Ben Martin's Medical Bills and Living Expenses

Hello, I'm Ben's (future) sister-in-law Jessica - Laura's older sister. Ben was in a terrible accident on his motorcycle on Memorial Day, which caused extensive damage to his right leg and left hand. Monday night, (Memorial Day), Ben crashed his bike up the road from their home in Holland, NY. 

Ben was coming into the curves on Vermont Street. He went down and collided with the guard rail, he was able to keep his head and neck away from the guard rail, but his leg caught the post and caused a compound fracture to both bones right below the knee of his right leg. It was bad enough that the bones snapped through his skin and even his jeans. With the help of some people who lived close by and his brother-in-law Jeremy they stabilized Ben until the paramedics could arrive. Luckly, Jeremy had the equipment to tourniquet the leg to help stop blood loss. EMTs were quickly on the scene; Ben was then life-flighted to our local trauma center. He was taken into emergency surgery later that night and an external fixator was attached to his leg to help stabilize it. Still, the repairs they hoped to do could not happen due to shattered bone in the leg and actual pieces of bone missing from the injury during the accident. Besides the damage to his leg and hand he has extensive right knee joint damage, rt AC joint separation, sprained left ankle and road rash on both arms.

 

Ben will have at least two more surgeries on his leg, one of which will be a bone graft due to the amount of bone missing from the accident and possibly a skin/muscle graft on the original wound site. He will be out of work for at least 4 - 6 months and immobile for a long time. Ben is home now but cannot get out of bed without help and can not walk at all because he can not put any weight on his leg.

 

To add to the stress of the whole situation, Ben was supposed to start a new job on Wednesday, June 2nd. His original insurance ran out on June 1st - the day after the accident. Laura has been able to get him on Medicaid, but they will not cover any of the original hospital stay or life-flight costs because those happened before June 1st. He also does not have an employer to file disability through due to the accident occurring between ending one job and starting another. They are actively trying to file through social security disability but, at this point, have been all but denied - they have an appointment to go into the social security office to try again. All of this is adding up to a very stressful time for both Ben and Laura. They are down to one income, and the hospital bills are already arriving in the mail. 

 

I understand that money is tight for everyone now, but if you can give a little to help, you have no idea how much it would mean to Ben and Laura. Please also share this on your social media accounts to help get the word out. Thank you to everyone who has supported, called, stopped by, prayed for, dropped off a meal (or signed up to), or just asked how they are doing. Right now, they are surviving, but with the help of family and friends, they will get through this, and hopefully, it will just be a memory in a year or two.