Butler Family

The accident-
Tregan (10), Jett (8), and their dad Mike Butler were in a head on collison on Christmas Day in Blair County PA. There was a white out and neither car could see anything. 

The Injuries-
After being evaluated at Altoona Trauma, they boys were quickly transferred to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh UPMC for treatment of major head and abdominal injuries. Mike was released after treatment for a broken elbow, bruised lungs, and a banged up knee.
Tregan's nose and sinuses were basically shattered. Jett had a head injury with a laceration to his eye (that was swollen shut). Both boys had abdominal injuries from their seatbelts (but likely would of been ejected without them with a much worse outcome). Tregan's CT scan showed a laceration on his spleen with internal bleeding but Jett's was more ominous and he was rushed in for emergency surgery. They found 2 lacerations to his large intestines that they were able to fix. Tregan they were just monitoring at that point. 

Jett began to improve pretty quickly after that but Tregan continued to complain of abdominal pain. After a few days of his red blood cells dropping they seemed to have leveled out. His other labs were clinically good.  Jett was released on Friday with hopes for Tregan to follow in a few days. Karissa (their mother) began to press for more testing as she knew something was not right with Tregan, though he was really trying to act like he was not in pain as he wanted to go home. 

On Sat after continuing to have no appetite, and another xray showing free air above his lungs, Tregan was rushed in for emergency surgery. There they discovered more serious injury to his colon than anyone anticipated, with a large hole in his colon, a tear in his mesentery, and bowel in his abdomen. He was in the OR for over 4 hours while they repaired and resected his colon (removing over 8  inches of colon), and unfortunately had to be given a colostomy that we hope to have reversed in several months. 

We  are not out of the woods yet with Tregan, and have no idea how long he will need to remain in Pittsburgh this stay. We do know he still faces 2 more surgeries (1 for his nose/face, and 1 to hopefully reverse his colostomy in the future), once he is, god willing, healed and released.  He spent Christmas and New Year's in the hospital, and will likely spend his 10th birthday on Thursday the 4th there as well :( 

The Situation-
The medical bills, expenses, and loss of work/car is really adding strain to an already horrible situation.
Karissa and Mike are divorced but should write a book on how to coparent effectively. They get along fabulously, are great friends, and put the boys 1st in everything. 

What We Need-
Mike is fairly new to his job, and not sure what is going to happen with him as far as working, but he had to use his limited vacation last week, and now for this one as well. He has not been there long enough to qualify for short term disability. His only car was totaled in the accident, and he only had liability coverage on it. He will need another car but cannot afford a big car payment. Hoping to raise enough to help him with a down payment on one. He's currently in Pittsburgh without a car.
Mike is an amazing human being and father who is always working as many hours as humanly possible, sometimes multiple jobs, to provide for his boys.  He's the 1st to volunteer to help out family and friends anytime anyone needs it, but would never ask for help for himself.   For the last 7 years, he has on his own accord, fundraised, shopped, and delivered turkeys  for needy families on Thanksgiving. He delivered over 400 turkeys this year to St Vincent De Paul Food Pantry! 

Karissa had to use vacation out of this year's allotment last week, and has to return to work tomorrow.  It's killing her to not be with her son right now. She's hopeful to be given leave by next week when Mike must go back to work, but will be missing a significant portion of her income if it is even approved. Tregan is going to need some signifcant care once he's home, including home schooling and she'd really like to be able to be with him at least for a few weeks. 

Please help me lighten their burden so they can concentrate on these sweet boys and getting them healthy again! No amount is too small and we greatly appreciate all the support we've received thus far! Thank you from the bottom of my heart- 
Janelle Grissinger (Tregan & Jett's Aunt Nel)