Ernie & Melinda Kolle Benefit

Hello everyone. My name is Rachel Pappenfus. Melinda and Ernie Kolle are my parents.

Ernie was in a motorcycle accident in June 2022. He was brought into Wadena hospital by ambulance after the accident. At the hospital, they found out that he had a brain bleed and a significant injury to his forehead and a couple of his fingers. He was then taken by helicopter to St. Cloud hospital where he was in the hospital for a few days monitoring to make sure the brain bleed resolved. He had to undergo extensive plastic surgery to remove all the gravel and debris from the laceration on his forehead. He also had to undergo surgery to repair two of his fingers due to the injuries. He missed a significant amount of work due to the injuries and physical therapy that was needed after the accident. Now he is having to get injections into his neck and a nerve ablation to help with the pain caused by the accident. He was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury (TBI) after the accident due to the extent of his head injury.

In April 2023, Melinda went into the local emergency department due to severe abdominal pain. She was found to have a pseudocyst on her pancreas that was obstructing her duodenum (portion of the small intestine) and her biliary system. She was transferred to Sanford in Fargo and spent about a month and a half in the hospital due to the extent of her illness. Throughout this time, she had to undergo multiple blood tests and CT scans to monitor the cyst and if it was improving or not. She had a nasojejunal (NJ) tube placed down her nose, through her stomach and into the jejunum (portion of the small intestine) to get nutrition. She was unable to eat or drink during this time and only received her nutrition through the tube feedings. She had a drain placed through the outside of her abdomen and into the biliary tree system to alleviate the obstruction caused by the pseudocyst.

She was discharged home right before Mother’s Day with the NJ tube and biliary system drain still in place. Melinda was not allowed to work due to restrictions in place from her GI (gastrointestinal) doctor and the tubes in place. She had to travel back to Fargo a few more times for follow-up appointments to ensure that the pseudocyst was resolving on its own before these tubes could be taken out. She missed over two months of work due to the extent of her illness and the work restrictions that were in place because of them.

Benefit money will go toward the couples mounting medical bills.