Help Papa Lee's Journey to Recovery

Our beloved father and grandfather (Seung Yong Lee) sustained a spinal cord injury while on a vacation on the Big Island of Hawaii.

He was transported to the closest local hospital in Kona where he got multiple CTs and MRIs done. It was confirmed that he had sustained multiple spinal injuries at C3-C6 levels, which included fractures. He then had to be transported to The Queen's Medical Center on Oahu for higher level of care. He underwent surgery for spinal cord decompression and insertion of segmental titanium instruments from C3-C6 on Thursday 11/14.

There are multiple options for the family to decide on, which require the necessary funds to be used for the proper medical transportation.

Once he meets “medical discharge” criteria meaning he’s cleared by his spinal surgeon and ICU doctors, he will be admitted to an inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF). Case Manager and PT at this hospital informed us that, there’s one IRF in Hawaii (Queens) and there are many back in mainland. For the best care of the patient, they work on transferring patient to be started and admitted at an IRF near home.

At this time of “medical discharge” depending on his level of recovery, there are two options of transfer:

Option A. He’s not able to tolerate sitting at the time of medical discharge. This would require us to obtain a private air ambulance with trained medical personnel, who would transport him back to the mainland in an air ambulance. There are two companies who quoted an estimate of $77k to $87k out of pocket.

Option B. He’s able to tolerate sitting for a certain period of time and able to stand for a few seconds. This would allow us to put him on a first class seat on a commercial airline with a trained medical personnel. The estimated cost for this option would be around $10k.

His Medicare would not be able to cover for either transfer options because there’s an IRF in Hawaii. Based on his medical staff’s opinion and recommendation as well as his own recovery and our family, we believe that bringing him home is necessary.

His eldest daughter (Younjoo Kim), has decided to take a leave from work to care for him and be with him through this process. She is currently on an indefinite stay in Oahu, which also incurs living costs.

Any amount of donations would help. Above all, we ask for your support in prayer and positive thoughts for our family as we navigate through this unexpected journey.

To follow along with more details and updates on this journey, please follow this blog, which will be updated regularly by Younjoo. https://m.blog.naver.com/younjookim87

Thank you so very much. We love you all!

Sincerely,

Younjoo, Alex, Luke, and Lillian Kim

Min Joo Lee and Joel Jeong

James and Michelle Lee