Muskegon Guns and Hoses Charity Hockey Game

The Game

The Guns were the March 2008 game winners by a score of 6-3.

This Year's Beneficiary

Nikki Stone
Nikki Stone, a sophomore student and an all "A" student and athlete at Holton High School, was critically injured from a fall from her horse awaiting the beginning of the Holton Community Day's Parade on July 28, 2007. Nikki received a traumatic brain injury (TBI) resulting from the fall and underwent surgery at Hackley Hospital. Her injury, which was very severe, required a craniotomy to be performed in order to release the swelling/pressure of her brain. Her condition required her to remain in the intensive care unit on a life-support system and fighting for her life. For approximately three weeks she remained in this state of health. She also had to have surgery for a tracheotomy and G-tube (feeding tube) in order to remove her from the life support system. Thereafter she was moved to the Pediatrics Unit at Hackley Hospital for further rest and recuperation.

Early September 2007, she was transferred to Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Rapids to begin an intensive rehabilitation program. Her stay there was short-lived as she developed an infection on her brain in the area where her scull was removed. This infection set her back, as she was again transferred to Hackley Hospital for another surgery to remove the infection. She had to have very strong antibiotics to fight the infection, which also had adverse side-effects on her well-being. She remained in Hackley's Intensive Care Unit again to recover from the 2nd surgery and to bring the infection under control.

During the first week of October, 2007, Nikki was again transferred back to Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital to resume her therapy. While Nikki proceeded with her therapy sessions, improvements had to be made at her home in order to make it accessible once she is discharged. Those improvements include an outside, platform lift in order to be able to get her in the house, doorways widened so that it was more accessible for her wheelchair and installation of a hospital bed, and other such improvements.

Nikki has made huge improvements since her stay at Mary Free Bed. She is currently able to do some walking with assistance and has a small verbal vocabulary (yes, no, yeah, my room, etc.). She is not able to communicate verbally in a conversation or sentence structure. She is still wheelchair ridden and has to be physically transferred from her bed to the wheelchair, etc. She remains to be nourished through the feeding tube. Needless to say, Nikki still has a very long road of recovery ahead of her; including another surgery to have her scull replaced.

Nikki is/was to be discharged from Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital during the end of January, 2008, or beginning of February, 2008. From there, she will be enrolled at Wesley School in Muskegon to further assist her in her recovery along with out patient therapy session in speech, occupational, and physical therapy three times a week.

Our goal this year is to raise funds to assist Nikki's family with future expenses that they will incur during her recovery. We wish you the best Nikki.

About the Guns and Hoses

In late 2002, Jon Baker of the Muskegon Police Department approached Todd Rake of the Muskegon Fire Department with the idea of putting on a charity hockey game. The idea was to use a hockey game between police (guns) and fire (hoses) as a fun way for those in the emergency response field to give to children in the community. They also saw an opportunity to reinforce the positive influence firefighters, police officers, medics and other emergency response personnel have as role models in Muskegon County. With the help of volunteers and players from over 30 departments including police, fire, corrections, EMS, hospital ER and US Coast Guard the idea took off and the Muskegon County Guns and Hoses Charity Hockey Game became a reality.

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