Help Matt Heal: Overcome Spinal Cord Trauma

Let me start by saying Matt is holding steady and taking it day by day.

My name is Dawn and I am Matt's older sister. Matt was the victim of a terrible accident that unfortunately involved him sustaining severe spinal cord injuries. By victim, I mean, chased down and dragged under a car. An act so terrible that your mind cannot fathom it. While we are thankful and blessed that he is still alive, July 10th was the worst day of my family's life.

Matt's injuries were so severe that he required emergent surgery to save his life. Injuries that were severe enough to require a tracheostomy, feeding tube, and require total assistance with his care. He was also degloved on the side of his face and left hip (gruesome I know), in addition to some other fractures and wounds.

Matt still requires ventilator support but making strides and improvements every day and breathing more on his own with some support. The severe damage to his spine also caused his body to not regulate his temperature. It's a battle keeping his temperature within normal range which is needed in order for other surgeries to be performed to continue with his care.

My brother is alert and oriented thank God, he can speak softly, but with the trach in place they prefer him not to try and talk so much as it causes him to have respiratory distress at times and it wears him out.

The goal is for my brother to get to a specialized rehab for continued support and therapy.

Initially, this is not anything my family wanted to do, however, we understand the severity of Matt's injuries and the care required. Matt did work, but did not have health insurance at the time of this unfortunate accident. My family is only asking for any help, donation, or support to aide with Matt's medical bills.

We appreciate all the calls, texts, visits of support and love shown thus far.

Again, any and all support is strictly for Matt's medical bills.