Ellis Chaffetz Brown: A Story Of Unconditional Love
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$45 upfront payment equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three-month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. Speeds lower above 40 gigabytes. See details. Well, welcome to the Jason in the House podcast. I'm Jason Chaffetz. And hey, we're going to give you some thoughts on the news and then highlight the stupid. Because as you know, there's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere. But this is going to be a pretty special interview guest. It's a phone, not just a friend interview.

but somebody who's very close and dear to my heart, our daughter, Ellis, my wife, Julie, and I are very blessed with three kids. And, uh, our daughter, Ellis has gone through some very difficult times when her husband had a horrific accident. And, and, uh, we're going to tell her about this. Stay with us because I think this will really touch your heart. And she's just going to come join me and we're going to sit side by side and,

have a little discussion and kind of tell you the story of what happened to her and Spencer. But until then, let me just give you a few thoughts on what's going on in the news because there's a lot going on. One of the things that's out there that they're talking about that I really think is important, you know, there are members of Congress that go, I think, with the best intention. But, you know, members of Congress get to see and hear things that

that the average person doesn't get to see and hear. And there have been too many instances now where members of Congress or their immediate family members have been trading stocks and profiting off of that. And I put Nancy Pelosi and her husband on that list. There are people that have gone to jail on this kind of stuff. But the Stock Act, as it's currently constituted, still allows for members of Congress to

to trade stocks and it's been suggested that members of Congress be prohibited from trading individual stocks while they're in service. And you know what? I think that's probably the right public policy. I think at this point it's been abused. You are in classified hearings. You get to hear from major companies, whether they're pharmaceutical companies or defense contractors, whatever it might be, you get to hear and see things that aren't necessarily publicly available information. So I'm,

I just hope that they do that. I think you're going to hear a lot more about this. Even some Democrats now are on board with this. You've got a bipartisan approach to it, and I hope that they do it. Another thing that I wanted to comment on the news is crime. I've been on Fox News several times talking about the crime wave.

We've been out there talking about these federal prosecutor, these local prosecutors that have been put into place, whether it be Los Angeles, Chicago, and now New York City, the new district attorney for Manhattan, announcing, pre-announcing all of these crimes that if you commit them, you will not be prosecuted.

And it's very frustrating because murders are way, way up in more than a dozen cities, all controlled by Democrats. Just coincidentally, I'm sure you have the police that don't feel supported by their communities or their political leaders in Seattle, for instance. They've lost one hundred and seventy officers there.

You know, you can't just flip the switch and, oh, hey, we just, let's go hire 150 or 200 officers. You just, you can't do that. You got to vet them. You got to train them. And then once they're trained on the job, the experience is just invaluable. Somebody with 10 or 12 years experience compared to somebody who's been on the job for maybe eight months, who's going to be able to handle something better in a crisis situation?

We don't pay these people enough. We don't support them enough. You know, in 2021, this last year, 478 police officers died in the line of duty. It's a very difficult, dangerous job. And you've got families that send these police officers out every night wondering, you know, is it my husband or my wife or my sister or my brother? What's going to happen to them?

Well, you know what? Ultimately, while I've become frustrated with these policies from Kamala Harris and members of Congress and these Democratic mayors, ultimately, you know what I think it's up to? It's up to the citizens. It's up to the voters. You're the ones that are empowering these people. And if these communities want to have a lawless society, they want to be able to

be in a situation where they dial 911 and maybe they'll answer the phone or maybe they'll show up. Or maybe once they were, you know, the perpetrator of an alleged crime was arrested and now it's time to be prosecuted and the prosecutor says, nah, not really interested in prosecuting that one. You know, what I find fascinating is this whole group of people, they don't put victims first.

They put the criminals first. I heard my former colleague, Trey Gowdy, call it hug a thug. You know, that's been the approach that these people have taken. And shame on the voters for allowing it to happen and empowering the people that have this kind of approach to crime.

So, voters, it really is up to you. All right. Now it's time to segue into bringing on the stupid, because as you know, there's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere.

First one I got to go to. There's two before we get to this interview here. The first one is about Madison Cawthorn, freshman member of Congress, North Carolina. You may have seen him out there. Very outspoken, very supportive of Donald Trump. And I think from the left side of the aisle, they would consider him on the very far right side of the aisle.

Well, Rachel Maddow, one of the most successful people over there at MSNBC, she probably has the highest rated program, even though she loses night after night after night to Sean Hannity and Fox News. But nevertheless, she's got an audience. One of their producers accidentally, evidently, copied Madison Cawthorn's communications people on an email.

And the Rachel Maddow producer had said, quote, we are kind of interested in this AP story below that just dropped about Representative Madison Cawthorn. A group of voters in North Carolina is challenging his candidacy based on ties to the insurrection. The producer wrote, and that this email that Fox News got, quote, one, do you or any other NBC Hill folks plan to ask him for comment on the story? Two,

If not, is that something you guys could do? We don't have a relationship with his office. And between you and me, we are a little worried that if we did inquire, he might ask to come on and explain. I know this is highly doubtful, but don't want to take that risk. End quote. Are you kidding me?

So they're not going to ask Representative Cawthorn because they believe he might have the guts to actually say, yeah, I'll answer that question. Yeah, I'll go on your show. Yeah, I'll explain. They're not interested in the fair and balanced truth. They're not interested in allowing him equal time to be able to provide his space of an answer.

I can't tell you how many times I have heard Fox News and Sean Hannity time after time say, come on my show. I will give you the time. Come on, Adam Schiff. Come on, Eric Swalwell. I will give you the time. But when it comes to Madison Cawthorn, they're like scared to death of the guy that he might actually say, yeah, I'm happy to talk to you.

That's just, that's so, that's just, that's just stupid. And it just, it really does bother me. All right, next one. I'm going on to the smoking gun.com. They always have some crazy stories out there. This one is actually from December, uh,

And it's under this, in fact, crime does pay, at least for Uncle Sam. So evidently there is a person, the allegation is in Oregon, who is a bit of a fraudster. And essentially the allegation is stole $3.5 million in federal pandemic relief funds. So he fraudulently filled out whatever paperwork he needed to fill out. And the government sent him a check for $3.5 million. Wow.

So what he did was he took that and he took half of it and he bought Tesla stock. So he bought the stock with these fraudulent funds. And so he's investing something like, you know, what is that? 1.75 something million dollars. Anyway, they go through the case. The government wins this case. And then the U.S. officials seized the securities that were bought with the fraudulent funds.

But because they invested it in Tesla stock, it's now worth $16 million. So the federal government had this windfall because this fraudster decided to invest his fraudulently attained pandemic relief funds into Tesla. And he was evidently sentenced to four years in prison following his guilty plea. This Andrew Lloyd, this happened in Oregon.

But fortunately, they invested in Tesla. But, oh, brother, that was stupid. And that's bringing on the stupid. All right. Now it's time to jump in with our daughter, Alice. And I just want to bring her in here.

And I think you'll be amazed by this story. I'm sure I'm going to get emotional about it because it's so dear and close to our heart. And for literally about the last five, six months, it has been all-consuming for me and my wife. You're listening to Jason in the House. We'll be back with more of my conversation with my daughter, Ellis, right after this.

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So I don't need to call the phone a friend on this one. I am actually sitting right next to our daughter, Ellis. And Ellis is always been my favorite Ellis. Julie and I are very blessed with three kids, a boy and then two girls. And so she's our oldest girl. And Ellis is just amazing.

I'm just so proud of her. I couldn't be more proud of her. And so I know this podcast is a little bit different, but I hope it inspires you because it inspires me. And if you want to hear more about what's going on here, you need to check out her Instagram. It's E-L-L-I-S. So Ellis dot Ann with an E at the end. So E-L-L-I-S dot A-N-N-E dot.

on Instagram and you can see the photos in the background and all that. But our little family, particularly her little family has gone through a lot because her husband had a terrible accident. And the good news about it, this is we kind of walk through and what's gone on is that things are, are getting better and they're progressing. And so while it was difficult and hard, you know,

And something nobody would ever choose to do, it does provide hope and inspiration. And it's a story where things are getting better, not worse. And there are so many blessings and things that you learn in your life when you go to places that you would never go and that you never want anybody else to go. And so, Ellis, welcome to...

Dad in the house. Thank you for having me. Yes, I'm excited to share our story and talk about Spencer. And he's an incredible guy. So a little bit of background. Ellis and Spencer were married and have two kids.

And she has one on the way. In fact, just before we started to record this, she said, oh, the next little girl that she's got there has got hiccups because she's due to how long are we at? We're less than... Yeah, next month, end of February. So, coming up quick. So, Ellis is very, very pregnant at this point. But give a little background about you and Spencer and...

And how we got to that part at the end of July when this happened. So Spencer and I met. I went to go get a campus tour of Utah Valley University here. I was with my cousin. And I showed up and I saw the tour guide. And he was awesome. It turns out it was Spencer. And he was so funny. He was so charismatic and outgoing. And by the end of the tour, my cousin asked me, she's like, so what do you think of

What do you think of the school? You know, do you think you want to go here? I'm like, well, I didn't really pay attention that much to the, to the, to the tour. I just like the tour guide. He sold me on the school. So, um, anyway, that's how we met. And then we were friends for a couple of years. And then, um,

One day I was actually here home and my parents said, why don't you invite someone over just to hang out, just to have a fun evening with? I'm like, well, who am I going to ask? I don't know who to invite. And they just said, think of someone super fun that you love to be around. So I thought, okay, well, Spencer Brown, he's really fun.

So I invited Spencer over and he came over on his motorcycle, which was... Yeah, that was a problem. That was a problem. Didn't need the motorcycle. It wasn't the greatest first impression for my dad, but...

We hit it off really well. We had already known each other pretty well as friends. And a couple months later, we got engaged. And a few months after that, we got married. So after we were married, we moved to Detroit, Michigan. And Spencer does cybersecurity. So he worked for General Motors.

And then from there, we moved to Charleston, South Carolina, which is where our home currently is. And he works still in cybersecurity. And he actually just finished his master's degree as well. He went to New York University and got his master's and fellowship in cybersecurity.

So, we wanted to celebrate him, so I thought there wasn't going to be a graduation held for him due to COVID. So, we knew we were coming to Utah in the summer to visit some family, and so I thought that'll be a great time to celebrate since he can't go to his actual family.

ceremony. So it was July 29th, 2021. And yeah, we threw a big fun graduation party for him here in the backyard. We invited, we both have big families, so. Well, he's got a big family. I wouldn't call ours a big family, but yeah. Yes. He's got lots of, lots of siblings and cousins. And anyway, so it was really fun. We had a barbecue. We had a,

The pool opened in the back. We're all swimming. And it was really fun. And I, yeah, I was just a few weeks pregnant at that point. And so I had just finished telling my cousins that I was pregnant. And we were all excited. Yeah, I mean, we had gone out in the front yard, taken a picture with some homemade signs with Spencer wearing his...

graduation gown and NYU and all of Spencer's family was there. We've got about an acre and a half here. We're very blessed to have a nice place and we have a pool. We've had this pool for, I don't know, 12 years or so. We lived in this house about 15 years. And then we did a big family picture in the backyard. And then after the picture, we kind of got back to the barbecue and

Spencer had already been swimming and already been in the pool as well as a whole bunch of other kids. But after that, some food and some pictures and that sort of stuff, it was just a beautiful summer day. So it was time to keep on swimming. Yeah. And I had actually just finished putting our daughters down. We have two little girls. And I just finished putting them to bed. So that was a big blessing that they weren't

at this point because Spencer and some of our nieces and nephews were doing some tricks off the diving board and they were nothing like no crazy tricks, nothing, nothing out of the ordinary. And Spencer did a dive into the pool and I didn't see him do the dive, but when, but I did, but my dad did.

Spencer said that he dove into the pool and he hit his head at the bottom and thankfully he didn't black out. He stayed conscious the whole time. So he tried to move because he said, ouch, that hurt. And he saw some blood coming from his head. So he tried to start swimming, but he couldn't move. Nothing except for his face could move.

So he says that he remembers thinking, if I breathe in, if I panic, I'm going to sink and nobody will ever find me because the pool was filled with people. You know, no one would think twice if they saw someone, especially an adult towards the bottom of the pool. So he held his breath and he floated up to the top of the pool in the deep end. And he says he just remembers thinking,

thinking and praying, somebody please notice me, please notice me. And I guess some of our nieces and nephews saw him and they just thought he was kind of joking around. They didn't think anything of it. And then my dad, he was the one. Yeah. So, you know, I happen to be at the shallow end of the pool. I hadn't gone in the pool. I was just wearing shorts and a t-shirt and flip-flops and

And I saw him. Now, you got to understand, Spencer is six foot eight. He's a big boy. And people were taking turns jumping off the diving board. And Spencer did what's called a penguin dive. So for those of you at home, don't ever do a penguin dive.

That's where you don't put your hands out in front of your head. You go kind of head first. And evidently he was kind of trying to see how far he could go out there. And he's jumped in our pool, I don't know, a hundred plus times. But I saw him dive. I saw a little bit of blood coming out of the water. And then I started to make my way from the shallow end over by the side of the pool. And I started yelling, Spencer, Spencer, Spencer.

And, uh, and Ellis was also yelling when the two of us dove in. Yeah. Yeah. It was, I remember I jumped right in. I like my dad still had my swim dress on. I wasn't like swimming at that point, but jumped right in. And I tried lifting his head out of the water, which now looking back, I don't know if that was the smartest idea, but he had been under for a while. He, he had to breathe, uh,

So we got his head out and I, um, and then, yeah, my dad came and helped and he jumped in. And then some of Spencer's brothers and brother-in-laws jumped in. And, um, this was a really big blessing was one of our, well, we moved him then to the shallow end of the pool. And my first instinct would have been to get him out of the pool and onto a hard surface, um,

But, um, one of my cousins there, he's studying to be a neurosurgeon and he, I think it was his idea. He said, don't take him out of the water. Keep him here. If we try and move him, it will damage his injury, whatever is going on. It will damage it more. And thankfully Spencer could breathe this whole time because if he couldn't have breathed, if he wasn't able to breathe on his own,

Obviously, we would have had to get him out and do CPR or things like that. Yeah, he was able to breathe. He was really calm. So he was floating in the shallow end. Someone was holding his head. So, yeah, when I jumped in, I kind of bounced myself off the bottom and got up under Spencer. I was worried about how big he is, you know, being at 6'8", but the buoyancy of the water really helped. And so...

We were able to get him over to the shallow end and kind of roll him over on his back without doing damage to his neck and his head. But he was conscious and he's such a nice, jovial, happy guy. He just kept saying, I can't feel anything. I can't feel anything. And

And at this point, I'm holding his back, I'm holding his arm, and we get him over to the shallow end where the step is. And we have an extended step. So we got him over onto the real shallow end. And our cousin, who's studying to be a neurologist, came over and helped hold his head. Somebody threw a towel, and we got it kind of under his neck to help stabilize. And...

We were able to give him a quick blessing. 911 was called and it was coming. You could hear the sirens in the distance coming our way. And it was a scary moment. Yeah, it was really scary. I don't remember how at one point I was in the water and the next thing I remember I was out of the water standing, just kind of standing over him and

He, yeah, like my dad said, he is so calm. He never gets flustered. He never gets really frustrated. He's very calm and just a happy guy. So he was, he was still just as composed as he normally is. But then I was the frantic wife crying and, and worried. It was scary. It was scary. I didn't know what was wrong with him. I didn't know why he couldn't move. I didn't know why his head was bleeding. Um,

So anyway, yeah, the paramedics, they were incredible. They, someone timed it. I think they got here in six minutes. They got here. Um, they ran right in. They were so calm. They said, you know, it was actually kind of funny. They walked in there like, where is he? Where is he? We're all, and we're all looking like, hello, can't you, can't you tell he's the guy in the pool that we're all surrounding. Yeah.

And they said, well, we thought, we thought it was a six or a seven year old. And we had to quickly correct them. No, it's, he's not, it's not a six or seven year old. He is six foot seven. So, um, they, I think they were a little bit relieved to know it wasn't a child, but still, um, then it was a bigger challenge because he's a big, a big guy. So, um, but they were, they were able to, you know, he's in the water. So the,

You know, firemen get the board under, they secure his neck, and then they were able to lift him out. And, you know, fortunately, they made a decision to take him to the trauma center, which is up in Murray, Utah. But, you know, we talk a lot about first responders. And, you know, through the years here, from time to time, we've had to call 911 and

And then when they respond, the way they respond, you just can't thank them enough. They were so kind. They were so calm. They asked me, well, I wanted to go with them, and I wanted to sit in the back with Spencer because I didn't know. I had this gut feeling that something was either terribly, terribly wrong, he was going to be terribly injured, or that he wasn't going to make it.

And I knew it was bad when they said, no, you can't sit in the back with him. You need to come sit in the front. So I sat in the front next to the paramedic that was driving. And it was the longest drive, but also so quick. And I had so many thoughts going through my head of if he was going to die, I was going to have to raise our kids and have this baby all by myself.

But I knew that no matter what, that we are a strong family and that He was going to be with me, even if it was Him as an angel, that He was going to be with me. And if I was lucky enough to have Him live and survive, that that would just be the greatest blessing of all. And so anyway, I was so worried this whole time and just kept praying my heart out, my

My body totally went into shock. I started shaking and my teeth started chattering and I got really, really cold. So I told the driver, I was like, when we get there, I'm going to need a wheelchair too. I'm so sorry, but I'm going to faint. And I didn't want to take any care or attention away from my husband, but I was like, I might not make it because he's scaring me so bad. We got to...

Yeah, IMC, the Trauma One Hospital in Murray, which that was another clue. I knew it was bad since they were taking us to a Trauma One Hospital. But once we arrived there, they were so swift and incredible, got him right in. And when he was being wheeled in, I was able to just talk to him for a second. And I just yelled out, I said, are you okay? And he said, I can't feel or move anything anymore.

And he still said it really calmly. And if you know Spencer, you know he's always joking around. He's just a happy guy. So there was part of me that thought, maybe he's kidding. I don't know if he's serious or not. So I asked one of the paramedics that had been in the back with him. I said, is he kidding? And he just looked at me with a very straight face and said, no, he's being serious. He can't feel or move anything. Um...

He could move, he could feel his head and his face, but that was it. And so, yeah, they willed him in and that's when they began some real medical intervention. He got a CAT scan and right before the MRI, I was finally able to talk to one of the doctors. And because still I was so confused, like what happened? Why can't he feel anything or move anything?

Also, why is he so calm about it? And anyway, the doctor came to me and he said, I only have a minute to talk, but your husband has broken his neck and we are going to take him in to get an MRI. And that will tell us the state of his spinal cord because we believe he's had a spinal cord injury.

And I, at the time, I knew very little about spinal cord injuries. And he said, if the spinal cord has been severed, like cut all the way through, then he will most likely never regain function or motion or feeling back below the injury. So it will likely be how it is now.

forever. And that scared me so bad. I could, I just could not believe it. But he said, if it's not severed, if it's, it's clearly damaged, if the damage is, um, is not too, you know, isn't severed, then there will be a hope for further improvement. So we'll let you know the results after that.

So then I waited in the waiting room for the longest time. It felt like days, but it was really probably about an hour. And I just remember crying and sobbing. And I had my father-in-law there with me, Spencer's dad. And no daughter-in-law wants to have this moment with their father-in-law where they're...

sobbing into their shoulder and holding each other's hand. But we got really close in that moment. And then I remember I went to the bathroom. I just needed some time by myself. And I knelt down on the floor and I just said a prayer. And I just said, God, I will do anything to be

hear from my husband. I'll do anything to support my family. Just please help him to become strong again and to make it through. I want him to live. I want him here for our kids. And suddenly I had this, um, this moment where I remembered an earlier promise I had made to, to our heavenly father that, um, I promised him that I would always be grateful for the challenges that I had.

And I'd always be grateful for my trials because I know that He would take care of me. And so very quickly, my thoughts turned from being scared and overwhelmed to feeling grateful. I felt grateful that in that moment, He still was alive and alive.

that he was here, he was breathing, he was calm. We were able to be in a hospital. I felt so thankful for the doctors. I felt thankful that we live in America. We have all of these freedoms and I'm just so thankful for my family. So that was very calming. And then I came out and was with my father-in-law a little longer. And then the doctors came and said, okay, you can come see him.

Like, okay, I can see him, but tell me what the results are from the MRI. And we felt very, very thankful. They said that his spinal cord was not severed, but that his spinal cord was bleeding and bruised and inflamed. So they said these next couple hours and days are very pivotal to recovery.

to his recovery. They said if the bleeding and bruising and inflammation gets worse, then it can sever and it can become what's called a complete spinal cord injury. But if it's able to heal a little bit and have the bleeding stop and inflammation go down, then it will improve the prognosis of his spinal cord injury.

So I went back in his hospital room in the shock trauma ICU, and they put these, I don't even know what they were, but some type of cords into his heart. And then he was hooked up to all these machines. He had his neck brace on. And I went in and just held his hand and gave him a kiss on his cheek and just told him, I'm here and it's going to be okay.

And I'm never going to leave your side. And we're just going to, we're going to make it through and you're going to be okay, no matter what. And then he started crying, which he doesn't do often. And it was just a really tender moment because usually when you cry, you wipe your own tears, right? Or, or you wipe your own nose. But in that moment, he couldn't, he couldn't do either of those. So that was the real moment where I realized, okay, this is going to require more

not just his own body to heal, but me and my body to be able to help him. So I grabbed a tissue and I wiped his nose and I wiped his tears from his eyes. And we just, it was a really special tender moment that we'll never forget, never forget. And anyway, so I stayed with him that night until, well, they, because of COVID, they don't let us stay. They didn't let visitors stay overnight.

They normally kick out the visitors at 9 p.m., but I think they could tell that I really didn't want to leave. So I told him, I'm not leaving until they drag me out of here. So it was about 2.30 or 3 o'clock in the morning, finally, when they said, okay, you got to go. And he was asleep at that point. And I remember just watching him sleep for hours. And I

I was tired, but I couldn't do anything except for just stare at him. I just felt so much love for him and compassion for him. And so, yeah, that was our first, that was the first day. So, yeah, I remember he came home at whatever it was for five in the morning, something like that. Julie, my wife, Julie or Ellis's mom was up there at the hospital as well.

And we were all just praying and wondering and praying some more. And then first thing without, I don't know, I don't know if he got any sleep, went back up there and started a process that ended up being three months.

Yeah. Three months in the hospital, a week or so, right? In the ICU. Yeah. So it was like six days, I believe, in the ICU. And then we got transferred to the University of Utah Rehab Center. It's the Craig Nielsen Rehabilitation Hospital. And that place is incredible. I can't say enough good things about the doctors and nurses and therapists there. They are

They know their stuff. They know how to take care of people and their loved ones. Yeah, the ICU. Spencer, right away, even in the first few days, he gets to know everybody's name. He's talking to everybody. He knows where they grew up. He's the kind of patient, I'm sure, that all the nurses and doctors want to deal with because he's just perpetually happy with

I'm sure there were dark, dark moments. And, you know, I still remember Spencer when he and I were in the room by ourselves and he said, just, you know, thank you for jumping in the water and helping to save my life. And tears were flowing down his face and said, look, we'll always be here to support you and we love you and you'll figure this out. And

I think there was this realization that it wasn't just some sort of, you know, hey, whoops. You know how you hit your elbow every once in a while and it like goes numb and then you're like, whoa, that really hurt and I can't really move it. I was kind of hoping it was going to be like that. But this was obviously much more severe than that. And I remember...

A few days into it, Spencer said to one of the doctors that had come in and he said, explain to me what I tell people. And she gave some really complicated name that description that nobody could could repeat. And Spencer said, no, I need to explain to people what I did. And the doctor said, well, you got a really, really bad bruise on your spine. And he said, I can't move my legs and my feet. I'm not going to go out and tell people I got a bruise.

Like, come on. And so it is much more complicated than that. And for those that are listening that maybe have gone through this with a family or loved one or it's you themselves, the millimeters and the precision of the science and the sheer luck and answer to prayers and everything else that goes on here, backed up and supported and blessed by people who care and spend their time, effort, and life

helping others and doing the research in science so that the science can help these people. You just can't thank those people enough for what they do and how they do it. And so they move from the intensive care

Up to the University of Utah, and I'm a huge University of Utah fan, always will be, because the care that he got there over the next three months was truly remarkable. And when he went there, he essentially couldn't move anything. Now, he could barely move his toe. Barely. He could barely move his toe and his arm. This was the trick that he would show people when...

when they would come to visit, he could barely move like his forearm up onto his stomach and

He'd just kind of like whip it onto himself and then people would say, okay, now move it back. And he would say, well, I can't. So then I'd grab his arm and I'd move it back. But the doctors, especially at the ICU, said that that was a really good thing that he could do that in the first couple of days because...

that first little bit of progress really shows the trajectory of the rest of his improvement. And with spinal cord injuries, every single one of those is, every single spinal cord injury is very unique and very different. And I remember feeling at times a little frustrated because we'd ask the doctors, okay, well, do you think he'll be able to walk? Do you think he'll be able to sit up?

or stand and nobody would ever give us a sure answer. They just said, well, we just have to wait and see. And, um, anyway, so yeah, like my dad said, after a week of being in the ICU, which everyone there was incredible, I cannot thank them enough. Those doctors and nurses are just miracle workers. Yeah. We were transferred to the university of Utah.

And that's when all the real fun began. Those people really became like our family, you know, our incredible support system. And I'm so thankful to my parents and our neighbors because it's not good for someone to be in the hospital by themselves. And my parents really took to heart the saying of family first. And they took our daughters and they...

basically were their parents for those three months. They took care of them day and night so I could be there with Spencer. I slept there almost every night. I was there every day with him.

And, um, it was a really special time as, as much as we didn't want to be in the hospital. It was a time where we were, it was just the two of us. So that's when he started his physical therapy and his occupational therapy. So it started out small things like.

Okay, let's try eating. Because for a while, he couldn't even eat or drink. He was just on IV fluids and things like that. So we started having him eat and drink. And then it moved to, okay, let's try and raise your arm again up onto your stomach. And then little by little... Move your toe. Move your toe. You know, little things we take for granted. Okay.

But after a couple of weeks and months, he was actually able to start walking. And they have, it's called a zero gravity machine. And it's this big harness they hook up to him. And it's hilarious because he's probably one of the tallest patients they've ever had. So this poor harness looks like it's going to barely hold him up. But they would hook him in there. And then they'd have four therapists there.

one on each leg, one holding his arms and one holding his back. And they would, he laughs that it was like a puppet being moved by all these different people. Cause they would make him walk. And he's like, I don't really feel anything. I can't really do any of it, but somehow they're making my body walk. So, um,

Yeah. As time went on, he got better and better. And then he was able to come home the very beginning of November. You're listening to Jason in the house. We'll be back right after this. So meanwhile, back at the ranch here, we are very fortunate with a nice home. It's a rambler level, but then we also have a basement. So Julie and I,

we moved down to the basement so that Ellis and Spencer could have our bedroom. And then we got friends and neighbors and a really good handy person, I guess you'd call her because she is good. This girl knows how to, I'm telling you, she is really good at helping to retrofit things. And anyway, so we got this, we had this great blessing of living by neighbors and in a church where everybody wanted to help.

And they did. And they just answered the call. And they still do. They are amazing. These are the people that I grew up with. I babysat their kids. I helped tutor them in their math. They helped me. Ellis is like the Pied Piper of this little neighborhood here. You had this little business, I remember, in high school. It was called...

Ask Ellis. Ask Ellis. I forgot the name of it. Yeah. And she'd come and she'd say, look, you can schedule me for an hour or two or three. And I'll either clean your house or I'll babysit your kids, whatever you want me to do. Anyway, she was very endearing that way and such a big heart. And so here's, you know, Ellis in her moment of need. And everybody came to help. And they...

I remember, I don't think my dad and I have ever cried this much together. This is, this is a sweet thing reminiscing on all these, these moments. But, um, it was a few days before Spencer was going to be discharged from the hospital. And at that time he could not stand up by himself or transfer, um, out of bed or out of a chair or anything. So we have, we had this, um,

It looks like a monkey swing that they, it's a Hoyer lift that they put him in. So it's like this, yeah, the sling, you put it on under him, then you put it on this machine that cranks him up and he can be raised out of bed. And then you swing the sling over and lower him down into a chair.

And me being so pregnant, I can't really do this on my own. And so one day it was after church on a Sunday and I had asked a few of the neighbors if they wouldn't mind over so I could train them on how to use this because they said that they wanted every night to have two of the men in our neighborhood come over and help get him into bed. So I thought, you know, maybe, maybe two or three or four people would show up.

But it was just incredible. A flood of neighbors came over and they all stood around and...

They listened to me explain what happened to Spencer and the state that he was in. I trained them on how to get him into bed and how to get him out of bed. It was funny. We practiced. We had one of the guys pretend he was Spencer and went in the Hoyer lift. Anyway, it was... Yeah, we had to get a lift from a local elevator company so that they could...

take Spencer in the wheelchair from the garage up. There was just, there were a few steps and it was bigger than a ramp could handle. And then we had to kind of retrofit the bathroom because you can't just use a regular bathroom. We had to pull out the bathtub. We had to change the room and the bedding. And so we got some, you know, new beds and we had to lower the bed because our other bed was too high. And then we, all these things happen, but I, you know,

For your neighbors, you never want to be the person that has to ask everybody for help. But there are so many blessings in living in a place where your neighbors are willing and wanting to help and allowing them to help and to engage in service. Because service at whatever velocity or whatever opportunities come at you is

so many blessings to not only the person who's giving the service, but also the person who's on the receiving end. And I mean, it snows here in Utah. We got these horde of kids that come and shovel the walks for us and, and help take in and out the garbage cans. And,

We were just surrounded with a whole lot of help. And even still this day that we're recording this podcast, we still have people that come over every night because Spencer has progressed from, I'm going to have a hard time just getting in and out of bed without this machine to,

you know, working on going up and down the stairs. Yeah, he can get, yeah, he can get out in and out of bed by himself now. And, um, it takes, takes him about 10 to 15 minutes to do so, but he can do it. And now he's able to walk with his Walker. His, his record as of now is 50 yards. So we celebrate every step he can take. And yeah, now he does the stairs. He scoots. He's like sits on, uh,

on his bottom and then scoots down the stairs and then has help up. So there's one guy that stands in front and one guy that is behind to make sure he doesn't fall down the stairs and get another spinal cord injury. But meanwhile, Ellis has been this amazing mother, you know, because we had right in the middle of this, of course, you have a two-year-old and then you've got three soon-to-be four-year-old.

I was about to have a birthday and Ellis about to have this baby. And so I don't know how Julie has done it. She's just absolutely amazing. And it's been a great blessing to our family as hard and as difficult. And you don't want to go down these paths again.

Suddenly you do find yourself in these paths and you've said some things that were very touching and warming and the love that you have and the closeness that you have with Spencer is just amazing. It's just really amazing. I remember one day, this was years ago before we even started dating.

I was with my roommates and we were all playing this funny game where we were going around saying, okay, if you had to get married tomorrow, who would you choose? And at the time I was dating someone totally different. And when they, when it came my turn, I said, I'd marry Spencer Brown. And then, uh, sure enough, you know, a couple of years later that happened. And

And we got married and he is an incredible person. I mean, everyone who sees him or hears him speak or watches him try and walk with his walker is inspired. He is incredible. So our girls, our daughters are lucky to have him as a dad. And I just hope and pray someday they find someone like their dad to get married to. And I have to give a quick shout out to our incredible family.

community and neighbors in South Carolina, because, um, we realized after Spencer's accident probably wasn't realistic for us to go home to South Carolina at the time, because our house has a lot of stairs. We don't have any family there. Um, so I flew out, um, and packed up our things in our home because, um, we needed to rent it out.

And it was incredible. I showed up and then that next morning I had an army of neighbors, people I didn't even know that

But they came and they boxed things up. They brought packaging tape. They brought treats. They stayed day and night and helped me. And instead of it being a really depressing and hard time of packing up all my family memories, it was a happy weekend. It was happy because our home was happy. Our life is happy. I'm blessed that I have this incredible marriage and wonderful children that I realized at that time,

How important it is to every day, make your family closer and to make your family memories and to embrace each other, because you never know when that day comes, when you may have to pack up your house or, or say goodbye to a loved one and you want it to be happy memories that are filled in your home. So.

That was amazing. Yeah, because we were all worried about what is Alice by herself going to go back? We were kind of saying, hey, you know, should dad, should I go with you? Should mom go with you? But, you know, watching the girls and then helping to take care of Spencer was priority one. And

Ellis had literally spent like every single night in the hotel, in the hospital, uh, with Spencer and here she was taking off to South Carolina. And we were so worried about it and the, the love and the, the generosity and the reports we were getting back. And this isn't here like a local pizza company suddenly showed up with a bunch of pizzas. Yeah. And it was even, it was even over, um, the weekend of, of September 11th.

And a lot of our neighbors are military families. And I was just so touched because that was a day that we should have been, I should have been serving them. I should have been honoring them for their incredible service that they've done for our country. But instead they showed up

One of the, one of the families, military families, they were the very first ones there and they were the very last ones to leave. And I just kept saying, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And they said, you know what today being nine 11, um, what better way to honor our country than to help our own community and to help, um, help someone else in need. And I'll always remember that.

And I hope that every year when that time comes on September 11th, that we can do that. We serve in our community and we serve someone who needs help because that's what it's all about. And that was so inspiring and kind. And, um, you know, just was another example of, of how incredible people are. There's a lot of bad in the world, but there is so much more good. Yeah. I also, I think it's appropriate to, uh,

You know, Spencer's employer, Qualis, has been over backwards and done amazing things and, you know, the difficult decisions that they have to make in terms of supporting. And, you know, fortunately, Spencer didn't hurt his head. He's got to relearn his motor skills. But they stood with him, and I think we're pretty amazing with him and hope they continue to be.

And, you know, Spencer's got a setup now where he's slowly starting to go back to work. But between physical therapy and making sure that the first really two years are just so focused on getting him the motor skills and things that he needs to live a long and fruitful life. But

what he can do each week and the progress that he can make. It's yeah. It's amazing. Sometimes you don't like see the physical therapy going on. So he goes to physical therapy, but physical therapy also sometimes comes to the house. And, uh,

It really is inspiring. What are we, five months into this now? How far he's progressed and not everybody gets those other chances. I want to tell one other story about Ellis that was just amazing. So without getting into the detailed specifics of it, because that's a whole nother story into itself, but Ellis has her hands full, right? With Spencer and everything that's going on from every aspect of Spencer's care and recovery and physical therapy and all of that.

And then one time we come over to the hospital and where's Ellis? Oh, she's visiting another patient. And then she came over and she said, well, I need a bunch of these books like Harry Potter books, because there was a there was a young man who had an accident on a trampoline. And he wasn't from the state of Utah. And he was there in the hospital by himself.

And a 15-year-old who's paralyzed without his family because his family, you know, there were a lot of circumstances there where they couldn't necessarily be with him in Utah when their family was in another state. And Ellis started this process of visiting and caring for him and reading to him each night. And it's just absolutely amazing the human spirit and the goodness that you have.

We're caring for him on that floor. At the same time, you're also helping to take care of Spencer. It was one of those times where you realize sometimes your own situation is really hard. And the only thing you can really do to feel better is to help someone else. So it gave Spencer and I, you know, something to do, someone to go visit because there were those lonely, long days.

where it was just us or, you know, being in a hospital for months on end can become quite long. So, yeah, that kid, he is incredible. And it gave us a really great, you know, sense of gratitude for our family and for people coming to visit us. So, yeah,

You know, if you ever have someone that you're thinking of or that pops into your mind of, I should reach out to this person or I should go visit this person, you should do it because a lot of the time that person really needs it. That person needs a visitor or needs someone to...

Give them a hug or ask how they're doing. And we just feel so thankful that we are good, you know, have been incredible recipients of that. And we're just thankful every day for Spencer's progress. And at one point, actually, one of his doctors came in and he said, do you guys realize how lucky you are? And Spencer and I kind of both laughed and we're like, really? You think we're super lucky? Are you kidding me?

And he said, no, seriously, Spencer, after, you know, looking over his scans and, and, um, everything that had happened, he said, Spencer is a living miracle. He, the fact that he didn't drown is a miracle. The fact that he could breathe after, um, you know, being pulled out of the water was a miracle because his injury, his spinal cord injury is C3 through C6, um,

And that area, if that gets damaged, that's supposed to cut off your airway and you're not supposed to be able to breathe. But miraculously, we don't know why except for God really blessed us that Spencer was able to breathe the whole time. And he said, most people with this injury...

this type of injury, they die almost immediately. And if they're lucky enough to be able to get into the ambulance, they don't make it to the hospital. They usually die on the way to the hospital. And after the doctor explained that to us, we just realized, okay, he's right. We are very lucky and we are very blessed. So, um,

Well, we'll keep you up to speed on the recovery, but I encourage you to, if you made it this long in the podcast, go check out ellis.ann on Instagram. It's E-L-L-I-S dot ann.

A N N E. And if you go there on Instagram, it was private Instagram for a long time, but we had so many friends and neighbors and people that wanted to know and hear updates and see, then you can see the pictures and you can kind of see the progress and, and some of the videos and that sort of thing. And, and I think you'll be amazed and, and just proud. And, um, you know, it,

It's interesting, the power of prayer and the power of service and all those things that maybe we hear about or talk about or wonder about. Maybe you've had a spiritual experience, maybe you haven't had one. But I think when you see and look at this, especially for me, it's been as impactful on my life as ever. I'm just so grateful for Alice and the amazing love and care and love.

just person that you are and just so proud of you. And, uh, by the allergies in this room are just really thick. I must, it must have be a high pollen count in here. So, um, but you know, through all this hardness and all the difficult, and you don't want to see this or have this happen. Anybody, as I said before, it happens to you and you find yourself there and, um, you learn a lot about yourself, but you also learn and, uh,

to love at a whole different level. And, uh, you know, I went through some difficult times with my parents. I lost both my parents to cancer. I've, I've, you know, my great aunt who I was very close with Louise, you know, she went through cancer and it's just, and then going through this, it's just, um, you realize the many blessings and what's really important in life. And, uh, I appreciate you open up your heart and sharing this with so many others, because I hope it's

It's an inspiration to others who either have gone through hard times like this or will be going through hard times because it can spit you up and chew you up and spit you out and make you bitter and everything else. Or it can boo you up and make you a stronger, more loving person. Well, thank you. I'm so grateful I got to come on here and share, share our story. And yeah, we're excited to see where his progress goes and,

No matter what it looks like, we'll celebrate it. So thank you for having me. All right. As I catch my bath here, I thank you for joining us on the Jason in the house podcast. This is a little bit different than maybe the other ones, but I hope you can rate it. It's very important to us that you click those little stars and, uh, and subscribe to it. I hope you like it. And, uh, we'll continue to have a variety of political and entertainers and, and other inspirational stories along the way. But, uh,

Thanks for joining us on the Jason in the House podcast. And we'll be back with more next week. This has been Jason in the House.