Jacobs Brain Injury Recovery Fund

On July 7 2022 Jacob was in a tragic accident while visiting his Grandparents in Florida. This accident resulted in a life flight to Childrens Hospital in Tampa and he is currently in ICU with a traumatic brain injury. Jacob has been in a medically induced coma, paralytic meds, has had a vent placed and feeding tube since 7/7/22. Since the moment of the accident Jacob has had many people praying for his healing!

This August, Jacob would have been starting his Freshmen year playing football at Covington High! He is such a good kid with a great spirit and a smile that lights up the room. He is the kind of child that enjoys hanging with his Grandparents, hanging out in the pool with his Nonni, and fixing stuff with his Grampy.

Now it’s our time to help!

Update 7/11/22

Throughout the night Jacobs brain pressure spiked but was quickly corrected with medications. His blood pressure is also up and he is running a fever. They did a lung culture to see if he has pneumonia and those results will be back tomorrow.

Throughout the day Jacobs brain pressure has continued to spike with movement but has been coming down on its own without the medication.

They are hoping that Jacobs body can tolerate getting an MRI to asses any damage that has been caused to his brain and then they will know where to go from there.

Please continue to pray for Jacob!

Update 7/12/22

Jacob had a much better night and they were able to complete the MRI. Today was a good day. There should be results by tomorrow.

Update 7/14/22

Mri results are in and are not what we hoped for.

Jacob has damage to one area of his brain.

The Dr.s are hoping to wean him off all his medications over the next couple days and start to wake him up.

Update 7/15/22

Jacob is doing ok. He is still trying to wake up. The Dr.s are hoping to exubate him Sunday and they will have a better idea of a game plan for rehab and how long.

Update 7/19/22

Physical and occupational therapy got Jacob up and in a wheelchair today. He is breathing better, looks better and seems to be trying to followwith his eyes. Jacob was able to be up in the chair for 15 minutes today!!!

Update 7/21/22

Jacob is up in the chair again today for 2 hours!! Although he is still very weak from being in the paralytic state he was in for 2 weeks He is able to sit better today than yesterday and is off his medicines. He’s awake but still not verbally responding. He does try to focus at times but his pupils are 7mm and blank stares most times. 

Please continue to pray for Jacob! He is making such huge stride but still has a long road ahead. 

Update 7/27/22

Things have been quiet the past couple of days. Jacob was transferred to a regular room a couple days ago and was off the CPap. Last night was not a good night. Jacobs O2 stats kept dropping  in the 50’s. They took him for a cat scan and the results were not what we had hoped for. He will have an MRI tomorrow and we will meet with the Nuero team to discuss their finding and review his treatment plan according to those results. Once I get the results I will make an immediate update. 

Please continue to pray for Jacob! We’re praying this is a minor set back and that God has a better plan for his recovery. 

Update 7/29/22

Jacob has had consistent days and nights. After the MRI results the neurosurgeon  agrees the next step would be to get Jacob approved for stem cell therapy. The goal is to get Jacob transported from Florida to Childrens Hospital in New Orleans, where they will hopefully be able to start stem cell treatment.

Thank you again for all the prayers and donations! Without the help of all who have donated so far this would not be an option for Jacob! 

Update 8/5/22

Jacob is going to be transferred to Childrens Hospital in New Orleans (which is about an hour from his home in Covington) early next week where he will start the next phase in his healing process. The main focus as of now is to continue to work closely with rehab with the goal of getting Jacob to respond to us, the Doctors say this will take some time!!! 

 Jacob will also be receiving stem cell therapy once he is transferred to Childrens Hospital in New Orleans. Jacob has shown amazing strength over the past month with the help of all of your prayers. Jacobs parents, Justin and Debbie, along with his brother Jordin are so grateful for all of the prayers, love and support of his family, friends, and strangers that have rallied together in prayer and donations for his recovery. Jacob is so blessed and God is working miracles and answering all of our prayers!!!

Update 8/10/22

No real change to update for Jacobs recovery other than he is headed to New Orleans Childrens Hospital today! Prayers that he can get some extra care here as far as therapies and things will start waking up in Jacobs brain. 

As of now we don’t know what the road to recovery will entail. Jacob is going to have many obstacles he will have to overcome. The prayer is that Jacob will make a full recovery. This fund will assist with medical bills and future rehabilitative support. Jacob's dad Justin, his mom Debbie, and brother Jordin are so grateful for all of your continued love, prayers and support! Jacob is a FIGHTER!!!

Update 9/22/22

Sorry that is been over a month since an update! Jacob is doing really good with therapy. He was scheduled to go home last week however God has a plan! Jacob is doing really well with therapy so the team decided to keep him and continue therapy daily. Jacob and his family still need all the prayers and support We can send his way. 

Update 10/22/22

Due entirely to your generosity, we accomplished the first of our goals for Jacob's recovery! He had his stem cell treatment with Dr. Young in Florida on October 21. It was a long trip. We rented a camper van and drove 22 hours roundtrip in about 26 hours. Jacob handled everything like a champ. Everything went beautifully and we pray to see results soon. We already see his hands relaxing. It gives us such hope. Jacob will begin additional therapeutics recommended by Dr. Young this week. Also, Hyperbaric Oxygen therapy will start soon. That is also complicated and transportation intense. A 90 minute drive each way, every day. The logistics of travel with a child in this condition are nearly impossible. We are quickly learning that dependable transportation for the disabled is not as available or reliable as we thought. Jacob's discharge from the hospital was canceled late the evening he was to go home because his transportation never showed up. Jacob's outpatient therapy has not begun due to lack of transportation. His ride was canceled the day he was to begin, causing a big reschedule for later in the month. Today was the day. Transport canceled again today. It's awful. Jacob can't ride in a regular vehicle. It must be a wheelchair vehicle for both safety and practicality. We are looking into purchasing a used wheelchair-accessible vehicle so that transporting Jacob can be moved efficiently and safely with as little lifting and juggling Jacob around as possible. This will allow us to get him to everything including Hyperbaric, therapy, dentists and haircuts. We want to get him into everything we can find to give him his best chance. Our experience has shown us that we need to do these things independently, including transportation. Specialized treatments, equipment and therapeutics, were all out of reach without you. Debbi remains at home caring for Jacob. In home nursing or therapy is simply not available. Staffing shortage. In addition to his planned therapies, we now know that we need a wheelchair van. Everything we have in the works, or have already done, has depleted the existing funds in Jacob's GoFundMe. The costs are astronomical far greater than projected. These innovative therapies are not covered by insurance. Many of you have asked about the goal on his GoFundMe and asked if further contributions were possible. With that in mind, and our growing awareness of his needs, we are raising the goal on his GoFundMe to help us to get the needed wheelchair van and/or any other treatments that are recommended. We don't know what is on the horizon, but Jacob needs every available remedy for his healing! If we can't get the van, we will get more therapy. We hesitate to ask this because you have all given so much. It is appreciated from the bottom of our hearts. YOU have made all of this possible. Jacob and the whole family are eternally grateful for all of you. Your prayers, love and support are holding us together.