Hello. My name is Nancy. I am the mother of Steve and grandmother to Steve's 9 yr old daughter. I realized, after initially resisting asking for help, that Steve's situation has reached critical, and I have no choice now. I love my son and granddaughter and so I have to ask you for help.

Steve and one of my grandsons were wave surfing in the ocean this summer when a huge wave welled up and took my son down, slamming his head so hard he was paralyzed and floating away in the waves. At first none of us realize anything was wrong. Then my youngest son saw his son signaling that he couldn't find Steve, and saw Steve's head bobbing away in the waves. He ran in to rescue him, saving his life. His head was magenta when my son and 2 other good samaratins pulled him onto the beach. He told them he had no feeling from the neck down. He later told us that his first thoughts were of his life as a paraplegic taking care of his daughter, then he wondered why no one was trying to rescue him, and then, when he knew he could not hold his breath anymore, he made his peace with God, expecting to not survive.

EMTs took a long time to arrive as they claimed many had been injuried by waves that evening. They rushed him to the hospital and then flew him by helicopter to a trauma center better able to handle the exstensive spinal injuries he had suffered. The picture above is during that time frame, and shows some of the swelling caused by the damage that his whole body suffered from an impact that was hard enough to loosen his tooth implant. (Steve can ill afford any of his much needed and painful dental work). His paralysis abated, but he has been unable to return to work due to the pain resulting from the damages to his spine and nerves.

All but one of his neck vertebra and surrounding nerves were badly injured. C2-C3 injuries caused the paralysis, and we thank God that he recovered enough from those injuries to resolve the paralysis, and that the damage to that C2 vertebra and nerves didn't result in an even worse outcome. From the extent of the damages, we believe God intervened to help Steve to survive and to not be permanently paralized.

Pain in his arms and torso. Paine is still on pain meds, started but had to stop physical therapy due to the number of treatments exceeding his insurance limits, and his doctor recently started a series of painful cervical steroid injections. [I think we may have experienced another miracle when Steve survived the initial dangerous cocktail of drugs that should have been monitored by hospital equipment/personel 24/day, a dangerous regimen that we, his family, didn't know needed constant monitoring.]

Use of his arm and hand is restricted by the pain certain movements cause. They will operate if Steve doesn't improve, but he needs physical therapy now to hopefully help him heal faster and return to work.

It has been over 8 months since Steve's accident and loss of income. He has maintained a great mental attitude in spite of his dire situation. He has a generous caring spirit, a fantastic sense of humor, and is usually the one who is cheering up others, in spite of suffering from his own painful injuries and financial problems. His main thought has always been on the need to provide a secure happy childhood for his much loved little girl. But he faces loss of custody and the ability to provide her a safe and stable home if he is forced to move out of state. His credit rating, already down significantly, will determine his chances of finding another decent place to live.

With utilities threatening cut-offs, medical bills beyond comprehension ($87,000 for the helo trip ... insurance paid half), and a tough economy, hope is fading that he will be able to hang on much longer. Unless we are able to get him some financial help.

All the money Steve had (including his savings and retirement) has been used to pay his medical bills, pay creditors, and provide support for his daughter. He is at ground zero now. I and his father helped him when we could, but I cannot do more with my limited resources. And so I appeal to the generosity of family, friends and kind strangers to help Steve pay his bills, continue physical therapy and get healed from the damage caused by this accident.

If you cannot fund us, please pray for us.... we know from experience that prayers work.

Your help, by prayers and/or contribution to Steve's GFM page, will always be remembered and our hearts will always be grateful for your kindness. Your generous spirit and kind contributions of prayers and funds will inspire Steve to keep the faith and will feed his optomistic hope for a better future. I can't put into words the thankfulness I feel toward any who find it in their heart to support him.

I promise to be a good steward of any funds that you kindly provide, and promise the funds will only go for Steve and his daughter's continued survival by keeping his lights on thru these bad times, paying his bills, and getting the needed medical treatments so he can return to work. Any monies not needed will be donated to our wounded military veterans. (Steve is a USAF veteran).

We will keep you informed of Steve's progress.

Thank you from the bottom of this mother's heart.

Nancy