Dad of 6 Loses Ability to Speak After Heart Attack Causes Brain Injury (Exclusive)

In January 2025, Madisen Franklin’s father, Kenny Thorley, suffered a massive heart attack, causing his heart to stop.

During those harrowing 45 minutes, the father of six and grandfather of seven from Mesa, Ariz., suffered an anoxic brain injury, resulting in the loss of his ability to speak, walk and swallow.

Once loud and bubbly, Thorley, 51, now mainly communicates by typing on an iPad, along with sign language.

“This has been an abrupt and very painful change in our family dynamic,” Franklin, 28, tells PEOPLE exclusively, revealing that her family has had to rely on each other a lot over the last nine months.

With three younger siblings still at home at the time of her father’s incident, as the oldest child, Franklin, took care of them while their mom was out of state with their dad.

“We all took shifts until he got home in April,” she reveals. “Now with my mom caretaking, we have all stepped in to essentially run their lives.”

Thorley served in the U.S. Marine Corps and then spent 20 years as a Mesa police officer before retiring in 2021 to pursue higher education.

He coached football at a local high school, mentoring all three of his sons, and later became the school’s dean of students – a role he unfortunately had to give up after his heart attack.

“That, combined with medical bills, the cost of therapy, and the supplies/medications he needs, finances have been one of the most difficult parts of this,” Franklin explains, adding that her parents will be moving in with her in a few weeks to offset the financial burden.

Thorley attends neurological rehabilitation five days a week, relearning how to walk, talk and swallow. He has a feeding tube for nutrition and hydration.

While she and her siblings are still coming to terms with the heartbreaking reality that they may never hear their father’s voice again, it’s been even more difficult for their mother.

“My siblings and I didn’t go a day without hearing his voice. Usually a joke or some advice,” Franklin shares. “This has been especially painful for my mom, his wife of 30 years. Every day she prays for his ability to talk to come back.”

As a result, Franklin and her siblings try to rally around their mother as much as they can — attempting “to fill in the void that my dad’s voice used to take up.”

In the caption of one of her TikTok videos, she admits that, in many ways, she feels as though she’s lost both parents. “Grieving the versions I knew of them for 28 years has changed me in ways I can’t even describe,” she wrote. 

When it comes to communication, Franklin shares that her father remains deeply expressive, always striving to let his personality shine through in every word he types and every sign he makes.

“We know when he is happy, sad, frustrated, etc.,” she says. “We still laugh all the time, and his sense of humor was untouched by his brain injury, which is something we are so thankful for.”

And while Thorley’s wife can “basically read his mind,” outside the family circle, many people are unsure how to interact with Thorley after his brain injury.

Franklin, however, makes a point to speak to him just as she always has — sharing funny stories about her sons or asking for his advice, keeping their connection as familiar and meaningful as ever.

“The most important thing to me is treating him as the same intelligent, loving, and present dad he has always been,” she emphasizes. “Answers might come slower and different than they used to, but they are still his and they are still worth hearing.” 

In a viral TikTok that garnered nearly 2 million views, Franklin showed a couple of the ways her father communicates at home – either with an iPad in hand or various facial expressions.

“Having a lot to say and having to type it all out definitely changes things,” she admits.

While some of his messages are humorous or heartfelt, others are deeply emotional – but through it all, Thorley’s daughter says he remains the strongest man she knows.

“His love has always carried our family, and it still does. His dedication to being here and involved, even though it’s incredibly difficult, is powerful,” Franklin shares. “I’ve learned that a smile or a laugh in difficult times goes a long way.”

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Since her father’s injury, Franklin says her perspective on communication has shifted profoundly.

“I will never take the sweet sound of people’s voices for granted ever again,” she says. “I will never take for granted my ability to express myself through my voice.”

More than anything, she adds, “I’d do anything to be able to call my dad and hear his wise words in response to any problem I had.”

When asked what he’s most proud of, Thorley points to his family. “This has been the hardest thing we’ve gone through, and we are all showing up and doing our best,” he tells PEOPLE.