Dan’s Story
Dan Lewis Foundation | Fall 2022

The Dan Lewis Foundation and its mission are inspired by a remarkable young man and his dedicated family. During the summer of 2007, after his sophomore year at Yale University, Dan rode in a 4,000-mile bicycling challenge to raise funds and public awareness for Habit for Humanity. The event started at the edge of the Long Island Sound and was to end when the cyclists crossed the Golden Gate Bridge. Unfortunately, on July 7, 2007, six weeks into the ride and just past the 2,000-mile mark in Kansas, Dan was struck by a speeding motorist. Dan sustained catastrophic injuries, including severe traumatic brain injury. 

Dan endured many surgeries to address brain trauma, extensive internal injuries, and many broken bones. Survival was iffy; specialists and intensivists advised his family to “let him pass .” Dan was in a coma, his vital signs fluctuated dramatically, and indices of severe brain damage constantly appeared on the monitors that beeped and rang non-stop. 


Though remaining in a coma, Dan came through multiple surgeries and difficult procedures. Finally, after four weeks and still comatose, he was deemed medically stable enough to be flown to Denver, his hometown.


For the next 11 months, Dan was an inpatient at five different hospitals, each equipped to handle his sudden medical emergencies and surgical needs as they emerged. He gradually regained a minimal level of consciousness which allowed him to be admitted to Denver’s Craig Rehabilitation Hospital, one of the country’s best for treatment, rehabilitation, and research for persons with spinal cord and brain injuries.


Over the years since Dan’s terrible initial injuries and despite early dire predictions about survival and prognosis, he has endured and slowly recovered rudimentary abilities. He has been through many medical ups and downs and a string of routine yet difficult procedures that must be repeated on a regular basis. However, he has never been a complainer and always tries his best in all activities and therapies. Dan is healthy now, can do some simple reading, spelling, addition, and subtraction, and can respond successfully to some verbal directions. He can speak single words and some short phrases. Dan had been an award-winning young cellist and can now pluck some basic patterns on his cello and use his bow with minor assistance. He participates in a weekly music class and is a key member of Spoke N Motion, an inclusive dance troupe with some dancers who use wheelchairs.


Despite Dan’s rewarding progress, the damage to his brain severely limits his everyday life, and he remains almost entirely dependent on family members, therapists, and attendants for care. As a result, the promise of Dan’s active, productive, creative life has been irrevocably altered. 

The Dan Lewis Foundation is based on the hope that new advances and innovations in biomedical science— particularly research into small molecule medicines, genomically targeted nucleic acid medicines, and induced pluripotent stem cells--may one day lead to better outcomes for Dan and scores of thousands of other individuals with severe brain injuries. There is optimism now that science and technology have the potential to return better functional abilities to individuals with traumatic brain injury. Science and technology hold the promise to improve the lives of individuals with brain injuries and to positively impact the families and communities in which they live. We welcome your interest and support in helping advance the mission of the Dan Lewis Foundation. 

A man is holding a fish in his hand in front of a lake.

Devon’s Journey – Two Years Post-Accident

By Dan Lewis Foundation • November 6, 2024
After a life-altering accident in October 2022, Devon Guffey’s story is about resilience and determination. His journey has been profiled in the summer 2023 issue of the Making Headway Newsletter: https://www.danlewisfoundation.org/devons-story . Hit by a drunk driver, Devon sustained severe brain and physical injuries, including axonal shearing, a traumatic frontal lobe injury, and facial fractures. Even after contracting meningitis while in a coma, Devon fought hard to survive – and today, his recovery continues to inspire us all. In late 2023, Devon worked as an assistant basketball coach at Blue River Valley, where he had once been a student. His love for sports and dedication to regaining his physical strength returned him to the gym, where his hard work paid off. Devon’s persistence earned him another job at the YMCA, guiding gym members and supporting facility upkeep. Through all the challenges—deafness in one ear, blindness in one eye, and a permanent loss of taste and smell—Devon perseveres. He recently regained his driving license, a significant milestone that symbolizes his increasing independence and cognitive and physical recovery. While each day may not show significant changes, Devon now sees his progress over time. Today, Devon speaks to groups about his journey, the dangers of drunk driving, and finding strength in adversity. His message is clear: recovery is a process, and sometimes, "can't" simply means "can't do it yet ." Every TBI is unique, and Devon’s story powerfully reminds us of the strength that comes from resilience and community. We are grateful to Devon for continuing to share his story and for his role in uplifting others facing difficult paths. His journey is a testament to the fact that we are stronger together. #BrainInjuryAwareness #DevonsJourney #Resilience #EndDrunkDriving #MakingHeadway
A close up of a brain with a lot of cells and a purple background.

Advancing Brain Regeneration Therapies

By Dan Lewis Foundation | Summer 2024 • July 10, 2024
Scientists worldwide are working to find ways to stimulate healing and functional recovery after severe brain injuries. This work is driven by the desperate needs of persons who have suffered brain damage. It is inspired by the knowledge that the information required to create new brain cells, cause these cells to interconnect, and stimulate new learning is contained in our genome. Now that we can readily generate stem cells from adult tissue, we have access to the genomic program that can control all of the intricate details of brain tissue formation. A number of different research themes are being pursued productively. These include: (1) enabling injured neurons to self-repair (“axonal repair”) 1,2 ; (2) replacing damaged tissue by increasing the growth of new neurons (“neurogenesis”) 3-5 ; (3) transplanting new brain cells that are derived from a person’s own stem cells (“autologous cellular repletion”) 6-8 ; (4) stimulating the re-wiring of new or surviving tissue by encouraging the formation of new connections (“synaptogenesis”) 9,10 ; and (5) augmenting the function of a damaged brain by the use of bio-computational prostheses (“brain-computer interfaces”) 11,12 ; We’ve explored these themes in previous newsletters. The goal of stimulating meaningful brain regeneration is now sufficiently plausible that a large-scale, well-funded campaign needs to be funded to bring meaningful new therapies to patients within the foreseeable future. Here, we suggest a high-level outline of the research themes for such a campaign. A ‘moon shot’ program towards brain regeneration would leverage cutting-edge technologies in stem cell research, gene therapy, synaptic plasticity, neuronal repair, and brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) to develop innovative treatments for brain injuries and neurodegenerative diseases. These treatments would target the restoration of lost brain functions and improvement in the quality of life for individuals affected by severe brain injuries. This research agenda aims to catalyze serious discussion about creating a federal program with funding, organizational resources, and expert governance to enable brain regeneration in our lifetimes. Major Themes For a Brain Regeneration “Moon Shot” Program 1: Promote the formation of new neurons 1.1 Stimulate the brain to create new neurons 1.2 Create new neurons from patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells to be transplanted back into the patient. Create new glial cells to support neurogenesis. 2: Stimulate new synaptic formation 2.1 Develop drugs that enhance synaptic plasticity and promote the formation of new synaptic connections 3: Stimulate self-repair of damaged neurons 3.1 Develop drugs that de-repress neurons and, thereby, enable axonal regrowth 4: Develop brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) for brain-injured patients 4.1: Develop and test BCIs that enable the brain to control behaviors or external devices and, thereby, augment or replace impaired functions. 4.2: Develop and test BCIs that can accelerate the training of remapped brain tissue in persons with brain injuries to optimize functional recovery. 4.3: Combine BCIs with other strategies (e.g., cell repletion, synaptogenesis, and enhanced plasticity) to accelerate adaptation and functional improvement. The proposed research themes can underpin targeted research to stimulate meaningful brain regeneration, offering new hope for patients with brain injuries and neurodegenerative diseases. While the scientific challenges are profound, there has been sufficient progress to justify substantial investment in brain regeneration research. Any such large-scale program will require coordinated collaborations among academic and commercial partners, skillful governance and management, and a shared sense of profound commitment to the goal. The recent pace of advances in cell biology, stem cell technology, bio-computational interfaces, and genomically targeting medicines suggests that large-scale investment will yield meaningful clinical advances toward brain regeneration after injury. With robust funding and skilled leadership, this comprehensive research agenda has a realistic potential to transform scientific breakthroughs into tangible medical therapies, offering hope to millions affected by brain damage.
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