I CHERISH IT MORE NOW Mark Billions is embracing life and giving back following lifesaving care at Regional One Health Sometimes, the act of doing something incredibly ordinary causes life to take an extraordinary turn. It is why Regional One Health’s Elvis Presley Trauma Center exists: to give patients a second chance when the ordinary becomes a life-threating emergency. For Mark Billions, that experience has brought an even deeper appreciation of life and family, and the desire to give back. Mark’s ordinary became extraordinary the night of his daughter’s prom. After seeing her off, Mark walked across the street to a friend’s house. A while later, he told his friend he needed to stop home briefly to give the family’s dog medication. “I never made it in the door,” Mark said. “I walked up two or three steps and I slipped and fell and hit the back of my head. I have a memory – I don’t know if it’s real – of seeing the tops of trees, hearing a crack and saying something like, ‘That isn’t good.’” When Mark didn’t return, his friend got worried. He found Mark unconscious and called 911: “There was so much blood coming from my ear they thought I’d been shot,” Mark said. “They roped it off with crime scene tape and everything.” Mark was rushed to the trauma center with a fractured skull and traumatic brain injury. Within 60-90 minutes, he was in surgery. Thanks in part to support from Foundation donors, the trauma center has state-of-the-art technology and a 10 2024 Gratitude Report
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