Getting Ben Back on the Road

About a month ago, while traveling through Texas for a Gears and Gasoline road trip, my friend and co-host Ben Thorn was hit with a very aggressive case of COVID-19. The virus seriously damaged his lungs and added pneumonia to his complications. He was admitted to the hospital, and after a week he was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) where he has spent the better part of a month. He has fought hard to beat this thing, but without much improvement, his doctors and family made the difficult decision to sedate him, intubate him, and put him on a ventilator. It is beyond difficult to see this young, healthy, industrious, newlywed hooked up the machines and fighting for his life.

For the last month Ben’s wife and mother have been with him in Texas. They are 1500 miles from their Virginia homes, waiting for his recovery.

I am sure Ben will make it out of this, but he will have a long road to recovery.

I want to make sure that when he gets home his only concern is to make a full recovery. There are a lot of layers to this situation, and I want to make sure that a financial burden is not one of them.

Many of you have showed your support in many ways and have asked for a more tangible way to reach out to our friend Ben. Thank you. Your support means a great deal to Ben, his family, and to his Gears and Gasoline family.