Dan Nichols Spinal Cord Injury

On November 2nd, 2015, my husband Dan Nichols fell while taking out the trash. While this seems like a minor incident, Dan was injured very badly from his fall. He hit his head and his neck hyperextended. The hyperextension of his neck caused a spinal cord injury. There is bruising on his cord C1 - C4. He has central cord syndrome. Unfortunately there is no surgery to fix it. Originally he was paralyzed from the neck down. he has regained feeling in his legs but is unable to sit up or use his legs yet due to needing to keep his spine in complete alignment. He is 100% bed bound. He is still paralyzed in his arms. The neurosurgeon had advised that he feels Dan will be able to recovery very close to the same as he was prior to the accident but it will take several months or rehab. and that is after his body absorbs the bruising on the cord. That process alone can take up to 6 to 8 weeks. Once that has happened he will have several months of rehabilitation to do in order to gain mobility back. The VA is covering the first 21 days but after that we are responsible for paying 20%. 20% may not seem like much but 20% for something that costs $1000 + dollars each day for several months is a lot. It's something we just don't have. Plus we are now without a second income. Nor do we have a short term or long term disability plan to help pay our basic bills with. Dan is an amazing father and an incredibly kind person. He continuously puts others before himself. He is typically an active person. It breaks my heart to see him laying there completely unable to do basic tasks like feeding himself. I can't even imagine how scary it must be for him.