Help Scott and Family Recover from Devastating Car Accident

I am supporting a fundraiser for my Daughter-In-Law’s family. On December 18, 2024, Scott McRoberts was involved in a serious car accident. He had to be life-flighted to Iowa City with life-threatening injuries: broken bones, head trauma, damage to his aorta, to name a few. The icy road conditions caused Scott to lose control of his car. Since the accident, Scott has been in the hospital, undergoing multiple surgeries, and will need extensive rehab. Scott was the sole provider for her and his 15 year old grandson. The road to recovery for Scott and his family will be long, and we are asking for your help.

We’re reaching out to our community for help to ease the family's burden during this challenging time. The funds will be used for hospital bills, travel expensive, and expenses for family members who are helping with care and support.

No donation is too small, and every bit helps. If you are unable to donate, please consider sharing this campaign with your friends and family. Your kindness and support mean the world to Scott and his loved ones. Thank you for your consideration.

LATEST FAMILY UPDATE: Update #36: Just when I say there’s no update…there’s updates! He has been down graded from the SNICU to a regular floor ♥️. They are currently getting him comfortable in his new room. He also has been mouthing some words at me. Like “poop” and “I love you too.” Not sure if this is my imagination playing tricks on me or if he actually is.

Update #35: There continues to be little to update but I promise I will when there is something. Right now he continues to be stable, awaiting a bed on the regular floor. His drain in his head was finally pulled yesterday. His head CT looked good this morning. They are monitoring him for what looks might be a staph infection on his broken ankle that’s in the fixation device. He’s been pretty sleepy since we got here tonight but seems to be very uncomfortable. His legs are going a mile a minute, arms straight out, and sweating. He also keeps trying to adjust his hips. Other than that I don’t think there’s much else right now.

Update #34: It’s been a couple days since our last post. There really hasn’t been many changes. He is generally more awake but does have a lot of agitation at times, especially when he has to pee. He is following commands but this is still not consistent. I did get to FaceTime with him last night with the kids and while the nurse was doing a neuro exam he was asked to stick his tongue out, which he did, twice. This made my hearts so happy. He’s tolerating everything pretty well including working with PT and getting up to the chair. His CT is stable, chest xray is stable, and his labs are all looking pretty well. He does not like the trach and tries to pull on it frequently so hopefully he doesn’t have to have this for very long since he has been off the ventilator since last Wednesday and is doing fantastic. He is still in the ICU, but it sounds like this is only because the regular floors are full. He also still has the drain in his head and we’re not entirely sure why. We feel like the communication between the doctors and family has been very limited. I’m pretty sure we have not talked to the neuro doctors since Christmas Eve. This will get resolved when I get down. We’re planning on going down there tomorrow after the kids get done with school and we’re spending the night as long as the weather cooperates. Progress is slow but at least it’s progress!

Update #33: He’s awake! Not responding the best but he is following some commands. Video to come!!!!!!!!!

Update #32: Sorry there hasn’t been much to update everyone on until today. Some of Scott’s oldest friends came to visit him which was nice and had some other friends/family come to visit him❤️. They got him up into a chair today which was amazing to see. He still isn’t awake but he’s more “alert.” It kind of hard to explain. He’s moving his left side quite a bit more than I have seen in the past. They took out his chest tube today and plan to pull the drain from his head tomorrow. He is still getting heparin to resolve the clots in his legs. As for surgeries, nothing in the works right now regarding his ankle, but they are talking about going in to fix his aorta soon. This is scary because it is such a delicate surgery. He has been tolerating his tube feedings well and is doing amazing off the ventilator. It is too soon to take the trach out but that is the hope. He does have orders to be moved out of the SNICU and move to a regular neuro floor when there is a bed available. It does sound like he’s still several weeks away from being moved from the U of I to an LTAC facility. Oh! He also opened both eyes for me today and I got a picture of him looking at me. This definitely made me lose my cool. I haven’t posted pictures of him before today because he was pretty gruesome at the beginning, but seeing him up in the chair today warmed my heart and I want to show off his progress.

Update #31: Here is today’s update from mom: Neuro came in this morning, his eyes are reactive but left is sluggish. The right is 3 of 4 for reactivity. He asked him to squeeze his hand and he did. He opened his eyes for about 10 secs but they had to put him back on the sedating medication due to some agitation. They are gonna try to wean him again today from that. Some of the staples are gonna be removed from his head and neuro has nothing planned for him for the rest of the week. The trauma team came in and their plans are to do another scan today at some point to make sure clots are dissolving. Also the chest tube might come out tomorrow. His blood pressure is all over the place because she said he's more reactive and gets upset when they touch him, especially his legs or feet. Oh and he's been off the ventilator for almost 38 hours and they are going to leave it off unless he struggles. Still waiting on orthopedics, cardiothoracic, and otolarangology to come in to discuss further plans. Mom sent me pictures of him today and his swelling and bruising have improved so much.

Update #30: Hope everyone is having a fantastic New Year’s Eve! Mom is still in Iowa City with Scotty with Shane and Tim. They’re getting some good company tonight with Missi! There continues to be little to update you guys on but here is the lastest. Around 8am they took him off the ventilator and had maintained without it. They disconnected the sedating medications and have him comfortable with the pain medications. His pupils sound like they’re a little more reactive today. The nurse is going to come out and get mom at 5am so she’s there to talk to all of his doctors. 2024 can kick rocks! Here’s to hoping 2025 is better.

Update #29: Not much going on again today. He was off the ventilator for 2 hours and held his own pretty well but he did start working a little harder than they wanted so they put him back on it. They will continue to increase his time off the ventilator. He is on heparin full time now due to the clots in his legs. His head CT was stable this morning, the NP said maybe a little less swelling. He is getting his peg tube in tomorrow because he keeps spitting up his “food.” His temp is running 99.1 which they are not concerned about. He is very sweaty but this is likely due to coming off all the medications he has been on the last two weeks. They also started him on propranolol to keep his bp stable.

Update #28: There’s not much to update on tonight. He’s off the IV pain meds, down a little bit on the sedating medication, and off the continuous blood pressure medications. Sounds like they’ll try to put the feeding tube later this week. Right now he’s comfortable and resting. I go back to work tomorrow and I’m feeling indifferent about it. Plan for right now is that we’ll come back on Thursday unless something changes.

Update #27: Here’s last night and today’s update. He has small blood clots in his legs, so they have started him on heparin every 8 hours. The orthopedic surgeon fixed his left hip with a rod that goes from his hip to knee. They also positioned the halo on his right ankle for better stability. PT will start working with him soon. They attempted to place a feeding tube but it wouldn't go in due to all the swelling still in his face. His temperature is finally staying down. The leak from his nose has finally stopped. The drain is working in his head, pressure is staying about a 4, which is good. They attempted to take him off the ventilator, but he is still working a tad too hard to get the breathes out on his own, likely due to his rib fractures. The chest tube output hasn't had any since Wednesday, so hopefully they’ll pull this soon. He is opening his eyes at times, but then closes them from bright light, he’s still not following commands. His right eye has movement but left does not (this is where most of the trauma is). He has a ton of movement in his left hand but not alot in the right, and his legs are moving a little bit. Lastly, his aorta is stable, if they do surgery to repair it will be his last surgery they do.

Update #26: Scott had an okay night after they finally got him settled down. He has been moving quite a bit more. A bunch of people have been asking if he’s awake or responsive, he is not. His movements were explained as involuntary and not purposeful. He is considered stable and has been tolerating interventions well so his orthopedic team has decided to move forward with his hip and ankle fractures with plans to take him back to the OR today. Will try to post an update later, but I woke up in excruciating pain and ended up in the ER. Turns out all the caffeine I had last week to keep myself awake caused some kidney stones, who knew ‍♀️.

Update #25: He was taken back to surgery about 8 am, they originally told us this would be 8-12 hours in the OR but it only took about 5 hours. Everything went well. They did do a tracheotomy . He was wiggling around quite a bit and his left eye is open a tad which is weird to see. Neuro exam remains the same as far as I’m aware. We only got to visit for a little bit because they took him for a CT.

Update #24: We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Mom was able to come home and send some time with us. She also got to go home to decompress before heading back to Iowa City. Being around family was a nice distraction. Tomorrow he’s on the surgery schedule for a bunch of facial/sinus procedures and we were told that it could take 8-12 hours if all goes well. Other than that we don’t really have any updates tonight. Jordan and I will be getting up to head back in the morning after we run a couple of errands.

Update #23: There is not much to update you on today. We met with his team and they gave a long drawn out look at what his life is going to look like. It just seems like our heart breaks a little more every time they talk to us. Currently he remains the same as he’s been. Less responsive to pain stimuli and continues to have a fever. They ran some cultures to see where his infection is. They’re going to basically let him rest til Thursday then he’ll go back to the OR to have facial/sinus surgery to repair the leak from his nose. Jordan and I came home to spend Christmas with the kids, but plan to head back to Iowa City Thursday. If there is no major issues between now and Thursday I’m going to stay off Facebook/social media to try to decompress and be present with the kids. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and encourage everyone to hold on to their loved ones a little extra tight.

Update #22: I wasn’t kidding when I said it was going to be a long day. Surgery went as expected - drain was placed and is working! They also put the external fixation on his right leg. Mom is back there right now seeing him and will get all the updates from the nurse. They’re trying to get blood, medications, and clean him up a bit. Hopefully we’ll get an update on his neuro exams!

Update #21: Today is going to be a long day. The neurosurgeon came in and told us they are going to take him back to the OR to attempt to place the drain again. They are also working with the orthopedic surgeon because they want to put the right leg into a halo traction. If they can’t coordinate everyone to do it today, they’ll do it tomorrow. They’ve upped his pain meds due to him going to surgery. They also stopped all his sedating medication and the nurse was in there picking on him, which he didn’t like. Neuro exam was the same as it had been.

Update #20: Well they attempted to place the drain but it didn’t work. They couldn’t get it in the spot that they needed it, so that disappointing. He’ll have another CT scan of his brain in the morning. They also did a chest CT and found the leak they had been watching on the left side had got quite a bit bigger so they inserted a pigtail drain. They instantly got [phone redacted] mL out of it, hopefully that helps with making him comfortable. His neuro exam also has not changed since this morning. The oral surgeon came in and said he will likely need facial reconstruction but this is not a concern at this time. The only other update we’ve gotten is that he finally. We haven’t been able to visit with him since about 4:30p due to all the procedures and exams but we hope to get to see him before we try to get some sleep for the night.

Update #19: He’s back from CT. They are starting the drain procedure now. Fingers crossed that it goes in and starts working. We need this.

Update #18: He’s having the CT tonight at 5p then depending on that they are going to attempt to replace the drain at bedside or possibly tomorrow in the OR. He’s having “neurological storms”, basically this is due to the irritation on the brain but they said this is to be expected. He’s also going to have a chest CT to see how that looks. That’s pretty much it right now.

Update #17: Overnight went okay. The neurosurgeon we met with yesterday came in and asked us about a few surgical interventions and whether or not he’d want them. They talked about replacing the drain that they removed yesterday since it wasn’t working. They also talked to us about repairing some of his facial fractures because the leak in his nose has not resolved. The plan is to repeat a CT scan this morning and go from there. He’s back on a few medications and they upped his ventilator setting because he was fighting it a bit.

Update #16: Sorry to leave everyone hanging. My strength has been tested today and we’re all emotionally drained. We finally got to talk to the neurosurgeon and the news was very bleak. There has been an increase in the brain swelling, he’s not responding much despite being off the sedating medications, and his pupils are not reacting. He’s in an unimaginable amount of pain when he’s weaned down on the pain medications. He is still initiating his own breaths. They showed us the images from the CT and explained all the deficits he will likely face if he makes it past this phase, this includes a feeding tube and a tracheostomy. We have a lot of impossible decisions to make in the next few days. As of right now, I’m going to take a break from posting and messaging but I will post if anything significant happens. We appreciate all the messages, love, and continued support/prayers.

Update #15: Neuro exam was done at 5:30a, they reduced his sedation for about 40 minutes, and he's not responding like he was. They’re taking him for a head CT right now. Both drains have been pulled. The night shift nurse promised to come get us if things changed and he did not. The whole time we have been here we have talked to neuro once. We’ve requested to talk to them a few times and we get the response “maybe they’ll round later.” The communication has been terrible this whole time and we’re getting frustrated.

Update #14: Mom went into his room and he’s in a different position. Staff said that he hadn’t been moved, but he’s clearly been moved somehow. He’s in a different angle. He had some blood around his eye which is new and his neck was extended a bit. The trauma doctor came in and said that he is moving quite a bit. She is seeing some improvement, but they don’t want him to move a bunch because when he moves, his pressure and heart rate go up. They’re going give him a medication to kind of sedate him a little bit more because he’s definitely more agitated. They really only want him to move when they want him to. BUT this is the first time that we’ve heard them say the words improvement! Keep fighting Scotty, we know it’s hard!!!! ❤️

Update #13: Today has been an okay day. He’s a little more uncomfortable and moving his limbs a bit more but not on command. He continues to remain off the sleepy juice, they said it should fully wear off in 24-48 hours but he’s still on high doses of pain medications which will make him very sluggish and tired. Drainage from his nose seems to have improved because he’s had the same packing in with the same dry drainage on it all day. They poked on him after we left his room about 8p to eat and spend time with the babies so we were not in the room when they did his last neuro exam. Mom is currently waiting to talk to the nurse to get an update. The CT from yesterday early morning to today mid morning was stable with no change. Hopefully his next one we will see some decrease in swelling, however, tomorrow morning isn’t going to be 72 hours yet so we’ll probably have to wait til Sunday mornings CT scan for any progress, but . Ortho was in a lot today which we’re hoping is encouraging. He’s been tolerating the traction on his left and they want to put his right leg in a halo as soon as he’s stable. His vitals have been okay, but he’s needed medication to maintain them periodically. Right now his blood pressure is stable but his heart rate is a tad too high. So we remain “critically stable” and just glad that we’re not going in the opposite direction.

Update #12: we just met with the ICU trauma nurse practitioner who will be here all weekend. Basically nothing new, he’s just critically stable. She said that if we were going to see improvement it would be at the 72 hr mark, so we’re about 30 hrs away from that. If he does get to come off the ventilator there is a high chance that he’ll need a trach due to all the facial trauma. They are sending him to CT to check on the drain again so they took him out of traction and he didn’t like that at all. He brought his arms up a little bit, both legs, and his heart rate went to 150s but he calmed down right away. He said there is no signs of brain death at this time went is great but we have a lot of decisions to make and to think about.

Update #11: We made it through the night without any big events. They took him off the propofol about 3 am, which is good but he’s not awake. They said he is stable with no changes. They were hoping he’d be more “awake” by now. His CT was stable as well. The orthopedic surgeon came in and told us that they are going to put his left leg into traction. Hopefully this will make him more comfortable and I hope that this is a good sign that they’re even bothering with it right now. His left hand has been squeezing our fingers but the nurse explained that this is sort of the same reaction you would get if you stuck your finger in a newborn baby’s grip. However, when we pull our hand away from his he squeezes. I’m hoping this is promising. His CK level is still trending up, his sodium is a little low, his white count is up to 11, and his blood sugars are elevated. As for the leak from his nose, it has slowed down but when they move him it kind of speeds up again. The ICU doctor told us that she would like to spend some time with us after they finish their rounds which makes me think we have some bad news on the horizon.

Update #10: Hopefully this is the last update for the night and he gets some good rest. He’ll have a CT in the morning for his head/face. They will continue to monitor all the things. Vitals are stable and he’s off the blood pressure medication as of right now. They increased his ventilator settings just a little to help make him more comfortable but he is still making breaths of his own. Neuro exam is about the same as earlier. His right eye is slightly reactive but his left (where most the damage is) is not doing much. All of that I believe is to be expected like I said earlier due to the trauma and medications he’s getting. They’re giving him a strong antibiotic to help prevent any infection to his brain from that leak in his nose. He is very comfy right now and tucked in for the night. Fingers crossed for an uneventful night and a better neuro exam in the morning.

Update #9: His blood pressure has to be in a very specific margin and his been a little bit of a struggle to get it there, but I think they’ve figured out a regimen. He got a tube feeding earlier and seems to be tolerating that. Orthro just came by and didn’t have anymore information really than what we already knew. Some other fractures they have identified is his sternum, shoulder blade, and his C4 (which we knew about). None of these injuries are of concern right now and should heal on their own but they will continue to monitor it. Now for the worst news we’ve gotten all day. The drain they inserted to help drain the fluid from his brain hasn’t been draining anything out which they were not concerned too much with as this was more of a preventative thing. However, due to all the trauma his nose is pretty messed up and has needed packing. When they replaced the packing today they noticed that the drainage was clearish which could indicate spinal fluid (this should be coming out of that drain). They are going to repeat the head CT in the morning and continue to monitor how much drainage is coming out. If it doesn’t resolve on its own they will need to go back in and place a different drain. If they left it as is it would open him up getting meningitis. We have made it 24 hours since surgery. His facial swelling has gone down significantly since I first saw him yesterday which is good. Praying for any good news to come next because we keep getting it with bad news. Keep the prayers and positive thoughts coming! #ScottStrong. ❤️

Update #8: The trauma team came in, and they made us feel hopeless. I’m not sure how to explain everything at this moment, but they told us to be cautious with the optimism because he isn’t making progress, but he’s stable. He still has a pneumothorax on the right side, so they are keeping the chest tube in for now. X-ray is in there now taking pictures over his whole body to check for any other fractures they might have missed. They took him off blood pressure medications last night, but he needed some this morning. Neuro came in this morning, and we had just fallen asleep, so we missed them. Basically, the nurse said that his eyes were not reacting, but this could be because of the medications and the severe trauma to his face. He is responding to painful stimuli. His right side is better than his left, which is also to be expected because of the trauma on that side of the brain and the craniectomy. Peak time for swelling is 72 hours, so we’re about 48 hours away from that. They would like to see him following commands better, but only time will tell. He continues taking breaths on his own while on the ventilator, which is great. He’s been squeezing his hand when we hold it, and I’m choosing to believe this is his way of letting us know that he’s still there and that he knows we’re there.

Update #7: We just got to see him. His cranial pressure is perfect and his blood pressure is holding steady where they want it. He isn’t able to follow commands when he was weened down on the sedation but he’s moving all extremities. They gave him more meds to keep him comfortable and hopefully we learn more over the next 24 hours.

Update #6: He’s in the surgical ICU now. The nurse practitioner just unpacked a lot of information on us. The best news so far is that he’s breathing on his own with minimal help from the ventilator, which is huge. He’s not moving much right now, but they’re letting the anesthesia work itself out on its own instead of reversing it since they have a few more things to do with him tonight. Before we see him they’re going to do another CT to make sure the swelling isn’t getting any worse and the drain is where it’s suppose to go. They are also going to do a bronchoscopy to check to see if there is any damage in his throat/lungs as he has some crepitus. Chest tubes are still in place. She also told us he has a small tear to his aorta and they’re monitoring his blood pressure carefully because this would be catastrophic. They’re going to continue to do neuro exams and see how he does over night. Hopefully he’s doing well enough to ween down the sedation tomorrow to see what his brain function is doing. He’s fighting.

Update #5: Orthopedic surgeon came in. He has a large laceration to his left knee which they cleaned out and sewed up. He has a left hip fracture that they will do more imaging on then come up with a game plan to fix that later. They haven’t done any imaging on his arms, but that will also come later. He also has a left distal tibia fracture that they splinted and will have to eventually have pins/plates in at some point. Right now he is stable on an orthopedic standpoint. He’s supposed to be on his way to recovery soon so hopefully we get to see him soon.

Update #4: Eye surgeon came and gave an update on his face/eyes. They were concerned with his orbital area due to the extensive trauma. She told us that there are larger fractures to this area but there is no acute issues that are concerning regarding his eyes/face at this time. They will continue to monitor this area.

Update #3: It’s been about 2.5 hrs since we spoke to the neurosurgeon. We were getting antsy so we went to the desk to ask for an update. Apparently he’s having multiple surgeries all over his body. We have no updates as to what they are doing or how long it will take. No one has communicated any of this to us and no one will give us any updates. We were told no nurses or doctors anywhere in the ICU/surgery are available to speak to us. We just know that he is at least stable enough to continue fixing him. We will continue to pray and wait.

Update #2: Surgery is almost finished. They still have to put the drain in but we’re going to be able to see him in about an hour and a half. Surgery went as expected. The next 72 hours are critical. They performed a craniectomy to allow for swelling. We haven’t heard from the orthopedic surgeon, facial reconstruction surgeon, or the cardiovascular team. We were also told that he had movement in his right arm and legs prior to surgery which is promising. We have no idea what kind of deficits he is looking at right now but he’s alive and fighting. Thank you to everyone who has reached out and to everyone who is praying, please continue to pray. There’s still so many things I haven’t said to him .

Update: We haven’t had any verbal communication, but my mom just got a text message from the surgical team that the surgery is going as expected.

Please keep my stepdad in your prayers today. He was in a serious accident this morning and had to be life-flighted to Iowa City. His condition is critical, but we are holding on to hope. He has a broken ankle, wrist, and knee, two chest tubes, a depressed skull fracture, severe facial injuries, and damage to his aorta. The doctors initially prepared us for the worst, but his CTa showed some improvement, so they’re moving forward with surgery. They will need to remove part of his skull to place a drain and allow for room for swelling. It’s an extremely risky procedure, and if he pulls through, the road to recovery will be long and challenging. Surgery should be about 2-4 hours, it’ll be the longest period of time of our lives.