No Matter How Hard Times Get, We Are Still Capable Of Graciousness - Keller Williams Realty Grand South

Jamie Upchurch was an experienced mega agent when she joined Keller Williams Realty Grand South (McDonough, GA) in December 2008. She had only been with the office for a few weeks when her son sustained an unexpected injury.

Shane (25 yrs old) was playing in his second rugby game and took a few good hits, “but you know us hard-headed Upchurch's, he continued to play and was the MVP of the game.” Jamie reported.

However, by Tuesday he conceded that his head was really hurting and pain killers from the doctor were not enough. They took him to the emergency room, where they found that blood was between his brain and skull. He was rushed to Emory where they performed emergency surgery to remove a blood clot from his brain.

Jamie emailed to keep everyone posted on Shane’s progress: "I want you to know that this has been the most traumatic time of our lives, and when I first saw him after surgery, I thought I was going to lose it...there was my baby with a swollen head, basically shaved on one side with stitches and blood on the entire side with a tube coming out to drain the blood from his brain...his eyes are shut and pretty much have been since this started...but I thanked God he was alive and knew no matter what happened that was all that really mattered."

New to her office and to Keller Williams Realty, Jamie was overwhelmed with dealing with Shane’s extremely serious injury. Her office rallied around her and her family. While the good news is that Shane will have a full recovery, the bad news is he was new to his job and did not have any sick days or enough insurance to help him completely cover the medical bills.

Quickly, the Keller Williams Realty office organized and hosted an "Open House" fundraiser, and welcomed over 100 guests to join them in raising money for Shane. Extraordinary help came from Patty Trabor, Amy Adkins, Christy Haddock, Elizabeth Head, Kathy Blalock, Melinda Maddox and even other people in the real estate business: Tammy Carlisle-House (a warranty rep), Bobby Fowler (a home inspector), Nikki Gilbert-Fernandez and Karen Devonshire (from an attorney's office).

One of Jamie’s friends who came to the Open House sent her an email afterwards: "I wanted to tell you how humbled I was by the outpouring of people that came to your open house this week. In this market, it was truly amazing to see how many people were ready to wrap their arms around you and your family to support Shane in this terrible situation."

Shane is on his way to recovery. He wrote "I never imagined I would see as many people as I did. Nor did I ever imagine we would receive so many donations in an economic time such as the one we are currently in. This experience has really opened my eyes to the goodness in each of us and has shown me that no matter how hard times get, we are all still capable of graciousness. My family and I are very blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful people, and we truly appreciate everything that you all have done for us."

Keller Williams Realty Grand South demonstrated true quiet heroism.