Jeff’s Rehabilitation: Failure is not an option

On February 1, 2021 my dad Jeff Bertelsen had a severe and rare brain stem stroke. He had just returned a few days before, from a work trip in Utah. He is an engineer for Boeing and works with the space program at NASA. Unfortunately, when the stroke happened my mom was out of town; visiting me and he was alone. After three hours he was able to crawl to the phone and contact my brother Jason for help. Several neighbors came to be with him while they waited for the ambulance to arrive. He was taken to the hospital and underwent surgery to re-establish blood flow to his brain. When we arrived at the hospital we received the news that he also was experiencing something called locked-in-syndrome. He was functioning in his brain fine but, basically trapped inside his head. He has been fighting really hard over the last two months to overcome the odds. He has made major improvements. His medical team and family are positive and hopeful that he will continue to recover. He will be coming home next week and is in need of rehab and transportation equipment. Unfortunately, a lot of this is not covered by insurance and is extremely costly. We are trying to raise some money to help offset those costs. He is a fighter and always has been. He use to tell us the NASA phrase, “Failure is not an option.” As his family, we continue to push him and support him during his recovery and appreciate anything you can do to help us in our fight with him towards recovery. Thank you!!