Hey friends! I'm Averi, James' wife.

Most of you have probably heard by now that James and our sweet baby pup, Opal were in a serious motor vehicle accident on January 21st. My whole life was in that Jeep that day.

The story goes: James was heading to pick me up from work after visiting his mother in Corvallis when an oncoming vehicle swerved into his lane and collided with his Jeep at highway speeds. Despite wearing their seatbelts, the force was so great that Opal and James were both ejected from the vehicle.

James landed in the ditch and watched his Jeep bounce over him. Talk about close calls! Opal took off when she hit the ground and was found by a bystander hiding under a stopped car. James had severe facial lacerations and a degloving injury that needed immediate attention, so he was transported via ambulance to the hospital. Opal was cared for by police until they were able to get her to James' mom. Police didn't find Opal's injury, and James' mother is an elder and was unable to see it. Opal went two days before we could get her home and I noticed her injury. She also had a laceration that required medical attention.

James had a grand total of 37 stitches to reattach his nose and suffered a fracture to his nose and face. Originally, he was told he had a severe concussion, but now we know that he is dealing with a traumatic brain injury. His memory has taken a hit and we don't know yet how severely it's been affected. His short term memory is near non-existent. As a musician, memory and dexterity are extremely important to him. Our family has taken a major emotional and financial hit. We are down to just me being the breadwinner right now, and I don't make enough alone to support our family. I have also missed work to make sure James makes it to his medical appointments and has an advocate present with him. He requires a good deal of care and reminders right now.

Folks closest to us know how hard it is for either of us to ask for help, so making the decision to create a GoFundMe has not been an easy one. Any donations will go to paying our existing bills and covering James' out of pocket costs for medical care. We appreciate all the love and support we have received so far. I genuinely don't know what we would have done if it weren't for our amazing, generous community.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you. We love you.