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Brandon Reeves Turns Tragedy into Triumph

Published

12 years ago

June 29, 2013

Twenty-three-year-old BrandonReeves is a go-getter, an achiever, and an all around good guy. He graduated from Berkeley High in 2008, and although he was a member of the Varsity Cross Country, Track and Field, and Basketball teams, he was offered a full academic scholarship to Santa Clara University.While at Santa Clara, he excelled and completed his studies in 2012, unknowingly about to take on a fight for his life.Brandon fell from the roof of a house in February causing severe swelling to his brain. He was on a breathing machine, fed intravenously and in a coma. In critical condition, doctors weren’t sure that Brandon would survive the fall.He was rushed to Highland Hospital where he immediately underwent emergency brain surgery to observe the swelling on the brain. Under close monitoring, doctors realized the swelling wasn’t going down so he underwent another brain surgery to remove a portion of his skull to give room to his traumatized brain.

The portion of Brandon’s skull removed was placed in his stomach, a process allowing it to be nurtured for up to nine months, if needed, while his brain healed.

But nine months wasn’t needed. Just four months since the fall, Brandon reflects on the incident. He says he always had faith that he was going to be all right.

“My brain was working, I knew I was in a coma…I just couldn’t wake up,” Brandon said. While he couldn’t respond, he remembers being in the comatose state.
So when he finally woke up, he was determined to turn the tragedy of his fall into triumph. Doctors told Brandon of the paralysis on his right side, something they believed was going to be permanent. Brandon refused to accept it.

“I’d sit in the bed and use my left side to exercise my right side,” said Brandon. “After my hand came, then it was my right ankle, and I would just move my foot up and down…I never felt it was going to be permanent.”

After one month, he was released from Highland and admitted to Oakland’s Kaiser Hospital for rehabilitation. He had to relearn his alphabet, how to brush his teeth and other basic communication skills. He worked his body physically and mentally to continue his rapid improvement.

Brandon’s father, Gary Reeves, describes Brandon’s condition as “being a man working with an infant mentality.” However, he says he made sure the energy around Brandon was always positive, never willing to accept that his son would not pull through, let alone walk again.

Gary Reeves says, “The first month the doctors had a hard time balancing his blood pressure and breathing,” and he had to regulate visitation because the impact visitors would have on Brandon’s emotion. Today, he credits God, the doctors, therapists, nurses, and the love from family and friends as the motivation that contributed to his quick recovery.

“You’re only stuck if you allow your mind to become stuck,” Gary Reeves said.
Brandon regained his speaking and walking ability, and though still needing to complete the rehabilitation program, he was able to go home.

Today, he says he is about 90 percent back to his original self. While he still works on strengthening his cognitive and speech skills, he has regained all physical movement.

Currently, he is a mentor at Berkeley Youth Authority, helping teach young kids about government funding for medical costs.

He also works with Community Partners for Bright Futures International, a charity that supports underprivileged children around the world by providing programs that help them achieve academic and professional success, and “B.U.” academy, which is sponsored by Blair Underwood.

He has volunteered teaching English as a second language to Spanish speaking mothers in San Jose at Sacred Heart Community Center and has even taught a beginning youth ski board class for the Bay Area’s Black Avalanche Ski Club.

But now Brandon’s life is the lesson. Three brain surgeries later, and overcoming every obstacle most would have counted him out on, he knows his life has purpose and new meaning.

“You do what you have to do to get better,” Brandon said. “Don’t just become a victim of your circumstances.

Oakland Post

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Oakland Housing and Community Development Department Awards $80.5 Million to Affordable Housing Developments

Published

6 months ago

June 17, 2025

Oakland Post

Special to The Post

The City of Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department (Oakland HCD) announced its awardees for the 2024-2025 New Construction of Multifamily Affordable Housing Notice of Funding Availability (New Construction NOFA) today Five permanently affordable housing developments received awards out of 24 applications received by the Department, with award amounts ranging from $7 million to $28 million.

In a statement released on Jan. 16, Oakland’s HCD stated, “Five New Construction Multifamily Affordable Housing Development projects awarded a total of $80.5 million to develop 583 affordable rental homes throughout Oakland. Awardees will leverage the City’s investments to apply for funding from the state and private entities.”

In December, the office of Rebecca Kaplan, interim District 2 City Councilmember, worked with HCD to allocate an additional $10 Million from Measure U to the funding pool. The legislation also readopted various capital improvement projects including street paving and upgrades to public facilities.

The following Oakland affordable housing developments have been awarded in the current round:

Mandela Station Affordable

238 Affordable Units including 60 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $15 million + previously awarded $18 million
Developer: Mandela Station LP (Pacific West Communities, Inc. and Strategic Urban Development Alliance, LLC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 1451 7th St.

Liberation Park Residences

118 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $28 million
Developer: Eden Housing and Black Cultural Zone
City Council District: 6
Address: 7101 Foothill Blvd.

34th & San Pablo

59 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $7 million
Developer: 34SP Development LP (EBALDC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 3419-3431 San Pablo Ave.

The Eliza

96 Affordable Units including 20 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $20 million
Developer: Mercy Housing California
City Council District: 3
Address: 2125 Telegraph Ave.

3135 San Pablo

72 Affordable Units including 36 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $10.5 million
Developer: SAHA and St. Mary’s Center
City Council District: 3
Address: 3515 San Pablo Ave.

The source of this story is the media reltations office of District 2 City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan.

Oakland Post

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Activism

Oakland Housing and Community Development Department Awards $80.5 Million to Affordable Housing Developments

Published

11 months ago

January 30, 2025

Oakland Post

Rebecca Kaplan, interim District 2 city councilmember. File photo.

Special to The Post

The following Oakland affordable housing developments have been awarded in the current round:

Mandela Station Affordable

238 Affordable Units including 60 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $15 million + previously awarded $18 million
Developer: Mandela Station LP (Pacific West Communities, Inc. and Strategic Urban Development Alliance, LLC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 1451 7th St.

Liberation Park Residences

118 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $28 million
Developer: Eden Housing and Black Cultural Zone
City Council District: 6
Address: 7101 Foothill Blvd.

34th & San Pablo

59 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $7 million
Developer: 34SP Development LP (EBALDC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 3419-3431 San Pablo Ave.

The Eliza

96 Affordable Units, including 20 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $20 million
Developer: Mercy Housing California
City Council District: 3
Address: 2125 Telegraph Ave.

3135 San Pablo

72 Affordable Units including 36 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $10.5 million
Developer: SAHA and St. Mary’s Center
City Council District: 3
Address: 3515 San Pablo Ave.

The source of this story is media reltations office of District 2 City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan.

Oakland Post

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Alameda County

Oakland Acquisition Company’s Acquisition of County’s Interest in Coliseum Property on the Verge of Completion

The Board of Supervisors is committed to closing the deal expeditiously, and County staff have worked tirelessly to move the deal forward on mutually agreeable terms. The parties are down to the final details and, with the cooperation of OAC and Coliseum Way Partners, LLC, the Board will take a public vote at an upcoming meeting to seal this transaction.

Published

11 months ago

January 11, 2025

Oakland Post

Alameda County Board of Supervisors Chairman David Haubert. Official photo.

Special to The Post

The County of Alameda announced this week that a deal allowing the Oakland Acquisition Company, LLC, (“OAC”) to acquire the County’s 50% undivided interest in the Oakland- Alameda County Coliseum complex is in the final stages of completion.

Oakland has already finalized a purchase and sale agreement with OAC for its interest in the property. OAC’s acquisition of the County’s property interest will achieve two longstanding goals of the County:

The Oakland-Alameda Coliseum complex will finally be under the control of a sole owner with capacity to make unilateral decisions regarding the property; and
The County will be out of the sports and entertainment business, free to focus and rededicate resources to its core safety net

In an October 2024 press release from the City of Oakland, the former Oakland mayor described the sale of its 50% interest in the property as an “historic achievement” stating that the transaction will “continue to pay dividends for generations to come.”

The Board of Supervisors is pleased to facilitate single-entity ownership of this property uniquely centered in a corridor of East Oakland that has amazing potential.

“The County is committed to bringing its negotiations with OAC to a close,” said Board President David Haubert.