For Dr. Ken Butler and his family

[benzenec6h6]

Hi Everyone,

I have some sad news. My brother-in-law Dr. Ken Butler, who most of you would know as the co-inventor of KRACH, has suffered a serious accident.

Following his lecture at the University of Toronto last Wednesday afternoon Ken suddenly collapsed striking his head on the lectern. No one is quite certain about the reason for the fall, but the blow fractured his skull and caused a serious hemorrhage. Although he is now breathing on his own, Ken has still not regained consciousness. Right now the long term prognosis is very much an unknown.

This reminds me so much of Joe Exter's injuries a couple of years ago. I can only hope that Ken's recovery is as speedy and complete.

I'll see that Ken's family is sent a copy of any thoughts posted to this thread.

Stuart Craig

[gopherguy06]

Originally posted by benzenec6h6
Hi Everyone,

I have some sad news. My brother-in-law Dr. Ken Butler, who most of you would know as the co-inventor of KRACH, has suffered a serious accident.

Following his lecture at the University of Toronto last Wednesday afternoon Ken suddenly collapsed striking his head on the lectern. No one is quite certain about the reason for the fall, but the blow fractured his skull and caused a serious hemorrhage. Although he is now breathing on his own, Ken has still not regained consciousness. Right now the long term prognosis is very much an unknown.

This reminds me so much of Joe Exter's injuries a couple of years ago. I can only hope that Ken's recovery is as speedy and complete.

I'll see that Ken's family is sent a copy of any thoughts posted to this thread.

Stuart Craig

Sorry to be ignorant, but what is KRACH or the invention?

[Patman]

Originally posted by gopherguy06
Sorry to be ignorant, but what is KRACH or the invention?

Invention is probably the wrong word since nothing in science and math is not invented but rather discovered.

KRACH or Ken's Ratings of American College Hockey (correct me if I'm wrong) is an application of the Bradley-Terry method for NCAA Hockey. Bradley-Terry compares two items together and gives a form of ranked analysis based off of this method. The adaptation that is the difference between B-T and KRACH is the implementation of a tie result as half a win and half a loss.

edit: My condolences, that's an unfortunate event and I hope he's doing ok.

[SJHovey]

KRACH is a methodology of determining power rankings of college hockey teams during the season. It is, essentially, a set of mathematical equations that attempt to use wins and losses, strength of schedule, etc... to rank teams. It is similar to the PWR ranking you see discussed at this site throughout the season. There is some debate over which is the preferred (more accurate?) formula. I am sorry to here of Dr. Butler's injury, although I must confess I was ignorant of the identity of the creater of KRACH. I hope he achieves a full and speedy recovery.

[sprig]

KRACH explained (http://www.mscs.dal.ca/~butler/krachexp.htm)

[Dutchfan]

My condolences, get well soon Ken!

[jtwcornell91]

Thanks for posting, Stuart. I was going to post something about it, but I wasn't sure how public Ken's family wanted to make things.

For those who don't know Ken, you can read more about him on his web pages:
Official homepage at UTSC (http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~butler/)
Slightly out-of-date, but more personal page from his postdoc days at Dalhousie (http://www.mscs.dal.ca/~butler/)

[Suze]

Thanks for the info. He's in my thoughts and prayers and my condolences go out to his family.

[benzenec6h6]

I have some good news.

Yesterday Ken briefly opened his eyes on three occasions. In one instance he opened up one eye and then on prompting opened his other eye briefly for about ten seconds. He started to cough and may have beentrying to say something, but there was an oxygen line in his mouth.

Hoefully he'll start to respond somemore in the next few days. Thanks to everyone who responded to the original post.

Stu

[aparch]

May this small movement/response be a great start of a full recovery. I will keep him in my thoughts and prayers.

Thank you for letting us know of this.

[sshablak]

Wishing him and his family the best!

[TWEET]

Get Well Soon Ken. The college hockey community does care.
Don't be put off by the lack of response to the original post.
Remember it's August.

[AdamW]

For those who don't know, the work of jtwcornell91, via Ken, brought KRACH to USCHO in 2003, and into greater awareness in college hockey.

http://www.uscho.com/FAQs/?data=krach

Get well Ken.

[siouxfan1]

Get well Dr. Butler, you and your family are in our prayers!

[ttnorm]

Wishing all the best for Dr. Butler and his family. Keep faith!

[TA Jen]

Good wishes.

Things sound rather promising, from what little has been posted...

[benzenec6h6]

Hi Everyone,

Not much has really changed in the last few days. Ken now regularly opens hiseyes for more than an hour in the morinings, but is still essentially unconscious.

He has been undergoing some tests in the past week. The MRI showed that his brain was bruised in three locations. This bruising was caused by elevated pressure due to the hemorrhage. His long term recovery will be determined by how well those bruises heal. Right now we're watching his incremental improvement and hoping for the best, but progress is slow.

Stu

[benzenec6h6]

Well, so much has happened this week and Ken has made great strides. Ken woke up earlier this week. He is able to move his left hand/arm as well as leg & toes well, but is experiencing more difficulty with his right side. Amy is working with him daily to increase his fine motor controls skills enough to type on a keyboard...Hopefully that will come soon. Ken's long term memory doesn't seem to have been affected too much, he remembers things he and Amy have done and people Amy has talked to him about.

He has a lot of questions that he can't quite ask yet as he still has the ventilator tube in his mouth. As for his math skills....he doesn't seem to quite understand the math quizzes he once wrote for his students although he does recognize
them.

Thanks for all your concern & support thus far.

[Dutchfan]

Sounds like good news so far. Keep on fighting Ken!

[RPIBMW]

What an ordeal. Our thoughts and prayers are with you, Ken!