Of the many different emotions encountered throughout the human experience, perhaps none is more common but as powerful as love. Love between couples, love between parents and children, love between friends, and so much more. It’s an emotion that can be so elusive in our daily interactions. However, once noticed, it is impossible to ignore.
Such love can be found between Anthony Lamont Berkley Jr. (42) of Chicago, Illinois and his girlfriend, Aliegha Driver (43) of Dayton, Ohio. That love was beautifully observed through the patience, acceptance, and pride they took in each other throughout our interview with this couple. Anthony experienced a severe brain injury and subsequent neurological damage from a motor vehicle accident in late 2023. While his motor functions and speech have improved dramatically, there are still a few gaps in his memory. Over the course of this interview, Aliegha was able to fill in and provide some context when Anthony’s recollection of events became fuzzy.
Anthony Berkley Jr. is a man who knows how to enjoy the simple pleasures in life. When he isn’t busy inspecting F-250s, Expeditions, and Lincoln Navigators at the Louisville Ford Assembly Plant, Anthony enjoys good meals and good times with good company. “His family has a lot of get-togethers, a pretty large family presence here in Louisville. We have lots of get-togethers and play lots of games,” Aliegha notes. Anthony also has a 6-year-old son, Alexander Berkley.
Anthony appreciates some of the finer cinematic offerings, noting that he enjoys his fair share of Marvel movies and older westerns. “My favorite Marvel superhero is ‘Spiderman,’ and my favorite Western is ‘The Harder They Fall.’” “He used to watch Tombstone all the time with his father. He also used to shoot pool quite a bit.” Aliegha recalls.
But one of his biggest passions is food. “He also likes to eat. He’s a BIG foodie.” Aliegha notes. “His favorite food is pizza or Italian. Right before the accident we took a trip to Boston; we went to Providence, Boston, and Salem. The whole time we were in Boston we spent pretty much the entire time in Little Italy. We go on trips every year, and that’s pretty much our MO. I plan the trip, and figure out what we’re going to do, where we’re going to stay…his whole job is to look up places to eat.”
“I think we try a little of everything [everywhere we go].” Anthony notes. He is also a big fan of Ramen noodles. “I started off with just Ramen and water and then upgraded it to eggs, seaweed, and so much more,” Anthony laughs. Aliegha, agreeing with him, notes, “That $0.27 ramen packet has turned into a whole grand meal by the time he’s done with it.”
Aliegha works as an ER nurse at the VA. She enjoys traveling, “Everywhere. Orlando is still always my favorite; we have a friend down there who gets us into Universal Studios, and I think that’s still my all-time favorite vacation, because we go just me and him.” Aliegha also has a kid, named Raeshawn Driver, 21, who attends college in Alabama.
What was by all accounts a relatively normal daily life was violently interrupted just before noon on Thursday, September 28th, 2023. Aliegha notes that Anthony doesn’t have any recollection of the events of that day, nor much of what was happening in the days before.
Anthony shared, “I found out that I was at a stoplight. The fire department had been following me, concerned for my safety. They knocked on my window, I got spooked, and drove off and hit a tree.”
While waiting at a stoplight, Anthony had started nodding off. Nearby, off-duty members of the Nichols Fire Department in Bullitt County were returning from an in-service training at Fort Knox. Noticing a tired driver on the road, the firefighters decided to knock on Anthony’s window to make contact and see if he was okay. The knock startled Anthony, who took off in his truck. Anthony lost control of his vehicle, veered off the road, and made head-on impact with a nearby tree at 65 miles per hour. Notoriously, Anthony never bothered wearing a seatbelt, and was consequently ejected from the vehicle through the front windshield, sustaining significant injuries in the process.
The same firefighters who initially made contact rushed to Anthony’s aid, calling in what had happened and facilitating the EMS response which took him to UofL Health.
From here, Aliegha was able to fill in the missing details. “He got to UofL around noon, but we didn’t know that. His next-of-kin in his chart was his father, who had passed. There was no other next-of-kin in the chart, so they couldn’t contact family. I ended up calling the hospitals around 6:30 p.m. (he usually goes to work around 6), and I couldn’t get a hold of him all day. I didn’t think anything of it until after he didn’t answer his phone at work. So I started calling the hospitals, looking for him. UofL was the first one I called, and found out that he was there in the ICU. He had been there all day, just nobody knew. When I spoke to them, they said that he came into Room 9 as a trauma, they did the exam and took him straight to surgery.”
Anthony’s injuries were extensive. Aleigah notes his injuries and procedures included: a procedure on his belly, a brain drain, removal of his spleen, liver repair, trauma to the left eye, a degloved right calf, multiple skin grafts, wound vacuums, chest tubes, four broken ribs, a clavicle fracture, a scapular fracture, a C4/C5 fracture, a fibula fracture, a tracheotomy, and tube feedings. Over the course of all of this, Anthony’s intracranial pressure was elevated, so the medical team needed to induce a coma to drain the excessive fluid. Anthony was in a coma for about a week.
Anthony was brought out of his coma in early October 2023. Aliegha recalls, “I don’t know what I was feeling at the time. Everything was up in the air. They didn’t know what to expect, we didn’t know what to expect…they knew he had a significant brain injury with multiple bleeds. Anyone who deals with the brain knows that could go either way. We didn’t know if he would come off the ventilator, if he would have his memory, if he would be able to talk, eat, function…no clue. And neurosurgery didn’t have a clue either, we just had to wait and see. It was touch-and-go for quite a while. Eventually he woke up though, and as he woke up more and more he started recognizing people, he had all of his long-term memories. He knew who everyone was as they were coming to visit. I don’t think he was creating any new short-term memories, because he couldn’t remember that people came to visit. But anytime someone would ask ‘Do you know who I am?’ He would be able to nod his head ‘yes.’”
Physical therapy started at UofL Health in early November 2023. They were eventually discharged to Frazier Rehabilitation Institute on Thanksgiving Day, November 23rd, 2023. Aliegha notes that seeing his progress, from barely sitting up for meals to walking laps around the nurses’ station was incredibly powerful. “I took a bunch of photos for him to be able to see afterwards, and ended up with a TikTok to get people to wear their seatbelts. I was using him as an example, I’m an ER nurse; wear your seatbelt! Anyways, I used all those pictures on TikTok and that was one of the things that I touched on, just those little things like I have a picture of him sitting outside the hospital drinking a cup of coffee in his wheelchair. That’s a big deal for us, we got out of the bed and were outside for 5 minutes, which was a big deal.”
Anthony remembers being discharged, and remembers his son coming to visit. “He came up to see me on the last day. She wanted to take a video to show the progress.” His son started coming up a week after the accident, after his son’s mother and Aliegha decided it was important for Alexander to see what had happened to his father. Alexander was used to seeing his father every day, and his mother, a woman named Holly, and Aliegha had to keep what happened to Anthony from Alexander for a few days. “At the suggestion of one of the ICU nurses, we decided he should come see Anthony, regardless of how bad everything was. Because if anything took a turn for the worse, he would’ve hated us for not letting him (Alexander) come up there. The ICU nurses were phenomenal…PHENOMENAl. I can’t speak highly enough of them. I was able to come home every evening and go to bed, and that’s saying a lot for that situation.”
Though Alexander was initially intimidated by the extent of Anthony’s injuries, after a few days (and after Anthony recovered more) the family was able to get Alexander into the recovery bed with Anthony, where the two were able to enjoy some time playing video games. “That was a big part of the recovery too, having Alexander up there every day. He was able to process what happened; he saw pictures of the truck, he knows Daddy had a car accident. He’s working with a specialist to process everything, and so he has someone to talk to.”
The two were discharged from Frazier on December 1st, 2023. Anthony completed Speech, Physical, and Occupational Therapy in short order.
About a month and a half removed from the incident, recovery is still a big part of Anthony’s day. “He is finishing up in the day program at Frazier, and still has appointments Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.” Aliegha notes. Full recovery is expected to continue over the next two years.
Anthony is tremendously grateful for the team at UofL Health. “Dr. Amy, is amazing.” Dr. Amy is the psychiatrist at Frazier. “Taylor and Heidi were looking after me while I was in speech therapy, and through OT.”
Aliegha shares Anthony’s review of the UofL Health team. “Pretty much everyone he’s been in contact with since the incident has been amazing. The doctors, nurses, the techs, everybody. They were patient; he has a large family, and they patiently did some education and answered some questions while he was recovering. They had no trouble with asking questions, no trouble with me helping with his care (like changing dressings), but they all cared in a big way.”
Since his discharge, Anthony and Aliegha have made the rounds, thanking all those who played such a big role in Anthony’s recovery. “We took him back to ICU to see the girls on ICU before we left the hospital so they could see him up and in a wheelchair at least. Then we got to make a trip right after Christmas to Bulleit County to see the EMS and fire department and meet those who were on-scene. He made them lasagna which he cooked himself, and we took a thank-you card and some snacks down to them.”
Aliegha notes, “In our line of work, we don’t get many wins. You have no idea what showing up means to them.”
Aliegha and Anthony both wanted to express the importance of family in times of hardship. When asked if they had any thoughts they wanted to share with others, Aliegha notes, “Besides wearing your seatbelt, it takes a lot of help afterwards. Between my family, his family, one of my best friends…we’ve had a lot of help between everyone. And we’re so grateful to have had that.”
Anthony jokingly wants to remind everyone to, “Wear your seatbelt.”
Anthony Berkley.
Love and Compassion.
Trauma Survivor.
