05/26/2026
We have been asked how long Gene has been building the creations we now showcase on what we call Scrap Happens, and honestly, he has only been making things since mid-April.
But for those new to the story of how all of this came about, it goes back 7 months…
On October 22, 2025, our lives changed in an instant.
I had just left for the post office when my phone rang:
“Pam, Gene’s had an accident, and they’re loading him into the ambulance.”
What followed has been a road none of us could have imagined.
After a fall from over 15 feet, Gene suffered devastating injuries — including a Grade 2 Diffuse Axonal Injury (DAI), a moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury affecting both sides of his brain, skull fractures that caused hearing loss on the right side, 4 brain bleeds, 12 fractures in his spine, a collapsed lung that required a chest tube, multiple broken ribs in both the front and back of his rib cage on the right side, and many other broken bones throughout his body.
He spent his entire initial hospital stay in the Surgical ICU, followed by time in not one, but two rehabilitation facilities as he slowly began the long process of learning how to heal and rebuild. There were setbacks, unknowns, and moments where nothing about the future felt certain.
Doctors never expected the level of recovery he has made in only 7 months. On paper, this is not where we should be right now.
There were so many unknowns in the beginning. So many moments filled with fear, questions, setbacks, and uncertainty about what recovery would even look like. Yet here he is — welding, creating, building, laughing, and finding pieces of himself again through Scrap Happens.
Every creation he makes is more than scrap metal put together. It is proof of just how far he has come.
Yet somehow, through determination, stubbornness, faith, and support from so many people, his recovery has been nothing short of miraculous.
Now, only 7 months later, Scrap Happens was born.
For just about the last month, Gene has been turning other people’s “leftover parts” into incredible creations. Old car parts, tools, silverware, scrap metal — if it can be welded, there’s a good chance he can turn it into something amazing.
What started as part of his recovery has quickly become a passion, a creative outlet, and proof that even after life changes everything, something meaningful can still be built from the pieces left behind.
Please join us at Scrap Happens and follow along as Gene continues both his recovery and this unexpected new journey, creating one-of-a-kind pieces from scrap. And remember to come out to Graceview Annual Car Show June 6th! See you there
