Billy Swier

In the early hours of November 29th my brother, Billy, was in a horrific car accident. The jaws of life were used to pry him out of his car that had landed upside down. He was rushed to Avera in serious critical condition.  It was here at the hospital where we received the devastating news of how bad my baby brother was hurt.  
I can remember sitting in the room waiting for the doctors to come in and give us the exact prognosis since all we had been told was he was very critical. The doctor walked in and it was like my ears started ringing and the walls moved in closer. I am certain all of our hearts stopped while we prayed and awaited the words we never wanted to hear.  At that time the doctor had very limited information to give us but told us, and I can remember his exact words, the exact way every hair of his mustache moved as he told us he had a broken neck in several places, and a massive brain bleed. He continued, "His injuries are severe and he has lot of them. The bleeding from the brain is the worst and on a scale of 3-10, 3 being the worse I would put him at a 3. It looks very grim."  All I could do was double over in pain and cry and scream. Hoping I could wake myself from this nightmare. How could this be happening to him?  I was immediately reminded that there was a pain worse than mine and it was my mother's.
Nothing can compare you for the screams your mother makes when the life of her child is endanger. It's a scream I don't wish anyone to hear, but a scream that you can never forget. 
Billy was moved up to ICU and our family gathered around prayed, asked for prayers, and what we got in return was a glimmer of hope.  Billy moved his feet. Then his arms. He became very agitated and didn't know exactly where he was. He opened his eyes and looked at my mom and she said it was like he spoke to her and said "What's going on? I'm scared mom! Help me! What Happened?" My mom was able to calm him down and relax him.  The doctors decided to sedate him to keep his brain stimulation minimal. He did spike a bit of a fever, fortunately, the nursing staff were able to get it down. 
There's a lot of tubes and machines working to help Billy heal. However, there are some important numbers that my family and I are learning to watch and even pray for. The most important number: the brain pressure. We don't want anything above 20. And 10 would be ideal. We've seen Billy's number go to 28 and we seen it down to a 14. I would say for the last 10 hours at least Billy has been holding pretty steady at 16. His blood pressure is normal so is heart-rate and and oxygen levels. 
The brain is a mysterious organ.  We have been told by Billy's neurosurgeon that with brain injuries, the peak of the swelling strikes around 48 hours after the accident. Which for us is in 6 hrs. Billy has been holding on and fighting. He hasn't given up and either have we. 
I know my brother, he's in there. He's the strongest man I know and he's such a fighter. Never has he gone down easy. He always goes down swinging. We have people spread throughout the U.S. praying for him and I can assure you it's working. 
It's been a trying time for my family and me and were all very dazed. Its hard to answer every message or every call. We've decided to start this page to keep our loved ones and those who love Billy informed and updated and hopefully allowing us more time to relax. 
I'll update when I can! Thank you all for the continued prayers, support, love, food, and hope. 
Sammi