Joe is a great person with a loving character. He was a popular student at Kankakee Valley High School with many friends. He is the son of Larry and Debra Nimetz, and has three older brothers, Jake, Adam Miller, and Mike as well as an older sister, Melissa Peters. Joe was always kind of quiet until he warmed up to you, and then he could make you laugh until your stomach hurt. He had a very tight knit group of friends that you could almost always find him with. He had dreams of going off to California to begin a career in law enforcement and eventually the FBI. He loved the cop shows and the movies. He wanted to be one of the good guys.
Unfortunately, Joe's life took an unexpected turn of events on Christmas Eve of 2003. Joe's older brother, Jake, had joined the Marines out of High School and had been stationed in Okinawa, Japan for a year and a half. He was finally coming home on leave. He returned in the late evening on December 22, 2003. Only a short day and a half later, on Christmas Eve, Jake and Joe decided to go to the Valparaiso Wal-Mart so they could do some last minute shopping. They wanted to get done and return quickly since the entire family was to spend the afternoon together. At about 10 am, they got ready and said "bye" to their mother and off they went.
They only made about a mile down the road before they hit a patch of ice from the sleet that had fallen the night before. The truck twisted out of control and slid off the opposite side of the street and directly into a tree on the passenger side door. Paramedics and police rushed to the scene only to find the two unconscious. Jake came to in a large state of confusion of what had just happened. As he was taken away for care, Joe was totally unconscious and had to be cut out of the mangled vehicle. After a long period of frantic work by the rescue workers, Joe was finally brought on board the ambulance and Jake grabbed his hand and held it as they screamed to Porter Memorial Hospital.
The news was bad. Instead of joining together for a holiday feast, the family piled into the hospital in a nervous panic of what was happening. The doctors finally came in to pass on that Joe was a victim of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and that he could possibly pass away from swelling in his brain within the next few days. As you can imagine, it engulfed the family with grief. Through the hand of God, Joe ended up making it through. Over the next few months spent in the intensive care unit, Joe overcame many obstacles. He was taken off the ventilator and continued breathing on his own! He fought through infection after infection and recovered! He had showed a determination that has always been apparent for Joe.
The family, continuing to try to give Joe the best care, decided to move Joe to the Rehab Institute of Chicago. Joe spent a couple months receiving some of the best care given in the whole world! Joe again demonstrated that he was there and wanted to improve. Working with speech, occupational, and physical therapists Joe continued to show improvement and determination. The family did as well as Joe never spent more than a few minutes by himself in the hospital or rehab!
In June of 2004, Joe moved back to his mother's house in Wheatfield, IN where he has been ever since. The house has literally been transformed into a small hospital. There are therapeutic items everywhere, hospital bed, and plenty of other items you would only see in a hospital environment. The carpet was removed and tile floors were put in, a wheelchair accessible bathroom and shower had to be installed, doors had to be widened, etc. With gracious compassion, many businesses in the area really pulled together to get some incredible tasks accomplished.
Since Joe has returned home, Debra has been the primary care giver. She has taken care of Joe almost every minute of everyday. Home Health Care provides a nurse aid and a nurse a couple hours a day and some therapists come in from Kankakee Valley High School a few hours a week. Joe also goes to the Methodist hospital in Merrillville twice a week for more therapy. Debra continues finding new things for Joe to try.
This website has been created to keep the community informed of the situation and to give consistent support for Joe and the Nimetz family. It has become very difficult for Debra to make ends meet. Debra had to quite her job to take care of Joe full time and the rest of the family has had to get back to work. It has been a rough time for this family and any help that could be donated would be greatly appreciated. Please contact Debra Nimetz at 219-956-2004. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you.