We are on a mission to help....

At the age of 19, Patty and her husband Paul conceived a child they named Brent. Five years later they divorced because Brent was starting to realize daddy didn’t really want him. Brent and Patty moved a lot, sometimes living with her parents, and finally moving out to Orange County after Patty graduated from college.

Without the stability and monitoring by his grandparents, Brent became a latchkey kid at the age of 13 and started down a path of drug and alcohol abuse. His resentment at not having a dad grew along with his drug use. By the age of 17, sensing he was out of control, Brent prayed, “God, I can’t fix this. You’re in charge of the universe; you get me off drugs.” Little did Brent suspect what God would use to answer that prayer, an answer which resulted in “The Coma Cure.”  At the same time Brent was asking God for help, Patty had a close encounter with the living God and made a dramatic change in her life but it was too late to reach Brent.

He was literally on a collision course with his destiny. At the age of 19 Brent sustained a head injury when the El Camino he was riding in hit the back of a flatbed truck. That event changed both their lives forever, marking every event as “Before Coma” or “After Coma.” Through decades of recovery from his traumatic brain injury, Brent left his resentment behind and became a new person, more concerned with other people’s happiness than his own. Patty, realizing this was her make-up test in motherhood, became Brent’s advocate in every situation. They wrote, “The Coma Cure,” a book about his journey. Today they laugh at the past and even at the present. Their goal is to help others avoid the pitfalls of life that can be avoided and find joy in life even when it’s full of trials.

Hi I'm Brent

Brent Hickman loves life and wants to encourage the world. As a child, Brent’s life was chaotic, a bad situation for a hyperactive kid. He loved his mom, his grandparents and his uncle, who were all influential in his life, but when his mom moved him away to Orange County Brent became a latchkey kid and lost his way.

As a teen, Brent entered the world of drugs, trying to find his place in a world where he didn't seem to fit. After all, his father had rejected him and his mother was too busy to give him much attention. How much could he be worth? He never felt rejected with his new friends. Eventually though he saw the downward spiral of his life through the lives of those friends who were a bit older. Fearing where it would end, Brent cried out to God for a way out. Little did he suspect where that new path would lead. Had he seen the future, he might have said, “Never mind. I'll do it myself.” Instead, Brent went through the Coma Cure and came out on the other side with a totally different outlook.

Hi I'm Patty

Patty McKee lived an idyllic middle class life with parents who loved her. She too got lost in her own way and got pregnant at the age of 19. Much to her surprise, her parents encouraged her to marry her “bad boy” boyfriend. Although she loved her son and her husband she was forced to make a choice between them and after five years of marriage became a single mother.

Motherhood was difficult for her and she accepted the women’s movement story that said she could have it all. Well, yes, but at what price? Sadly that price was paid by her son Brent as her focus was dedicated to school, work and social life. At the age of 27 Patty returned to college to secure a future for her and Brent. She graduated and began a lucrative career in software development.

The future Patty secured was one of long hours of work for her and loneliness for Brent. By the time she realized how lost Brent was she could find no way to reach him. She too cried out to God to help Brent, never suspecting that it would lead to The Coma Cure.