time).

For more reasons than one, I was an atypical law student. I had this brain injury and “miraculous” recovery that brought me to law school. I spent most of my academic time writing papers and researching my own interests. What’s more: my wife gave birth to four children during law school, three of which were triplets. It was both a challenging and fulfilling time.

I am just skimming the surface in this blog. There was much, much, much more that brought me to where I am today. There was a lot of pain, hurt, sorrow, tears, blood, sweat, sickness, etc. that haunted and still haunts my post-TBI trail. Nevertheless, here we are today: married 5+ years to my lovely bride Chelsea; on my way to becoming a Kentuckiana lawyer; and the father of four beautiful children under the age of two.