August 28, 2023 Update: I spoke to Andy last night. He's still in the hospital and will be for some time yet but wanted me to pass along his sincere and heartfelt thanks to everyone for the thoughts, prayers and money donations. He's so appreciative of everyone's support while he focuses on healing. Jim

Hi, my name is Jim Miller and I've created a Go Fund Me page for Andy Shefchik to help with unexpected medical and living expenses due to an accident.

For those of you who know Andy, he's a great guy who is always available to help those who need it. He is an avid outdoorsman who loves his family, friends, German Shorthaired Pointer named Zeke, hunting, CrossFit and mountain biking.

On Saturday August 5th, Andy was having a great day biking at Spirit Mountain Bike Park in Duluth, MN. He had many great runs but unfortunately, on his final ride, he was thrown off his bike and suffered an abdominal injury. He was checked out by the bike patrol and advised what symptoms might indicate more extensive internal trauma.

He thought he felt well enough to drive back home to the Minneapolis area but he only made it about 30 minutes south of Duluth to a community hospital who advised him he had a bruised small intestine, internal bleeding from his pancreas and needed to get to a level one trauma hospital. He called me and I drove up to get him and took him to a hospital here in the cities. What we thought (hoped) was a few days recovery has turned into 2+ weeks and counting, as the injuries have turned out to be more severe and problematic to recover from than originally anticipated. He's still in serious condition. Andy has undergone surgery, is being fed intravenously and is fighting a full abdominal infection that has required multiple surgical abdominal drain tubes. He is still in the hospital with no known release date.

While Andy is never one to ask for much help for himself, as a self-employed tile setter, he relies on his work to support financial needs. For those of us who are self-employed, when you don't work, you don't have any income. Andy needs our help to cover his medical and living expenses while he recovers and until he is able to resume working (unknown timeframe).

I know he will appreciate any help he receives.

Thank you,

Jim