Haley & Murdoc's Car Accident Recovery Fund

Haley and Murdoc suffered in a severe car accident (head-on collision) a few days ago (8/10) and I (Taylor Johnson, cousin) am making this account on behalf of their devoted parents, Tanya Smith and Rex Clemons who would never ask for anything from anyone. Rex and Tanya are currently at the Children's Hospital in Denver with both kids, dealing with multiple constant surgeries and progress around the clock.

If you know Tanya and Rex, you know they raised Murdoc and Haley as happy-go-lucky, respectful, giving, loving kids. Haley, a quiet yet kindhearted, thoughtful big sister and Murdoc a firecracker with a heart the size of the moon.

We do not have to sit back and wonder what we can do to help, let's donate to this awesome family, right here, right now. Nothing is expected, but donations for the family are very appreciated.

Below are Tanya's updates on the kids over the last few days. Both kids are positively progressing, but have a long way to recover.

Tanya Smith:

Initial Update: "My children were in a bad car accident tonight (8/10), Haley Smith and I have just landed a flight for life to Denver and Murdoc Smith will be flying in behind us. I just want to beg every single person this message crosses to please pray or do whatever you do for my children's recovery. Most recent updates are at the top.

Update 8/14 10 am

Murdoc's stomach is slowly coming back to life so the nasogastric tubes can potentially be removed this evening, he couldn't be more excited for that moment.

For Haley, she's had small moments of being awake and partially aware, she recognized Papa and voiced her concerns for Murdoc, she didn't recognize me originally but we just had a huge 10mins of awake and after introducing myself again she seemed to know who I was, we were able to fill her in on the past 4 days and that was enough activity to exhaust her. She's scheduled for an MRI late afternoon to hopefully clear cervical vertebrae and permanent brain damage.

Update 8/13 2 pm

Murdoc has had some pain complaints but is mostly just sick of staff and feeding tubes.

Haley is being slowly drawn off her heavy sedatives and painkillers. This is causing her to have episodes where she is somewhat waking up and fighting trying to remove her lines. She said the words "I have to potty" and fought like crazy for about an hour, this broke open her leg wounds, staff addressed those and she's been resting for about 2hrs now. I just tried to put some chapstick on her and she grabbed the chapstick from me to try to put it on herself, so that was extremely great to see. They plan to move her out of icu this evening

Update 8/12 12 pm

Murdoc has some pain management to work on and strict dietary restrictions that have him frustrated but overall he's doing very well!

Haley's sedatives are slowly being reduced. Doctors are trying to get some response out of her, she did respond to pain with a quick movement in her hand so that's really good news. The pressure on her brain has been consistent so that's a good sign there's no more bleed or future damage. We'll have an MRI soon to have a better idea of what type of damage was caused at impact.

Update 8/11 10 pm

Both kids had 5 plus hrs of surgery today, each one went well. Murdoc will need one more surgery on his leg but the damage to his intestines has been repaired, he's awake and in good spirits ❤️

Haleys condition hasn't changed much other than now her leg has the metal in place to secure her broken femur & tibia in place for healing. The swelling on her brain comes and goes so she will remain in a coma until we're in the clear. Her recovery will take quite some time and we don't yet have a definite expected outcome.

update 8/11 10 am

Haley is in a medically induced coma, this will last as long as needed were currently expecting about one week. She has a device in her skull to monitor the swelling in her brain as well as several probes to monitor brain activity. They have her on medication to prevent any brain stimulation and manage her pain level until she is stable and the potential for permanent damage is reduced. The plastic surgeons have come in and sutured up her face as much as they can for now but she'll need Surgery on her jaw once she's stable. The lacerations to her leg may have caused permanent joint damage they won't know until later, her legs will have either internal or external metal fixtures to hold the bones in place until she is stable enough for that surgery.

Murdoc has damage from his intestines to his colon and liver, he was rushed into surgery about an hour ago. Surgery can take up to 3hrs. He's relying more and more on the breathing tubes so the damage to his lungs needs to be closely monitored. they are going to attempt to repair a large gash under his chin with sutures but it may require a skin graph. They're going to temporarily fix his ankle in place with external screws and wires until the swelling goes down where they will then place internal metals. They have found some bruising on his brain but doesn't look like it will be anything to cause serious concern at this point."