Denise Wieck’s life took an unexpected turn on Memorial Day 2021 with a phone call that sent her racing to the hospital. There, she faced a grim reality as her son, Guy, had been gravely injured.
“They did not anticipate him living,” recounted Wieck, who works as an administrative specialist in the Department of Emergency Medicine.
After the emergency call, surgeons urgently operated on her 17-year-old son. “The whole right side of his skull was removed to accommodate swelling, and half of his temporal lobe was taken out due to damage,” Wieck recalled. “When I finally saw him, I’ll never forget, he had all kinds of tubes coming out of his head — It was pretty horrific.”
The source of the injury was a “ghost gun” — a firearm assembled from parts purchased online without a serial number. It was fired by Guy’s friend who thought the chamber was empty.
The incident left bone and bullet fragments embedded in Guy’s brain.
“The next 72 hours are critical,” Wieck was told. During this time, she stayed vigilant, ensuring the tubes remained intact. “I didn’t really sleep much,” she admitted.
Hospital teams provided intensive care, guiding Guy through challenging milestones that seemed monumental to his family. “After eight days, he was up and walking with help,” Wieck recalled. “On the ninth day, he told them that he didn’t want a walker, and so he was walking by himself.”
Recovery isn’t linear
Guy’s recovery was marred by complications, particularly seizures that dominated the following two years. His first seizure occurred after an October cranioplasty, a procedure to replace the removed skull bone. On New Year’s Eve, he faced a life-threatening episode of status epilepticus.
Despite repeated adjustments to medication, the presence of metal fragments meant Guy couldn’t undergo MRIs to pinpoint seizure locations. Eventually, he received a vagus nerve stimulator implant.
“It’s been seriously amazing how much that has helped,” Wieck said.
Guy learned to identify the onset of seizures by recognizing symptoms like tingling fingers, allowing him to use the VNS to halt them. After two years seizure-free, he regained his driver’s license in June and purchased a 1993 Oldsmobile 98 Regency.
“Only 2% of the people who have his kind of injury actually live, but he’s here and he’s doing amazing despite having many medical issues that he battles every day trying to be ‘normal’ and will forever,” she commented.
From mom to prevention advocate
Turning adversity into action, Wieck has dedicated herself to gun violence prevention.
“When a detective first said ‘ghost gun,’ I thought ‘What the heck is a ghost gun?’” she remarked. “They are basically untraceable, because they don’t have any serial numbers on them. Within 30 minutes, his 17-year-old friend had a firearm from a kit he had purchased online and assembled.”
With a resolve to make a difference, Wieck became involved with SURE (Sisters, United, Resilient, and Empowered) through the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office, later co-founding the nonprofit LIFE (Lock It for Everyone) with Guy.
“We believe in the right to have a firearm, but we also believe that you need to be educated and capable,” she stated.
Beyond LIFE, Wieck volunteers with organizations like Moms Demand Action, End Gun Violence Michigan, Everytown for Gun Safety, and the county’s Community Violence Intervention Team. She and Guy regularly speak at public events to raise awareness.
“I always say I’m the mouth of the program, and he is the face of the program,” she noted.
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Contributing to research and educational initiatives at U-M, including the Weil Institute’s Massey TBI Lived Experience Advisory Council, Wieck finds fulfillment in her advocacy work. “I find my advocacy work very rewarding to me, especially when we can see that we’re making a change,” she expressed.
Despite progress, challenges remain.
“You just feel defeated because firearm deaths just keep happening,” she reflected. “My work is never going to end, but I’m going to prevent deaths.”
Above all, she urges proactive prevention.
“I thought I would never be affected by gun violence,” she shared. “But you never know when you are going to be. If you start working to prevent it now, it won’t happen to you.”
Wieck is determined that her son’s experience will serve a greater purpose.
“We truly believe that things happen for a reason,” she concluded. “Guy believes he lived to help people and to make that difference.”
