As many of you know or are now learning, John was in a serious car accident. The accident occurred around 4 a.m. as John was on his way to work. The police have spent the last couple of months investigating the actions of the other driver. By the looks of his truck, John certainly had an angel watching over him on that dark morning.

John suffered extensive injuries in the crash

Collapsed lung
Liver laceration
Subclavian vein dissections
Ruptured bladder
Open femur fraction
Open tibia and fibula fracture
Fractured sternum
Heart Hematoma/hemorrhage
Fractured pelvis
Nerve damage
Closed head injury/concussion
Major vein injuries
Multiple rib fractures
Bilateral wrist bruising
Hematuria
Lactic acidosis
Hyperkalemia

Shortly after the crash, John was intubated -- a tube was placed down his throat -- and he was taken to the hospital. He had surgery to stabilize his right leg. A couple of days later he had another surgery on his leg, this one to reconstruct it. Unfortunately, he couldn't breathe on his own after that surgery and he had to be put on a ventilator for a couple of days. After he was weened-off of the ventilator, John had a heart attack and had to have chest compressions for about 5 minutes. He was re-intubated and placed in an induced coma. Tests showed that he has suffered a serious injury to his heart, but he was not in any condition to have heart surgery. He remained in a coma, being fed through a feeding tube, for a few days before having the heart surgery. After the surgery, he went through breathing trials began and, eventually, was taken off of the ventilator and tube.

By this point, he had survived a near-fatal crash, made it through multiple surgeries, made it through a coma, and lost all mobility, a significant amount of muscle, and his ability to communicate and feed himself. He also was in a coma on his birthday. With all of those things, though, John made it through.

John was moved to an inpatient rehabilitation facility. He began occupational, physical, and speech therapy, small painful steps on the journey toward getting his life skills back. Slowly, he started to regain some minimal muscular/skeletal movements, limited forms of communication, and the ability to swallow. As time went on, he learned to navigate a wheelchair and walker with very limited strength, and minimal energy.

The induced coma, excessive oral/throat swelling from accident and equipment necessary to keep him alive in addition to the more recent oral cancer surgery- his reconstructed tongue (thigh muscle) atrophied, along with all his other muscles. Due to the very real concern over aspiration and failed tests that resulted in aspiration, it was necessary that John only consumed thinly pureed food and a thickened water substance; this gave him some minimal nutrition and means to take numerous medications in a crushed form.  John was eventually released from inpatient rehab on New Year’s Day.  He required an unexpected second surgery on the tibia, fibula, and ankle joint mid-January. This surgery posed significant challenges and a large medical team approach. John was admitted a week before to the cardiac floor of the hospital to prepare for the surgery, this was the doctors best hope for survival. He remained in the hospital for several days after for close monitoring.

He has been working very hard to regain his life, AGAIN! He has fought two serious infections, one of which required a home IV of heavy antibiotics for several weeks. We remain hopeful that now that the cast is off he will be able to begin bearing weight an eventually walk again.  It has been difficult for him to go so many steps backward after so much healing and progress had been made over the last year and a half leading up to the accident. I am happy to report that John did eventually pass the test to eat and drink regular liquids again. Speech therapy will be necessary for the foreseeable future. John continues to practice training his brain to recognize the flap (tongue-like structure) again as part of his body so that he may consume food, drink thin liquids and swallow as we all unknowingly do throughout the day.  It’s a slowly developing process that brings episodes of fear at times and remains to be one of his daily struggles.

John only started his current job in the spring of 2018, after losing the previous job due to the extended time necessary to recover from tongue cancer and treatment. John is grateful to be blessed with his current job and is happy with it. He was doing well (better than expected) and getting back on his feet after the obstacles that cancer brought. This accident has been a huge financial hit. The extent of the trauma, numerous surgeries, extended stays in ICU, multiple and repeated tests/scans, regular lab work, inpatient rehabilitative facilities, ambulatory transport, in-home care team comprised of nurse, physical therapist, occupational therapist, speech therapist, regular outpatient orthopedic, cardiologist, ENT and infectious disease appointments along with the medical equipment and accommodations that are necessary, his medical bills, hospital stays, pharmacy expenses, transportation expenses, are adding up rapidly. They have become a tremendous mental/emotional strain; all of these expenses are outside of his personal living expenses.

Those of us that know John well know he is a FIGHTER and he is progressing better than most have expected, but there is a limit to how much physical, mental, emotional and financial strain he can endure.

John is an amazingly positive person, but there are difficult days and the very real uncertainty of future mobility and financial burden is a powerful weight to bear. The loss of day-to-day independence, regular social time with family/friends and the time he has lost doing the things he loves is a daily struggle. To his family and friends, John has become “an inspiration”, “a fighter”, “a rock star”, “a ninja”, “a beast”, “a Jedi” and the list goes on. 

Our family is beyond grateful for all the prayers, well wishes, and love over the last 12+ weeks. It has been an incredibly difficult time, to say the least. However, John needs monetary help to relieve some stress of medical debt and living expenses. He has always been a hard diligent worker, who has always gone above and beyond in any position he has ever held. It is his goal to be able to return to work once he is stronger. It is difficult to ask for help in this way, but at this time we just can’t do this without the kindness of others.

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Enjoy each day the best you can, as John says “life can really change in the blink of an eye.”

 

Much love.