Help Matt & Raegan's family with medical expenses

Matt was in a life-threatening ATV accident on May 27th. By the grace of God he was able to be taken to Bergan Mercy Medical Center in Omaha. He has already had 2 significant surgeries, one of which was to stabilize a C5 neck cervical fracture. He will need more surgeries for internal abdominal wounds. The road ahead will be difficult with surgeries, healing, and a long recovery. While not everything is known right now, we do know that financial support to help cover medical expenses will go a long way to support Matt, Raegan, and their family so that they can fully focus on helping Matt’s recovery. We also know that prayer is powerful, and we ask you to offer prayer for Matt, Raegan, Kara, and Cayden if you feel inclined.

Updates from Raegan

ICU day #25 (Wednesday) Matt update:

Today was another good day. Matt stood up with therapy three times!! He also sat in the chair for 2 1/2 hours.

We saw Dr Punja again…he says to just be patient…Matt needs to have a week of stability and hopefully by then, his gut will have healed. He will have a repeat CT scan on Friday.

Thank you for the continued prayers! God hears every one of them and is answering them in His perfect timing. Matt continues to need those prayers. He still has such a long road. He’s getting better and stronger but has a long way to go. God’s timing is not my timing and I have to remember that and trust in His timing.❤️‍

ICU day #24 (Tuesday) Matt update:

God continues to answer our prayers: Matt has had two days of stability. No major changes today except pain meds through his JTube that will last a bit longer.

After a better night of sleep, Matt sat on the edge of the bed with therapy for 20 minutes and was up in a chair this afternoon for 2 hours. He’s moving his legs more but his hands and arms are slower to come around.

He is tolerating the tube feeding, accuchecks have been put on hold and they’ll try to discharge the foley catheter again tomorrow.

The current plans are for a CT scan on Friday which may determine next steps. Thank you for continuing to pray for his healing and recovery. His road is long, but we know God will walk with him.

ICU day #23 (Monday) Matt update:

I’m a little hesitant to say it out loud, but it’s been a good day for Matt. God continues to watch over him and answer prayers…

Matt tolerated the tilt table with therapy for about 10 minutes this morning AND an hour in the recliner via hoyer lift this afternoon. His trickle feeds through the JTube are going well and the pouch around the GTube to manage the drainage continues to work well.

Matt is still not sleeping at night (which means I’m not either) but we will try a new plan for that tonight.

I was finally comfortable leaving the hospital without having someone with Matt for about 4 hours today…a huge accomplishment after not leaving at all for 19 consecutive days.

Thank you for the ongoing prayers, meals, visits and hugs. You have all been amazing. We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful group of family and friends supporting us and praying for us and for Matt’s healing…Thank you ❤️‍

ICU day #22 (Sunday) Matt update:

Father’s Day was nothing like previous for this guy, but the kids tried to make it special…as special as possible from a bed in the ICU.

Today was a nice day of stability…a nurse rigged something up to manage the GTube drainage to keep most of it off his skin and they started trickle feeds through the JTube. Matt also got to sit edge of bed with therapy again.

Thank you for all the continued prayers.

ICU day #21 (Saturday) Matt update:

It’s been the longest 3 weeks of my life…the ups and downs of this ride are the most horrible and terrifying things I’ve ever experienced. And the stress of it all sometimes seems too much to bear…

Matt didn’t sleep hardly at all Friday night…between some ICU delirium, post traumatic amnesia, anxiety and feeling like he can’t breathe, he doesn’t get much sleep

Then today, his G-tube was draining from the abdominal wall, not through the tube. He was also bleeding from the same location. His hemoglobin was trending down and dropped to 6.8. He got another unit of blood (current tally: 23 units RBCs, 12 units FFP, 2 units of platelets, 1 unit of cryo = 38 units of blood/blood products). But the blood perked him up and he’s had a better evening.

The G-tube is still making a huge mess, draining down his side instead of into the bag or now to suction, and I’m not sure what they plan to do about that. But they did confirm that it’s still located properly in his stomach.

We continue to be grateful for all the prayers. The kids and I are struggling as a family to figure out how to be here for Matt and each other, so we’ve had some bumps. But God has gotten us this far and we’ll have to continue to lean on Him to make it through.

ICU day #20 (Friday) Matt update:

One consolation of the terrifying day on Thursday…things couldn’t get much worse making calm days seem even better…so today was good.

Matt slept some last night, which means I slept some too. Today was his wound vac and ostomy change and the femoral arterial line was removed. He missed sitting edge of bed with therapy due to the other stuff but his great nurses used the hoyer to get him up and he sat up for an hour.

I finally left the hospital for the first time since May 29…it was really hard being at home without him even for a little bit.

Thank you for all the prayers for Matt’s continued healing.

ICU day #19 (Thursday) Matt update:

I guess after a few good days, we were due for a hiccup…but man, this one was scary.

Matt started to have trouble breathing last night and chest pain…EKGs, chest X-ray, CT scan were all negative but his pulse was high and breathing was super rapid. His heart rate was crazy scary high for well over an hour. Two doses of Ativan only kept his heart rate below 180 until they finally gave him some lopresser…and added back in an antibiotic.

But then labs showed a huge drop in his hemoglobin - he was bleeding somewhere…and his temp was rising, so the fluid collection in his abdomen (aka infection) was also causing problems. He needed meds to raise his blood pressure and blood transfusion.

A CT scan this morning showed active bleeding in the liver. Matt already had a date with interventional radiology to drain the fluid collection in his pelvis, so that was converted into a time to try and cauterize the bleed. They were able to find and stop the active arterial bleeding of 3 different arteries in the liver and intestines.

It was one hell of a day but when it was said and done, he’d gotten 4 units of blood, had 3 arteries cauterized, earned 2 different antibiotics and 1 arterial line back in his femoral artery…but prayers were answered and he again ends the day stable.

He was again, the receipient of God’s grace in healing through the hands of gifted physicians. Thank you for the visits, the hugs and all the prayers. In addition to continued prayers for healing, he and I both really need a good night’s sleep.

ICU day #18 (Wednesday) Matt update:

We continue to be grateful for everyone lifting Matt’s healing up in prayer. God is good and He is answering prayers in His perfect timing.

After a really rough night with no sleep last night, Matt said goodbye to the other chest tube today. He sat up with therapy again and his obstinate wife managed to talk the nurses into getting him up to the chair for about 45 minutes using a lift. Sitting in a chair wore him out but it was really good for his lungs and body.

The surgeons are watching a couple of drains that are showing evidence of infection and Matt’s breathing and cough are shallow and weak also putting him at risk for peumonia.

However, Matt gets more fidgety and a bit stronger every day.

He appreciates all the visitors SO much! He gets tired of his wife, so friends that talk about other things make him smile even though he’s a man of few words right now.

Please continue to pray for resolution and prevention of infections, continued healing of surgical repairs of his intestines and continued strengthening. Your thoughts and prayers mean so much! ❤️‍

ICU day #17 (Tuesday) Matt update:

Matt had another good day with a couple steps forward. His right chest tube was removed and he sat on the side of the bed with therapy again. His oxygen is off and he’s doing well.

The wound vac and ostomy were changed and that was painful for him.

The surgeons checked the bowel repairs with a CT with contrast but didn’t see everything they wanted…so it’s just continue to monitor and watch…Dr Patel, Dr Punja, and Dr Singh have been amazing.

Matt seemed down in his spirits today, but his friends mean the world to him. Sean and Jeff really helped improve his mood this evening.

Thank you again for all the prayers ❤️‍ We are praising God for his healing and continuing to pray for ongoing recovery.❤️‍

ICU day #16 (Monday) Matt update:

This journey is such a painful ride, it’s hard to regulate how I feel day to day. It’s exhaustion, adrenaline, terror all on constant repeat. It makes it hard to celebrate small victories because I’m fearful of the next hiccup that I may or may not see coming.

Matt had a good day. Today he sat on the edge of the bed with OT and PT and they even tried to help him stand. Of course, therapy is my wheelhouse and it was wonderful to see him up. It’s clear though that he is so so weak and his road is so so long. He has been great about doing exercises with me when OT and PT aren’t around too.

He still has the chest tubes but they are to water seal. He is off of high flow and just on a little bit of oxygen. His femoral arterial line came out today. All other drains (4 JPs, GJ tube, ostomy, VAC) are draining what they are supposed to.

We continue to be grateful for all the prayers and support. Matt is tired but thankful for friends and visitors. It’s good for him to know how much his friends love him and want him to get better!!

God continues to answer prayers for healing. Please continue to pray for God’s miraculous healing for Matt. ❤️‍❤️‍❤️‍

ICU day #15 (Sunday) Matt update:

I’ve been waiting all day to share the great news…Matt was extubated early this afternoon! All thanks be to God! Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers. He is weak and coughing is crazy hard, but his first words to Kara and Cayden as they were overcome by emotion were, “We’re ok. We’re ok.”

Matt still has a very long road - he still need prayers for the intestinal repairs to hold and heal and there still that whole spinal cord compression and C5 fracture thing.

His journey is overwhelming if I think of it in it’s entirety, so I will keep taking one day at a time, continuing to pray for God’s healing for Matt and strength for the journey for him and all of us.

Thank you all so much for the prayers, the food, the gift cards, the rides, the hugs, the texts, the coffee. We are humbled by all your kindness and caring. Please though, keep the prayers coming. ❤️‍❤️‍❤️‍

ICU day #14 (Saturday) Matt update:

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for Matt’s recovery. Today, God answered prayers by stopping the bleeding in Matt’s belly and allowing the swelling to go down enough for surgeons to close his abdominal fascia. Surgery #8 in 14 days was a success. Surgeons are still very cautious as Matt remains very very fragile, but this was a HUGE step in the right direction.

His antibiotics will be done tomorrrow. His fevers seem to be mostly gone.

The ET tube is very uncomfortable and his mouth is very dry. I’m hopeful the goal for tomorrow will be extubation. I think the chest tubes will have to stay for another day or so, but if we can get rid of the ventilator that will be another huge step forward.

Thank you again for all the prayers and support. Matt continues to have an incredible journey to reach medical stability and an even longer journey to recovery, so please continue to pray for his healing. God is good and He hears our prayers.

ICU Day #13 (Friday) Matt update:

It’s been a relatively stable day. Matt’s labs, especially hemoglobin, have remained stable indicating that whatever they did in surgery yesterday has stopped the bleeding for now.

He was really awake most of the morning, did leg exercises with me and arm exercises with OT. His arms and legs were the strongest they have been.

Matt will go back to surgery tomorrow to remove the packing in his abdominal cavity and hopefully to start to close his belly. Please pray for the bleeding to remain stopped when the packing is removed.

ICU Day #12 (Thursday) Matt update:

Matt continues to fight valiantly and the fight is a hard one. Matt had his 7th surgery today. Following surgery on Tuesday, he continues to have bleeding that isn’t stopping. One particular source of the bleeding cannot be located, but rather, he is suffering from coagulopathic bleeding. Because of the trauma, repeated surgery and everything else, his blood isn’t clotting.

He’s received more than 26 units of blood or blood products in the last 36 hours alone. These products are literally saving his life. If you donate blood, thank you! If you can donate, please do.

Matt needs your prayers. Pray for the bleeding in his abdomen to stop. Pray for the small bowel repair to heal and not fail again.

Thank you ALL for prayers, for visiting, for kind words, for hugs (yes, I’m accepting hugs), meals, coffee, offers of help. Matt, the kids and I truly feel your love and care. Thank you and please continue to pray for Matt’s healing. ❤️‍

ICU day #11 (Wednesday) Matt update:

Matt started his day awake and alert. RT put him on CPAP this morning and he was doing well but Dr Patel feels like he is very fragile. They put him back on full vent support. He is better than last night but still very sick.

Matt is bleeding quite a bit from his drains. Dr Patel doesn't think it's coming from a single site but more just from the overall trauma and multiple surgeries. Matt’s platelets aren’t working to clot his blood. I am grateful I’m a regular blood donor…if you can, donate blood. It saves lives! Matt has received at least 8 units of blood and platelets and at least 4 units of fresh frozen plasma in the last few days.

Today was a day of supportive rest, he received blood and blood products and tried to let his body rest. Matt would really like to be extubated - he tells nearly every person to “take it out now” and has been trying to push the ET tube out with his tongue…he’s an ornery one.

Hopefully tomorrow the team will be able to formulate a new plan. Thank you for all the prayers and visitors. I know it’s excruciating to see Matt like this but I think it’s so good for him to know how many people love him, support him and are praying for him. Thank you all

ICU Day #10 (Tuesday) Matt update:

What a day…Matt had a quiet night. His nurse was able to get his temp down. He was really awake this morning and getting frustrated with his inability to communicate, or my inability to understand. He was on CPAP all morning and doing great.

He went to the operating room (surgery #6 in 10 days) right on time. Unfortunately, the surgeons found that the damage to the pancreas caused the small intestine repair to fail and also had to remove the bowel repair. They *again* repaired the small bowel, trying to take it away from the pancreas, took down the iliostomy and had to do a colostomy. It might be temporary but a longer temporary and he’d likely need alternative nutrition for a while…

Unfortunately though, during surgery, Matt wasn’t doing well. His blood pressure has been a concern all along and it became very low even with meds, blood transfusion and other measures. This is all stressing his body so much.

He was able to be stabilized over the next few hours with more blood, platelets and medications. His stomach is open again and he’s on the vent.

It’s time for his body to rest. I’m sure I’ll visit with surgeons tomorrow to determine the next steps. But right now, he rests.I believe in the power of prayer. Please pray.

ICU Day #9 (Monday) Matt update:

So it’s been really up and down today on this rollercoaster:

Ups: he tolerated CPAP all day; has his neck brace on and is at 30 degrees in bed so he can see more than the ceiling

Downs: his BP is low and needs levo; he had decreased alertness today which is really hard for me; lots of pain with little movement

Neutral: failed extubation x 2 because he was too sleepy to follow commands; but no biggie because he’s going to surgery tomorrow anyway

He is the second case tomorrow, tentatively planned for 11am but it depends on how the first case goes. Anesthesia also came in (consulted as pain service) and they will help with better pain control that won't make him as sleepy.

He is finally perking up a little tonight. Which is encouraging for me after a long day. Thank you for all the prayers and the visitors. We appreciate all the prayers and support (and coffee) so much. ❤️‍

ICU day #8 (Sunday) Matt Update:

It has not been a bad day. Surgery went decently well, iliostomy and closure of 90% of his wound. They will hopefully close the rest on Tuesday.

He's been breathing on his own through the tube (CPAP) for the last two hours and doing great, even while sleeping!

Prayers for an uneventful Monday to get him into the OR on Tuesday.

Temps are still high so he continues on all 3 antibiotics. He seems a little more confused and less interactive when he's awake today, but maybe that's expected after 5 surgeries on 8 days?

I'm *hopeful* that he's headed in the right direction. Thank you for ALL the continued prayers, help, text messages and support. We couldn’t get though this without everyone.

ICU day #7 (Saturday) Matt Update:

Thank you all for the continued prayers…as one of the trauma surgeons said to me a few minutes ago, “we identify the biggest problem and then fix that biggest problem, one problem at a time…”.

This is the worst roller coaster ride EVER and I’d like to get off now. I have to number and date my posts because there is no real sense of time in the ICU…on one hand, it seems like this just started yesterday and on the other, it feel liked I’ve aged 10 years…

Matt earned another chest drain today, courtesy of a left pneumonia and pleural effusion. His temps are still high but he’s already on all the antibiotics he needs for the pneumonia. His temps could also be from his multiple surgeries or the trauma to his pancreas.

The new chest drain derailed all extubation weaning so it was all temperature monitoring, medications and vitals.

The plan is surgery again tomorrow. The procedure is tentative…abdominal washout, possible iliostomy. There is a chance of closure and while I’m not optimistic, I’m hopeful.

Thank you again for all the prayers and to all of you for your help and support. We appreciate it so much. ❤️‍❤️❤️‍

ICU day #6 (Friday) Matt Update:

After last night, I’m trying to have a sense of humor. It was an awful night…really low BPs, stopping pain medication to improve alertness…

However, a beautiful sunrise offered hope…today, lasix to remove fluid with wonderful urine output; stable vitals after albumin last night; good arousal when stimulated.

He still has a high temp but no evidence of infection.

Hoping for surgery (one more?) for a temporary ostomy and abdominal closure sometime this weekend, followed by extubation and what I think we’ve all been waiting for, MOBILIZATION.

Thank you again for all the prayers. Your texts have been appreciated, and the acts of thoughtfulness and kindness are amazing. Please, continue to pray for Matt’s healing. ❤️‍❤️‍❤️‍

ICU Day #5 (Thursday) Matt Update:

Matt went back into surgery today (if you’re counting, that’s 4 surgeries in 5 days) and his lower bowel was reattached, so his insides are technically put back together. His belly is too swollen to close his stomach up though, so he still can’t move around at all or be extubated. He’ll go back into surgery on Saturday or Sunday.

In the meantime, he’s on 4 antibiotics for high fevers, TPN for nutrition and since he’s such a chill guy, his blood pressures are low so they watch that too…He’s super puffy from the fluids and has gotten 4 total units of blood and 2 units of fresh frozen plasma.

When he’s awake, sometimes I can get him to do exercises with me but with all the surgeries, it’s hard to find time when he’s awake enough.

Thank you for the continued prayers. If you are inclined, a friend and my sister started go fund me pages for this long road. Also, if you can, donate blood! Blood donations save lives!

But most of all, pray ❤️ Pray for his full and miraculous healing. Pray for the kids to have the strength and fortitude to continue to trust in God’s healing power. Pray for the members of his care team.

ICU day #4 (Wednesday) Matt update:

He’s out of surgery today…3 surgeries in 4 days. They did not reattach his bowel but NOT because anything is wrong. He needs a medication to maximize perfusion of the spinal cord to maximize healing but that restricts blood flow to the gut. They don't want to risk the bowel not healing. So we are in a bit of a holding pattern.

They removed all BP meds in the OR and his MAP was 80, which is normal, but neurosurg wants 90 for spinal cord perfusion. Hopefully today, I can find out how much longer he has the higher MAP goals.

So we wait...maybe OR on Friday. Thank you for the prayers and support. Keep them coming ❤️❤️