Garrett Blackwell's Medical Fund
Donation protected
Imagine not eating or drinking anything (not even water) for 50 DAYS. Hard to think about spending a summer in intense pain, feeding tubes, and over a month in the hospital. My nephew Garrett Blackwell has spent almost the entire summer including his 16th birthday in a hospital bed fighting to get better.
Garrett was playing baseball on June 7th in a tournament a couple hours north of Cincinnati, OH. He was involved in a collision with another player in the outfield. Garrett was rushed to the local hopital, and fortunately the doctors understood the severity of the injury, and he was sent to Children's Hospital in Cincinnati, where he was placed into intensive care. The injury was to the pancreas. Surgeons call the pancreas the "Angry Organ" and try to avoid even touching it. Garrett's freak accident severed his pancreas near the duct where the enzymes travel. The enzymes were now being released into the body causing intense pain, and preventing Garrett from eating or drinking anything.
The rest of the month of June was like this in a hospital bed waiting for the pancreas to settle down. Prior to the surgery Garrett was allowed to go home, but still be fed intravenously 16 hours a day. Two weeks at home in his own bed helped get him ready for the surgery which was scheduled for July 21st (Garrett's 16th Birthday). His special birthday request was "I want to keep my Spleen". Garrett's 8 hour surgery went great. He now has a repaired pancreas and was able to keep his spleen. The road to full recovery will be a process but the prognosis is good.
There have been so many requests asking what can be done to help Garrett and the family during this challenging time, so I decided to put together this "Go Fund Me" which will go to assist in many of the expenses that have occurred due to the accident.
Our family would like to thank you for your prayers and support.
Thanks,
Scott Blackwell & Kathy Bronkhorst
Garrett was playing baseball on June 7th in a tournament a couple hours north of Cincinnati, OH. He was involved in a collision with another player in the outfield. Garrett was rushed to the local hopital, and fortunately the doctors understood the severity of the injury, and he was sent to Children's Hospital in Cincinnati, where he was placed into intensive care. The injury was to the pancreas. Surgeons call the pancreas the "Angry Organ" and try to avoid even touching it. Garrett's freak accident severed his pancreas near the duct where the enzymes travel. The enzymes were now being released into the body causing intense pain, and preventing Garrett from eating or drinking anything.
The rest of the month of June was like this in a hospital bed waiting for the pancreas to settle down. Prior to the surgery Garrett was allowed to go home, but still be fed intravenously 16 hours a day. Two weeks at home in his own bed helped get him ready for the surgery which was scheduled for July 21st (Garrett's 16th Birthday). His special birthday request was "I want to keep my Spleen". Garrett's 8 hour surgery went great. He now has a repaired pancreas and was able to keep his spleen. The road to full recovery will be a process but the prognosis is good.
There have been so many requests asking what can be done to help Garrett and the family during this challenging time, so I decided to put together this "Go Fund Me" which will go to assist in many of the expenses that have occurred due to the accident.
Our family would like to thank you for your prayers and support.
Thanks,
Scott Blackwell & Kathy Bronkhorst
Organizer and beneficiary
Scott Blackwell
Organizer
Mason, OH
Kelley Blackwell
Beneficiary