Griffith Family Support

I put this together to help my cousin and her family. Last week they experienced an unexpected and terrifying accident that required a hospital stay for her husband, and a lengthy recovery journey still lies ahead of them.

Here is the story in Melissa's own words:

On Wednesday, July 20th, Jerred and I were working on our new house. We were up on the roof, trying to finish the metal roof we had put on. Jerred took a step backward and fell off the roof. He was unconscious for a few minutes before waking up and gasping for air. He was able to get into the car with assistance, and I took him to the hospital. The ER immediately took him back into a trauma room. He has five fractured ribs, three fractured vertebrae, a fibular head fracture, a navicular fracture, and metatarsals 1, 3 & 4 are also fractured. He stayed in the hospital for three days and was up and walking in a boot and back brace Thursday morning. Since Jerred is self-employed, we don’t have health insurance (because who can afford an $1800/month premium from healthcare.gov). I applied for financial assistance and emergency Medicaid and was declined for both. We were already up to a $46K bill by Thursday afternoon. The hospital gives a 40% discount for self-pay. God only knows what the final bill will be. He was discharged Friday evening. My sister took Aubree and Jackson to Louisiana so Jerred could rest and heal without the kiddos climbing all over him.

We are in the middle of transitioning from our rental house in Georgetown to a double-wide out on our property. Because the rental house requires us to accommodate walk-throughs for potential renters, I decided to move us completely out of the rental and to our property in Rogers. We still need to finish up the roof, finish painting, finish trimming out the inside, and so many other things to make it 100% livable for when the kiddos come back.

At the end of the day, we are extremely glad Jerred survived the 20’ fall. It will be a rough and lengthy recovery, but Jerred is determined. Kind thoughts and prayers are so appreciated! He is home now and resting.