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Larry "Crash" Moskal Spinal Cord Injury Fund

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My name is Lawrence Moskal, Larry, Aka Crash to my friends.
This is my story:
On August 31, 2014 my life changed. I went with some friends on their boat to "Mardi Gras on White Lake" it is a annual party where all the boats dock around a sand bar they have a band everyone has fun; it's a big party. I went back to the boat to get some water and food, but didn’t because I hadn’t brought a cooler and I grew impatient waiting for the person who had offered to share food. Being a strong swimmer and seeing the White Lake Inn was walking distance from shore, I dove off the back of our boat away from the party and hit the last wrung on the ladder of the boat behind ours, almost immediately after I sank to the bottom.
I broke my neck on impact and sunk 5 feet to the lake bed. Lying there paralyzed, I did the only thing I could, I prayed... “Oh God, Not here, Not now, Not like this!” I PRAYED and suddenly I could see clear enough underwater that 20 feet away that two girls submerged chest high were wade/walking in my direction. I prayed they would find me but I passed out from holding my breath.
THEY DID!! A girl named Melanie S, hooked my lifeless arm with her foot as she passed by. Her hysteria gathered a group and they carried me to a nearby pontoon boat. Then, a man named Shane M. heaved my 220lb body onto his shoulder, carried me onto, and gently placed me on the floor of the boat. Him, Rochelle E., and a couple others did CPR. I was told that I regained consciousness and vitals momentarily until my head moved. They didn’t quit trying to get that pulse back until we got to shore, where we were met by paramedics and took over.
I was rushed to HVSH but was admitted as a John Doe because I left my wallet on the boat and my friends were back at the party unaware. That is until a long time friend Shannon G., a local Oakland County Sheriff, walked into the ER on unrelated business and was asked if she could help identify me. SHE COULD!!! Once identified, the hospital learned I had recently been to this hospital for the first time two weeks earlier after running into a chain link fence while playing softball.
The hospital now had all the information they needed to start. I was airmailed to Detroit Receiving and they performed emergency surgery. I woke in the hospital a couple days later to find out that I broke my C4,C5&C6 and suffered a bruise to my spinal cord at the C4 level, leaving me a C4/C5 incomplete quadriplegic. Almost immediately came down with bacterial pneumonia and was trached and put on a vent for 23 days in the ICU. To make things worse but actually better, my primary insurance company rejected my claim. I had applied for Medicaid but thankfully didn't receive approval for 4.5 months because at Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan, I recovered exponentially. Miraculously I do not have brain damage.
Medicaid wouldn't pay for more desperately needed intensive inpatient therapy, so I was sent to the Regency at Whitmore Lake nursing home where Greg, the physical therapist, allowed me to collapse while doing a standing exercise during my initial assessment and I struck my chin on Linda’s head, wrenching my chin upward. Several complications arose from that fall, and a year later I required another cervical surgery. No lawyer would even look at the case because of one question which had one answer, “Were you paralyzed before they dropped you?”, “Yes, but not like this!” Well, that prompted a visit from an “aging agency” and they introduced me to a state program which allowed me to move back into my home.
In spite of everything, and because of hard work, I have regained much function. I still need someone to help with most everyday things all of us take for granted. The state helps to some extent, but what lacks is significantly lacking. The most needed is money/labor for all the upkeep in and around exterior my house, and funding for home and vehicle modifications. I have been able to accomplish so much that many able-bodied people have not, but I still haven’t figured out how to make enough money to pay for home-health-care and medical out pocket, and still earn a living wage; that is my biggest challenge. I’m working on it and have been for the last 8 years.
If you read this far and enjoyed my story, and have donated, are going to donate, or just wish you could donate but prayed instead, thank you so very much; I hope you and your family are blessed with happiness, health and prosperity. If you didn’t make it this far, I apologize, I do not how to use less words to tell my story. I hope you have a wonderful day and God bless. Thanks for reading <3



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Donations 

  • Robert Mcmahon
    • $100 
    • 9 yrs
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Organizer

Larry Moskal
Organizer
Milford, MI

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