Support Zack on his road to recovery!

My name is Zack Champagne. I’m a 17-year-old senior in high school and on August 23 I was in a serious car accident. It was a rainy day and my girlfriend and I had just picked up breakfast about 2 miles from my house. We were driving to go eat it at a pier, when while taking a slight right turn on a winding road I hydroplaned and lost control of my car. Though we didn’t see it at first because of the turns and the rain, there was a pickup truck rounding the corner on the opposite side of the road and it crashed into the driver’s side of my car pinning me into the vehicle. I lost consciousness on impact. 

Rockport first responders moved quickly - I was trapped in the vehicle and firefighters used the jaws of life to extract me.  My condition was critical to the point that it was decided I needed to helicoptered by the MedEvac team to Boston, but the foggy conditions would not allow it.  Instead, I was rushed by EMTs to Beverly Hospital, where I sustained a seizure due to the head trauma and immediately put onto a ventilator.  As Beverly Hospital is not a head trauma center, I was then taken to Boston Children’s by a MedEvac van because it was still too foggy for them to take me via helicopter. My state was very fragile, and the doctors did not know if I was going to survive. 

The doctors and nurses at Boston Children’s ER were amazing to both myself and my family. I was given a plethora of tests including X Rays, ultrasounds, CAT scans and MRIs. I spent the next five 5 days in the ICU while a team of doctors assessed the extent of my injuries.  Thankfully, no surgeries were needed, but tests found multiple brain bleeds and showed that my brain was swollen and black and blue. Different from just a concussion, my brain injuries have given me short-term memory loss: I have no memory of the accident, and my family tells me that I ask them the same questions that I had asked a day or even hours before at the present time. My balance is off and walking is now something that I have to take very carefully and slowly. 

In addition to the brain injuries, I have two skull fractures, a fractured sternum and a strained ligament in my neck. I will be in a neck brace for at least four weeks.  The road to recovery will be slow and long with many follow up appointments and tests.

I am an honors student and about to earn my Eagle Scout badge. I founded a NFL flag football league at my school that I can no longer play in, and the college trips I was supposed to take this fall have now been cancelled since I am not yet able to travel by airplane. My life, as well as my family’s, has been turned completely upside down by this accident. But I am thankful every single day that I came out of it alive.

As many of you are probably already aware, healthcare is not cheap; especially for serious accidents. I am extremely thankful and humbled by all of the kindness my family and I have already been shown since this tragedy, and would be abundantly grateful if you could help us by donating any amount so that my parents do not have to face the financial burdens of my hospital bills in addition to the stress and anxiety they have been going through watching me fight for my life and now watching me re-learn basic tasks.  

Thank you so much for listening to my story, and please share with your family and friends. Drive safe and remember to always wear your seatbelts; if I hadn’t been wearing mine, I wouldn’t be here to share my story with you today.