Help John Heckman Get the Care He Deserves

Hi. My name is Sue Heckman. On Tuesday, December 3rd, 2024, at about 5:35 pm, John and I were on our way home from Greensboro. We were sitting on 421 in stopped traffic near the Macy Grove Exit. I had just commented that I wondered why traffic was stopped because the sun was already down. The next thing we knew, we were looking at each other, all the airbags had gone off, and we were wondering what had happened.

We were hit by an 85,000 lb dump truck. The police report stated that he was doing approximately 45 mph when he hit us. There were 6 vehicles involved in the accident, including the dump truck.

We were transported to the Emergency Room by ambulance, checked out, and were both cleared to go home. John was driving me home from the orthopedic doctor on Thursday afternoon and told me he was going to take the back roads home because he wasn't feeling good. Then, partway home, he asked me to remind him how to get home. That's when knew there was something horribly wrong. He had hit his head on the windshield twice, although we were both wearing our seatbelts, and the airbags all went off. I finally talked him into going back to the ER on Saturday morning. I took the dogs out, and when I came back in, I couldn't find John. I found him slumped to his right side. I thought he had had a stroke and called the ambulance to transport him. After 5 hours at the hospital, a CT scan, and an MRI, they could not find anything physically wrong in the scans and sent us home with the instructions of brain rest and a referral to a local neurologist.

Although he was not specifically a concussion specialist, we had several appointments with him but did not feel like John was being heard as well as other issues that we won't go into. We get regular calls from a nurse with our insurance company, and John was telling her about the accident and some of the appointments with the neurologist. The nurse asked if we would like to have a second opinion. When we said yes, she connected us with the Cleveland Clinic. After they gathered reports from the treatments, they reached out and said their neurologist wanted to see us.

We were able to set up an appointment with their neurologist on April 9th. She met with us for almost 90 minutes. John felt more heard in that time than the entire cumulative time we had spent with the neurologist here and could easily spot several deficiencies. She gave us referrals to a Cognitive Speech Therapist, a neuro-psychologist for a neuro-psych evaluation, a neuro-optometrist, and a neuro-ophthalmologist.

John's first appointment with the Cognitive Speech Therapist was on April 22nd. Gina told us that she hoped to be able to get at least some benefits from the therapy, but it would have been much more effective had John been referred right from the start. She wants to see him 2 times a week every 3 weeks.

The consultation with the neuro-psychologist was over an hour, and then the evaluation portion was over 4 hours. It was an exhausting appointment for John. We will find out the results of that evaluation on one of our upcoming trips. The results of this evaluation will help identify the extent and impact of his brain injury from the accident.

The appointments with the neuro eye doctors are scheduled for the future as well.

John hasn't been able to work since the accident. Some days he feels ok. Others he feels dizzy, tired, off balance, and "weird". Some days he starts ok but that can change in the blink of an eye with no warning. He is not able to get his medications together as he can't remember what he is supposed to take, when he took it last, or if he even took it, so I have been taking care of his medications since the accident. He obviously can't drive either, so I am taking care of all of that. Because he has been out of work for over 3 months on Short-Term Disability, his pay has now been cut significantly from his normal pay, and when he transitions to Long-Term Disability in June, the cost of our medical insurance will be taken out of that remaining pay before anything comes our way.

The required trips to OH happen a couple of times a month and the cost of gas and hotels traveling back and forth has been costly. As much as I wish we didn't need the help, we do. I am asking for help with gas and hotel expenses.

Prayers are always welcome and sharing this fundraiser would be beneficial as well. Thank you so very much for all of the prayers and help. It means more than we could ever express. We only want the best care for John and the best for his situation is in Cleveland.