IN HIS 11TH day in the hospital, Baynes was finally able to stand. Then, in an exercise to work on his motor skills, he was able to stack one cup on top of another, an accomplishment he'd been working toward. He was so excited that he FaceTimed his wife. When she answered he saw his youngest of three children, his 6-month-old daughter, learning to do the same. He began to cry.
Getting home (from Japan) was brutal. A special medical plane was chartered for the 4,000-mile flight. In order to keep him safe, doctors determined he'd need to be strapped down on his back and anesthetized for the entire eight-hour flight. When he finally got home to Brisbane, he had to be stretchered to an ambulance because he still couldn't walk. Because of Australia's strict COVID-19 protocols, he had to go into a mandatory two-week quarantine in a local hospital and was still unable to see his family.
