On February 16,  2018, Lael Pedersen suffered severe injury and was brought to University Medical Center in New Orleans for emergency surgery to alleviate bleeding on his brain. After receiving this surgery he was unresponsive on a ventilator for over three weeks. After this time, he began to respond to voice commands and his recovery began and continued through inpatient rehab at West Jefferson Hospital in Marerro LA. He was finally discharged from West Jefferson to my care  on May 24, having been hospitalized for 97 days.  

Lael has made amazing progress since his injury. He is able to walk and manage his self care with minimal assistance. Although his eyesight is poor (The impact he suffered to his head and subsequent surgery resulted  in apparent damage to his optic nerve and his eyes are not aligned), he also is able to read with some effort. Though he has no recollection of the events surrounding his injury,  both his near term and long term memory shows some improvement. He desires very much to be able to meet others who have suffered similar injury and to learn from them, and to be able to benefit from any program(s) designed to help him regain more ability to function at a level where he could be able to manage better, and even be able to have a job. 

The Shepherd Center, based in Atlanta, offers both inpatient and outpatient programs designed for people who have suffered Traumatic Brain Injury. As Lael has learned of the programs and their outcomes, he has expressed hope of being able to receive the help offered there. 

Lael currently has no health insurance. Though he has applied for Medicaid in Georgia, this currently has not come through. Even when it does, however, Shepherd Center only accepts private insurance and for Lael to attend, he would have to be self-funded. Based on initial conversations with Shepherd Pathways,the cost for his participation over approximately five weeks would be approximately 5,000.00. 

We are making this need known in the hope the funds necessary for Lael to participate in Shepherd Pathways can be secured. To learn more of Shepherd Pathways and the Shepherd Center, please go to www.shepherd.org.