Help Makai Heal

Dear Friends and Family,

 

My first born son, Makai, was in a car accident. He swerved to miss hitting a deer and ended up in a ditch. Thankfully, no one else was in his car and there were no other vehicles involved. But he landed pretty hard and has multiple fractures in his back and ribs. His car is totaled. Thankfully, he doesn't have a spinal cord injury but he has a long road to recovery. Right now he is completely immobile and unable to even turn or sit up. He also has some underlying health issues that will make this recovery more difficult.

 

He will most likely be in the hospital for a couple/few weeks (I'll update as we go) and will need home care when he is released. He has great insurance through the Oregon Health Plan but no money saved or money coming in. He will not be able to work for many months. I'm trying to raise enough to cover his most basic needs for the next 6 months; rent & food & dog food, plus any extras he may need that are not covered by his insurance.

 

If you can't give, I completely understand, but will still ask for your love, prayers, good vibes and best intentions. The amount of love and kind words we have already received, from all over the world, are so heartwarming and are deeply appreciated!

 

I love you all,

Summer

Update 10/8: Makai has been in the ICU for the past 2 days under full sedation with a breathing tube. His pain was too great and it was causing him to not be able to rest so his vitals were not able to stabilize. He developed some pneumonia from not being about to take deep breaths and from being so immobile. He's stabilized now, which is great news! We don't know how long this phase will last but I'll keep updating here and on my Facebook page. Keep the faith! And thank you everyone for your support!

Update 10/10: He was moved to the hospital in Medford yesterday morning after a lot of blood was found on his brain. The neurosurgeon said the surgery went well but "he's still not out of the woods yet". He wasn't responding on the left side of his body but when I was there last night, he did move his left hand and leg a little which the nurse said was a very good sign! Right now they're just trying to keep his blood pressure down and keep him comfortable. He did open his eyes just a little and gave my hand a squeeze when I got there. I wasn't able to be with him in the first hospital so I will basically be camping out in this one until he recovers. I thank you all again for your generous outpouring of love and support!

Update 10/12: After brain surgery, the time frame for the greatest amount of swelling is 3-5 days after. Yesterday was day 3 and it was a difficult day. But today he's resting much more easily and all his numbers: Inner Cranial Pressure, blood pressure, blood oxygen, etc., are all improved! We still have a long journey to recovery ahead but the worst might be behind us! They're thinking 3 or 4 more days before they reduce sedation and wake him to take a detailed assessment of how he's doing.

I thank you all so much for helping me to reach the goal of my fundraiser. I'm just blown away as to the amount of help we received in such a short time frame! Hopefully this will be enough to cover his expenses for a few months until we are closer to knowing where he is at and what he will need moving forward. 

Update 10/16: Yesterday was a big day, sedation was lifted and he was awake for about a half hour, breathing on his own. His blood pressure is still too high to keep him off the ventilator but this is completely normal for this point in the process. We will try again in a couple more days. Lots of waiting. 

Update 10/19: Makai is finally free of his ventilator! We spent the day talking and even though he is still hooked up to some IV’s, he’s fully awake and no longer needs sedation. His stroke looks to be mild compared to what it looked like at first, but he started receiving physical and speech therapy today. He still has a long road to recovery but we passed a major milestone! 

Update 12/5: So much has happened since the last update! Makai was released from the hospital on 11/3 but we discovered an infection in his head and he had to be readmitted on 11/13 for another craniotomy and spent another week in the hospital. He is now hooked up with a PICC line to receive IV antibiotics every 8 hours until the end of December. He's also on a couple of other high powered antibiotics. The infection is in his skull and, since there is no blood that runs through the skull, it is very difficult to kill infections in bone.

We have had 2 more trips to the emergency room: the first one turned out to be a very swollen lymph node. The second one was a couple of days ago and he is spending a couple days in there because of difficulties with his PICC and difficult it is to have any kind of vascular/infusion work done on the weekends! (I'm learning so much!) 

A dear friend of his is renting him a room in her house so he has a place to live until his SSDI, housing vouchers, etc., kick in. (which could take many months) but for now, he has a place to rest his head (that isn't a hospital bed!) 

I am re-activating this fundraiser and increasing the goal since we have spent quite a bit of this money. By the way, I am ONLY spending this for Makai directly. I am even using my own money for gas which is goddamn expensive these days! But I really want this money to just go to him. Thanks again to everyone who has helped. It means the world to me. xoxo