Rodney Barnes did not let a traumatic brain injury stop him from living his life the way it was meant to be lived.
Who is Rodney Barnes?
Rodney
enjoyed life more than anything and had it all, popularity, friends,
girls, and athletic skills to spare. At the age of 21, Rodney's life
took a turn he never expected. One missed step marked a major change in
his life. Passing off the head injury as something that he would
quickly get over, Rodney continued to live life and partied with friends
as normal. He slept for days thinking this feeling would go away, but
he only became more tiresome as the days passed. After a few days of
not going to work, Rodney’s mother walked into his bedroom to check on
him and found him unresponsive.
Rushed
to the emergency room, doctors acted quickly to save his life; his
brain was swelling and taking in blood by the second. A few more hours
and it would have been too late. After the operation, Rodney fell into a
coma for over two weeks with family and friends at his bedside hoping
for a miracle. Upon waking from the coma, Rodney's life had changed
forever. He had to learn everything all over again, from talking to
walking, eating to reading. It was there in the rehab center that
Rodney found strength to continue through faith and love from his
family. After regaining his strength and basic skills, he enrolled in college and received a degree in forestry and began working as a park ranger in Montana.
Back in 2009 Rodney wrote a book documenting his quest to return his life to normalcy earning him solid 5 star reviews on Amazon and an average of 4 star reviews on Good Reads.
Now we want to bring this inspirational life-changing book to the big screen. Join us as we
explore Rodney's life through this film and feel the emotion as he went
from having it all to almost losing his life, and finally, recovery to reclaim his life.
What We Need & What You Get
- To tell the story on film and do it the right way, we will need $300,000 USD. These funds will be used to pay for on-location shoots in Florida & Montana consisting of travel, lodging, equipment, personnel, acting talent,licenses & permits and lunch for the cast and crew every day we're shooting.
- The screenplay is fully written and ready to go!!!
- Our perks range from a thank you email, to a signed DVD (upon completion) to executive producer credits (IMDB) on the film. If you've ever wanted to be part of something huge, this is your chance because we intend to take this movement on traumatic brain injuries worldwide. You can be part of that movement.
- If we do not reach our goal, we will attempt to speak to some investors to complete what is needed. If that doesn't work out, we will work with the budget we have and make the movie anyway. We will do our best to keep the quality of image, sound, and acting at its best, but we still need to get this message out no matter what.
- Rodney’s journey of discovery took him to many locations in Florida such as Northside Hospital, HealthSouth Rehab, Saint Peters College, and the Beartooth Ranger District in Montana. We feel it’s important to shoot this film on location so the audience can follow Rodney’s own path and, to some degree, tap into deep rooted emotions as you see for yourself what Rodney did to restore his life. We have already spoken to all of the actual locations (8+) that were involved in the story and they have all given permission to shoot on location. So we will be filming in all of the authentic locations that Rodney actually visited and stayed.
The Impact
- After launching our social media pages for the film earlier this year, we noticed a very large amount of people that have either personally suffered this injury or have loved ones that have gone through or are currently going through it. It's something very hard to deal with, especially if timely, proper treatment is not administered. Sometimes the injury is not noticed right away and can have terrible complications and even lead to death. We want this film to be a mouthpiece for those who suffer from these injuries, including men and women from our Armed Forces that come home with their lives completely changed.
Risks & Challenges
We are Tier3 Media, a NJ based video production company that works on
different kinds of projects ranging from commercials, music videos,
weddings, and short films. We partnered up with Rodney Barnes after he reached out to us in hopes
of turning his book into a film. We got to know Rodney and how awesome
he and his little girl Lakoda are. After almost a year of brainstorming,
we decided to try a campaign to raise the funds for this film since we
don't have the means to fund it ourselves. Rodney has lived a rough life
even after the accident and this film means the world to him and
Lakoda. We hope to provide an accurate account of his life and let the
world know that with hard work, the right attitude, faith, and hope, you
can recover from any situation as Rodney recovered from this
life-changing injury.
As with any project, there are risks and challenges involved. We believe that with proper planning, organization, and teamwork, we can overcome anything that comes our way. There could be issues with the actors, locations, equipment failing, among many other problems that can happen on or off set, but as part of what we do, we will have contingency plans for all situations. Once we are ready to get started, we will share our plans and backup plans with you as well as updates of our progress.
Other Ways You Can Help
- We can really use your help getting the word out. Every page share, every tweet or Facebook post counts. Even if you can't contribute financially yourself, please share this campaign with others. As Rodney himself said in the video, "We can all share the miracle of recovery".
- There are tools built into this page to facilitate in sharing. Don't be afraid of sharing this cause with others.
Testimonials
"Your story has touched my life. I have multiple brain injuries with intracranial brain bleeds, subdural hematomas. I had to learn to talk, walk, and now trying to learn speech & language process/communicate, filters, cognitive functions. I sleep a lot. They said it was concussion. I am only nine months from last acute traumatic brain injury. I didn't go in a coma. I was transferred to a trauma hospital. Anyway, I look forward to getting your movie. Thank you for sharing your story. You have already inspired me and given me hope. I was feeling that I was losing myself. But maybe it is just to soon and I am still in the recovery phase. Thank you for getting in touch with me. "
- Trish
"My little brother (he is 28) had a horrible accident Easter night. He was on his skateboard no helmet coming down a huge hill at night and had a horrible accident. Long story short he has been in the ICU in critical condition since. The doctors say he has a major TBI. They have taken him off the sedation and the swelling in his brain is going down. They had to take part of his skull off to relieve the swelling in his brain. I love him so much and our family is beyond devastated. He was at death's door when they found him in the road. He is now on a ventilator. Thank you for sharing your story. It is very encouraging and gives me hope that my brother will recover as you did. "
- Crystal