Jessica’s Spinal Fusion Surgery

Hi I’m Jessica :) as hard as this is for me to type, I just really want to find a way to help my family cover my medical expenses. 

So here’s the story:

I went to Colorado with my amazing boyfriend, Nic, and his family. We went up there to start off the new year. The trip got cut short unfortunately when I got into the freakiest sledding accident you could think of. Nic’s mom ran to me and held me for 15 minutes while the ambulance came and when the paramedics arrived, they loaded me up and asked me all of the questions. I was terrified, as anyone would be, because I had no idea what was going on. The paramedics took me to the nearest hospital where I got x-rays and an MRI. The scans came back showing I had a ‘chance fracture’ in my T12 vertebra, which basically means it burst into a bunch of pieces. I consider myself amazingly lucky to be able to move today because if any of these pieces of bone had touched my spinal cord, I would be paralyzed. 

From there, I was airlifted to the nearest trauma center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where I received a spinal fusion surgery. The neurosurgeon, Dr. Schmidt (AMAZING MAN), and his team fused my T12 with my L1 and T11 vertebrae and used 6 screws. I woke up after the surgery feeling relieved, but not knowing what to expect next. While all of this was happening, my grandma and mom drove up from Austin through the night to be there that very next morning. To me, the next day is very fuzzy. I remember waking up with my mom next to me, confused and definitely drugged up. I remember multiple medical professionals coming in my room and checking on me. I remember calling my dad to let him know I was okay. But most of all, I remember my nurse, Michelle, coming in the room and asking me if I had to pee. I said I think so. She said, “okay get up and go” and pointed to the bathroom. I was so confused, I didn’t think she wanted me to get out of bed because I hadn’t in 36 hours, but she did. She helped me to stand up and I DID IT!!! I walked to the bathroom!!! I was so surprised I could, especially after hearing I had a 5% chance of walking again after my accident and I walked the DAY after my surgery. I am so proud of myself for that. Following that moment, I had visits from PT and OT nurses and was discharged a few hours later. 

Now, I am back home in Austin with my very awesome family who are here 24/7 to make sure I am okay. I want to return the favor and try to help in any way I can to offset the medical expenses of this accident. If anyone reading this knows me, you know how badly I want to help and how much my heart hurts that I can’t do more. Of course I wish it never happened, but I can’t turn back time. The only thing I can do now is stay positive (thanks Nic for hammering that motto into me every day) and work on getting back to where I was before. This has been the hardest week of my life, mentally, emotionally, and physically, but I am so thankful to even be moving after what happened - I try to remind myself of that as much as I can. 

Anything helps. I love my people to pieces and want to give back a fraction of what they have already done for me. Thank you.