Help Chad Nelson Recover

Caring Bridge - Continued Updates

Chad was mountaineering with a group in the Sierra Mountains on Sunday morning. They had made it to the summit and on his way down he must have slipped and fallen about 100 feet. We are at the Loma Linda University Medical Center in California where he is in the ICU and will be here for weeks followed by weeks/months of rehab. He has a wide variety of injuries with the biggest concern being a traumatic brain injury in the form of a diffuse axonal injury. He has various bleeds and infarcts throughout his brain. They have him in a medically induced coma to prevent further brain swelling. Another big concern is that he has pneumonia right now from the damage to his lungs. Overall, he has been doing okay and responding well to the interventions taken by the medical teams. The doctors are hopeful for recovery, but the extent of recovery possible is unknown and only time can tell what that will look like. He is suffering from other less severe injuries such as a broken wrist, broken ankle, broken facial bones and lots of scrapes/bruises. Due to the severity of the injuries, we are unsure of what the future looks like. He has a long road of recovery and rehab ahead of him with a lot of time in the hospital followed by months of rehab. Any support along this road is greatly appreciated by Chad and his family. All funds will be used to support Chad with his medical bills, rehab processes, and to keep up with his financial needs until if/when he can get back to work. Thank you so much for all of your support during this difficult time, we are so grateful for the community we have surrounding Chad and his family.