Urgent emergency funds needed for Jeff Jones and his family. His son collapsed on a JetBlue flight on Christmas Day

Jeffrey Jones, a friend and retired Penn State police officer in State College, Pennsylvania, needs our help for his son Ethan’s medical expenses and recovery.

The story:

Shortly before Christmas, Jeff’s son Ethan was working in Los Angeles, CA, and suffered a catastrophic fall. The family flew out to be with him at Reagan UCLA Hospital, but on Christmas Day, after being released from medical care, Ethan suddenly collapsed on the JetBlue flight the family had boarded to take him back to their home in State College.

According to Jeff:

“Ethan experienced an in-flight medical emergency on December 25th. He almost died on the plane, and it made an emergency landing in Denver.”

After the plane landed, Ethan was rushed to the University of Colorado Hospital where a breathing tube was inserted at the ICU, and multiple medical specialists rushed to assess his condition and acquire his records from Reagan UCLA Hospital in Los Angeles.



On the plane earlier, the effort to save Ethan had taken almost two hours of non-stop care by doctors and nurses who were passengers on the flight. According to Jeff, “every passenger on that plane was wonderful to us. Watching our son almost die was brutal. I helped care for him. I did whatever the attendants, doctors, and nurses instructed me to do. An ICU nurse and doctor from Cedar Sinai took the lead. Another doctor was on her phone talking with a specialist. The flight attendants worked diligently to save him. Everyone on that JetBlue flight made a heroic effort to save Ethan.

Our family is now staying at a hotel near the hospital in Colorado. This has been a brutal experience. We only have our carry-on bags and the clothes on our backs. Our luggage went to Newark. Ethan had been cleared to fly before being discharged from Ronald Reagan Hospital in LA.”

The coordinator of the Ethan Jones emergency fund GoFundMe account is Heather Herzog.

Heather has known Jeff Jones and his family for many years, going back to graduating from their local high school in 1977. Many of their classmates asked if a GoFundMe could be created when they heard about Jeff's son Ethan’s medical emergency, his collapse on the JetBlue flight, and the emergency landing in Denver, Colorado.

To help make this possible, Heather created this fundraiser to provide funds for Ethan’s medical bills and the family’s provisions during this challenging time, including: