John's Road to Recovery

Hello, my name is Kody, as many of you may know, my uncle John was in a serious accident. I am setting up this page to help the family with medical expenses, travel and hotel expenses as they continue their journey with John. As a lot of you know, John would give the shirt off his back for someone in need. His personality is next to none and a lot of laughs are had. His family is very important to him! Please keep John and his family in your thoughts and prayers. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Below is John's story from the date of the accident to the week 11/04/24 as received from John's daughter.

On Friday Sept 20th John was involved in a single car accident while driving 2 miles from Tolna, ND back to the lake after running some errands. We are unclear about what caused the accident

as there are no witnesses. We have accepted that we will probably never know why it occurred or why any of this happened at all. That was a hard pill to swallow and still tries to come up sometimes. It was determined that John had a subdural hematoma with midline shift, 5 broken ribs, and a left lower leg fracture. He was airlifted from Devils Lake Hospital to Altru in Grand Forks, ND. John was alert and awake in Devils Lake and Grand forks and even consented to his own surgery. The neurosurgeon successfully removed the hematoma and due to swelling of the brain he opted to remove part of the skull resulting in a craniectomy. The day following surgery we were very optimistic. John was again alert and recalled conversations from the prior week. John declined over the next few days and had to be intubated to protect his airway. His injury was described to us as a bruise that gets worse before it gets better. After 6 days of continued

decline we got access to his medical records and found out that there was more damage than what we were led to believe. Our questions about the delayed brain injury we felt were not

relayed or answered properly. We requested to have John transferred to Sanford in Fargo after a 13 day stay at Altru. Before leaving Altru, John was squeezing our hand on command and

wiggling toes on both feet on command. After the transfer all movement stopped for about a month, although he continued to withdraw from pain in all extremities. John was admitted into

Sanford on October 3rd. He had his first MRI since the injury and the neurosurgeon explained that John did not have a stroke, but a contusion. He said that normally a contusion will show up

within the first couple hours of the injury but for some reason John's was delayed. He speculated high or low blood pressure, which made sense because come to find out John had a couple nights

and days following the surgery that his blood pressure wasn’t properly controlled. The contusion continued to evolve following his initial surgery. We were told it will take time to heal and these

injuries are specific to each person. While in Sanford ICU, they discovered a blood clot at the PICC site requiring blood thinners to prevent further damage. It was discovered that John had the

antibodies to heparin (because why wouldn’t he) and that was discontinued. John's breathing became more labored and after a CTA they discovered a pretty massive saddle PE that affected

all 5 lobes. He had an echocardiogram the following day showing that his heart was still functioning and pumping properly. Because Johns has a strong heart, he was able to overcome it! He was then transferred to Vibra Hospital on the 7th floor of Sanford on October 13th. He was on the ventilator full time due to the PE when admitted to Vibra. Over his stay he was weaned off the ventilator and continued to show improvement. He regained motion in his right arm and leg and although we can't be definitive if it's on command he continues to increase movement. On Halloween while in the hoyer lift, he opened his eyes for the first time and the nurse asked if

he was ok to which he replied “yeah”. Although it was short lived, we were overjoyed! This was the first time he has opened his eyes. On Tuesday November 5th we were informed that John

would be transferred to the cities on Friday. We were given 3 days notice with no other options of places he could go. We tried to fight it, but unfortunately, we didn’t get far and John was transferred against our wishes.

It has been very important to us that someone is with John at all times. We have had someone bedside day and night since the accident. Unfortunately, this new facility doesn’t allow family to

stay overnight. This move changes things for our family. Our mom will have little relief or support bedside and will require a longer commute for the rest of us. Although this accident has been devastating to us, we are staying positive and will never lose our faith or hope. We will also continue to fight and advocate for John despite resistance and setbacks because we know he is fighting for us too. I've received comments from hospital staff that John is lucky to have us, but really, we are the lucky ones! I thank God that he is ours, and although I’ve known that I’ve taken advantage of time: Call your parents if you can and give them extra! Read another bedtime

story and answer the 10 questions with patience. Don't do what I did! We have been overwhelmed with blessings, messages, and support from so many and with God they have kept us going! We are truly grateful! We have been encouraged to set up this account for John and our family, although we don’t want anyone to feel obligated. Most importantly we ask for continued prayers! Thank you for taking the time to read our story and God bless.