Gratitude

July 15-21

So as the ringing in my ears begins to fade almost a week after one of the best days ever, (Saturday July 14th - The day of the "Ride and Jam for Jamie") I would like to share some gratitude and thoughts on everything.

First off, I am so grateful for the Gallatin Roughnecks. Even though the weather did not cooperate that morning, without their idea for the ride, and enthusiasm to make this day happen, it never would have happened. Darrel and Sam are two awesome dudes! I was really looking forward to meeting all of the Roughnecks. We may still do the ride. More will be revealed.

Saturday 7.14.12 started with much anticipation. It had been raining on and off all week and the forecast said 50% chance of thunderstorms. With what we had seen so far the rains had not been overwhelming gulley washers. After a few conversations with Darrell we decided to announce a go for the ride rain or shine. 

We woke up to a light rain so we kept our best game face on and went to work. Jim Horn, Mike Hulan and myself met up and loaded up about 16 cases of water that Angie and Jamie got for the ride registration (we were thinking 100 degree temps and blistering sun:) We rode around and got supplies for the auction, breakfast and plenty of ice. The whole time it's raining pretty steady and seeming to get heavier. I kept telling Jim and Mike "It's gonna clear off man...no worries!" They would just smile.

As soon as we arrived at GodWhy we set up our tent and iced down some water. Speaking of water.... right about then the bottom just dropped out! I mean it just POURED! We were laughing our asses off! As soon as one of us would say "Hey man.. this is gonna pass quick." Lighting would strike and thunder would crash and we would start cracking up again. We had a ball!

There was no way I was going to get bummed out about it. It was this same kind of weather that kept Jamie off the Life-flight that day. I am very grateful for Jim and Mike suiting up and showing up...happy and willing to get soaked. They are true friends.

It was way too dangerous to ride that day. After a few phone calls with Darrell and then a bunch of Facebook and texting we got the word out as best we could. Hopefully we will reschedule.

We found out later that Darrell started having a problem with his leg that day and ended up having to spend the next two nights in the ER. We were so sorry to hear that and we keep him in our thoughts and prayers.

We headed back to the house and dried off a bit and then began to get everything together to load for the auction and concert.

Everything from the time we arrived at Mercy Lounge until we left that night is such a blur for me.

A magic, chaotic, beautiful, crazy, wild, amazing blur!

As soon as I set my briefcase on a table when I first walked in it was GO TIME!

I am so grateful to my wife Sarah for heading up the auction. She was so focused on keeping up with everything that she did not get to see much of the show... but she was happy to do it. She and all of our amazing friends and family (kind of one in the same) made it possible for me to concentrate on kind of overseeing everything and being able to focus on the concert part while they set up and made the auction happen.

I really wanted to try and name everybody but I would hate to leave someone out. Please know how grateful The Simmons family is to every person who made this incredible night happen.

The love, support and generosity of our friends has been so beautiful to see and experience.

From the people who donated auction items...the awesome musicians who gave their time and talent... the people who helped....  the people who showed up and made a donation.... the people who prayed and sent us good thoughts... the people who were not able to make it  but made sure to let us know that they were there in spirit. Without each and every one of them the night would not have been what it was. I have heard over and over that you could literally feel the love in the room. It's true. I felt it big time. Every person there played a part in that. Thank you so much for that.

The Gene Cook Band started us off and they totally kicked ass! Gene has always been one of my favorite singers and songwriters. He's a killer guitarist too! He has done an amazing job leading the band at Highland Park Church for years. I was proud to be there with him much of that time and to play his songs with Jamie in our band the Peacemakers for a few years.

With Paulie Simmons on drums (the start of a long happy night of drumming for my little bro) and Randall Turner on bass (Randall smokes the gitry as well!) the Gene Cook Band totally set the tone for an amazing night.

Jamie, Angie, DeAnna and Jonathan had arrived shortly before Gene was going to go on. As soon as we got inside people just surrounded him! It was in a very good way... everybody just wanted to see him. That was an awesome thing to see for a few minutes. I made sure they were cool and then went on to hook up with Barrett to get Jamie's bass squared away and then find Easlo and Paulie.

About 8pm I rolled Jamie backstage and we asked everybody to give us a few minutes to ourselves. Luckily Fish was there getting his kick ass poster's signed and had his camera.

We circled up like we have so many times in the past...just us four...except this time it meant more than it ever has. Words can't begin to explain the gratitude for that moment.

There were friends at the ready. We lifted Jamie up onstage and within minutes I heard his bass come to life...Paulie slammed a few licks to make sure the drums were in the house... then Easlo said: 

"Nashvillllllllllllle!!!!!! We are SIMMONZZZZZZ!!!!"

We started in on our song "Days Like These" and I swear I thought I was going to explode!

So many emotions and feelings all going at the same time. I could not hold back tears nor did I want too. Tears of pure joy as I looked over at Jamie with a big grin on his face...absolutely killing the bass line in his wheelchair. I looked out at all of our friends and saw many tears of joy there as well.

Easlo was killing it! Paulie was slamming! I was just trying to keep up!

I have never experienced anything like it in my life and I don't see how I ever could again.

Many of you have been there with us from day one when we were updating on Facebook after the accident. You were there with us through the almost unbearable first days and into the start of Jamie's recovery. You were there with us. We could feel it then and I could most definitely feel it from the stage Saturday when we were playing.

Jamie was incredible. It can still be very painful for him to play and to move around a bunch. It may not have seemed like it to many who were there... but  it still hurts, especially the day after. He kicked so much ass it's almost unbelievable! His bass solo in the last song was perfect!

Many of you don't know this but two weeks before the jam Jamie had to go back into the hospital to have his gall bladder removed. He was there for about a week. Up until that point we were pretty sure he was going to make it out to the Mercy. After that we were not sure at all. We met up early the week of and jammed a little on our acoustic's and he said he would not miss it :)

I don't throw the word miracle around. Saturday there was a miracle in the house and his name was Jamie Simmons. When he asked us to stand him up at the end of the set ....man. That was one of the best moments of my life. I am so grateful I got to share it with so many friends.

Simmonz is most definitely  BACK!

The night was not over. Raelyn Nelson took the stage and kept the positive energy flowing. She put on a great performance and she also donated some killer swag to the auction from her dad Willie. 

Paulie stayed on the drums...machine that he is :) with Jonathan Bright on guitar and Preach on bass.

In case you did not know the lineup had a theme. The theme was friends and family. Every band had a connection for us through the years. We have all played together in various forms over the years and these people were the only ones that were right for the night.

With that in mind we got some friends together to play a quick set of tunes from our childhood hero's Deep Purple. We had done it in the past and it was so much fun. A few years ago the Simmons brothers with Michael Webb and Rick Shell did a show called Machine Head (we played the whole album and then some) which was so much fun we have been trying to get it back together again for some time now. We were going to try and do it here when the planning for the Jam was in it's early stages but it just did not seem like we were going to be able to make it work.

We pulled it together a few days before the show with the help of Greg Mangus and Dean Tomasek on vocals and bass. I'm so glad we did!

With Greg and Rick graciously taking turns on vocals, Webb on the keys, Dean on bass, and Paulie and yours truly on drums and guitar.... We screamed through "Highway Star" and "Man on The Silver Mountain" I think Ronnie and Cozy would have been pleased! (Hell... they may have been there!) 

Then the second highlight of the night took place. (Yep...SECOND..playing with Deep Purple was topped by playing with my little brother again by far!)

Through some kind of cool cosmic coincidence, Deep Purple was in town doing pre-production on their new record. Paulie just happened to be drum tech for Ian Paice. One thing led to another and before you know it I'm playing "Space Truckin'" and "Woman from Tokyo" with Roger Glover, Ian Paice, and Don Airey of Deep Purple.... my absolute favorite band of all time!

Thank you Paulie! You turned those damn drums around left handed and I thought to myself "Wait...is this really happening???"

I swear when Ian kicked into "Truckin'" it felt just like playing with Paulie. It was so natural. Their music is in our DNA. Roger came over and rocked with me once during the chorus... I know the smile on my face had to be the biggest cheesiest clown smile you have ever seen!

The smile on Jamie's face at stage left told me life was good.

Greg and Rick did an amazing job on the vocals. Just absolute awesomeness all around.

What an incredible experience. I will never forget it.

Suckerpunch came on and kept the good time going strong. Todd Albert, Jimmy Griffith, Tim Cherry and Brandan Blanke are great friends. They put on "Jamie Jams" right after the accident and raised a lot of money for Jamie.

Paulie and I were in our first real band, Speedlimit,  with Jimmy, Todd and Brian Pugh back in the late 70's. I'm so grateful they gave up their usual Saturday night gig to be with us and to rock the house! It was awesome seeing Paulie play "Walk This Way" again!

Robert Leath and friends closed out the night with some of his songs and it was a perfect close to a perfect night. Jamie and Angie stayed until the last note was played. I thought he was going to have to leave much earlier but they hung tough. His gratitude was obvious.

Besides being such a great night of music, love, family and friends, the event was a great success!

We did very good on the auction and the combination of the door, t shirts, posters and donations was awesome!

Our whole family is so grateful for your love and generosity. There is really no way we could ever return the love...but we will keep trying... I promise!

It feels like we could never say "thank you" enough...or tell you how much we love and appreciate all of you. I know that you are not looking for thanks. All of you have just wanted to help from the very beginning. Well....guess what? You have... more than you will ever know. I hope you can see the gratitude and feel it when you read these words.

It is very real.

Love,

Mike

Thank You!

Thank you, Thank you THANK YOU!!!!
To all of our friends who came out and showed their love and support at The Jam For Jamie!
Your generosity was overwhelming!
We are so grateful.
It was such an awesome night with so many positive things going on.
You could literally FEEL the love in the room!


I am working on a post concert blog. I will post it here soon.
Love,
Mike

Jamie's Story

Jamie’s Story

On Thursday March 15th 2012, around 1:40 pm my little brother, Jamie, was riding his Harley back to work after lunch.

With clear right of way and traveling well within the speed limit - less than 30 mph... on a road he drove every day - a car pulled out from a two way stop sign right into Jamie's path. He never had a chance to even brake. It was that fast.

The violence his body went through in that split second is almost unimaginable.

The impact literally broke Jamie from the nose down.

A  woman witnessed it from her front window. She ran to his aid and stayed with him while on the phone with a 911 dispatcher until EMS arrived.

Those men worked to save my brother.  Jamie sustained life threatening injuries and unimaginable blood loss.

He had compound fractures to both arms and legs, broken bones in his back, crushed pelvis, lacerated liver, massive internal and external injury in the pelvic area, broken jaw, palette, large facial wounds, cuts, and bruises. He has already 12 surgeries and may need even more as time goes on.

With the extent of injuries Jamie had, under normal circumstances he would have been put on Vanderbilt Life Flight. But THAT AFTERNOON, weather grounded the helicopters.

We later found out that had Jamie been put on the helicopter there wouldn't have been enough blood on-board to treat his massive bleeding and they wouldn't have been able to keep him alive. We believe the grounding of the helicopters to be a miracle, plain and simple. We are so grateful.

We are also so grateful for the focused decision making on the part of the EMS crew. They decided to take Jamie to Sumner Regional Hospital to get him stabilized before making the trip to Nashville. After doctors stabilized him at Sumner, an ambulance - with enough blood to safely make the trip - took him to Vanderbilt University Hospital.

Probably the worst moment of our lives was at the Vanderbilt trauma unit when the surgeon came in and spoke to our family. He told us Jamie's injuries were so serious and that he had lost so much blood that there was a good chance he was not going to make it.

But he did make it.  Jamie fought for his life.

We thank God for the professionals; rescue workers, doctors, and nurses who took care of Jamie that day and to this day. These awesome people, Jamie’s fighting spirit, strong faith, and his wife Angie at his side 24/7, are why I am writing this today.

The EMS and fire crew that responded to the scene later told me that his were the worst injuries they had ever seen  - where the person survived. Because of all of their professionalism and quick decisions at the scene, this is a story of recovery rather than what could have been just memories.

After Jamie's life saving surgery that Thursday night, the first week in the trauma unit was very scary. Fear of infection and keeping his blood pressure stable kept us in almost unbearable uncertainty.

We heard so many scenarios those first few days. It was almost totally overwhelming.

As I write down his story today, June 1st 2012, it's been two and a half months since the accident. Jamie’s progress has been miraculous! He still has a long way to go but he has come so far in the past two months.

Over the last few weeks he has gained the use of his arms and hands although it can be excruciating. He's facing some serious future dental work, BUT -- he can now eat solid food on his own. We are still a few weeks out from Jamie going to the next phase of his recovery. He should be starting therapy to put weight on his legs and move towards walking again soon.

In the days and weeks following the accident I called Sumner County EMS worker Sam Clark quite a few times. He and Stephen Williams were on the ambulance that day.

I went out to thank them and try to make some sense of what happened one night a few days after the accident. We did not understand how he could have been injured so badly at that speed.

They were so awesome. They answered all my questions and were very open and sensitive to the situation. These guys never look for thanks. They do their job and they do it well. They took me over to the firehouse in Gallatin and I met the crew that was there that day as well. Sam told me they all played a part that day. They were all around my brother and helped hold him together as they got him on the ambulance.

I tried my best to express my gratitude and the gratitude from our family to them.
There really are no words that can cover it though.

And then, after all they had already done for us, I got a call from Sam a few weeks after the accident.  He said “Hey Mike, I know the last thing you probably want to hear about right now is motorcycles….but check this out…”

He proceeded to tell me how he and a bunch of the crew were members of The Roughnecks Gallatin Chapter, a motorcycle club comprised of members who work in public safety (Police, Firefighters, EMS…) and how they wanted to do a benefit ride for Jamie.

Needless to say we were blown away! It has since inspired us to just make a day (and night!) of it and have a Jam for Jamie and auction as well.

I would like to personally thank firefighter Darrell Templeton as well for all his hard work on organizing the event as well as all the Roughnecks.

The ride will commence at Godwhy Church in Hendersonville 1:00 p.m. on Saturday July14th 2012. We will then have the Jam for Jamie and auction that evening at The Mercy Lounge in Nashville.

We are so grateful for every person who has come to our aid in this time of need for Jamie and our family. There is no way to put it into words!

We have no idea what the out of pocket expenses are going to be once all is said and done. All we have been focused on is Jamie’s continued recovery.

We want to thank everyone who has helped out during this uncertain time.  We are so grateful.

If you feel so moved, we would be grateful for any help you would like to make as well. To make it easy, we have a Paypal account set up where you can make a donation. Whatever you feel comfortable with, no matter, it means so much. Here's the PayPal ID:

Jamiesfund2012@gmail.com

Or maybe you have something that you'd like to donate to the auction?  Whatever you are moved to do, we receive with thanks and gratitude.

Many love Jamie because he has loved so many. It is truly awesome to see how that love comes full circle.

We can’t wait to see everyone on the 14th!

Love,

Mike Simmons

mikesimmonz@me.com