Hello, this is my son Joel, he is 21 years old. He was in a motorcycle accident Wednesday night just after 11:40pm est in Clearwater Florida where he ran a red light and hit a police cruiser from the information I’ve been given by his father. Luckily (I’m trying to stay positive thinking this) because he hit a police cruiser, he had immediate help getting traffic stopped and get an ambulance to him or it could have been worse. His bike was split in two at the forks and he went straight up Into the air before slamming down onto the ground. My son is ALIVE, trying to maintain good spirits and crack jokes with his father and that is THEE most important part.

He is currently in the ICU where he is recovering from surgery to put his leg and hip bones back together with pins. His Injuries are extensive and include the following: both the tibia and fibula on his right leg (both lower leg bones) are broken and now pinned, his hip.. where the thigh bone connects and inserts into the the socket of his pelvis was broken from the impact of the bone being pushed into the pelvis. His right hand, thumb and radial (wrist) are also broken and now pieced back together. Upon removing the intubation placed for surgery, he started having bronchial spasms and had difficulty breathing and is now on oxygen and being kept in the TICU for evaluation until the staff feel he can be moved to a permanent room. He suffered ABSOLUTELY no head damage as he was wearing a full face helmet. He was wearing jeans, a t-shirt and sweater. He was NOT wearing his riding gear jacket over it. Dad arrived at the hospital early in the morning and his clothes had all been cut off of him to scrub his wounds overnight. He does have EXTENSIVE road rash on his body. I have not seen or spoken to him yet. I was notified after he’d already been sedated for the night Thursday at aboit 7:30pm pst. His father has warned me he is swollen and looks like a tele tubby.

At this time they are saying it will be a MINIMUM of a 6 week to 6 month recovery (stories conflict according to who I speak to) and that is just for his bones. It is unknown at the moment if he will need physical therapy. His accident occurred Wednesday night at about 11:30pm est and His dad woke to 3 missed calls, 2 from his friends and one from the hospital this morning when he woke for work. the hospital initially listed as a Doe. It took until about 7:30pm pst for his dad to finally have approval from Joel to call and notify me. He’s always worried to worry me.

I do not take asking for help lightly but, this is my mommas boy and I need to put my ego aside so I can go see him. You’d be helping with airfare from San Diego to Tampa, rental car, hotel stay and missed time from work since I do not yet have PTO. Yes, I’ve asked to be able to stay in my sons room at his fathers house to help cut expenses but that’s not possible at this time.

Luckily my son was not alone last night, two of his friends were able to stop at the red light since they were behind him and witnessed his accident. The friends immediately ran to him and were relieved to hear him ask for his phone. The friends stayed vigil with him at the scene of the crash and followed his ambulance to the hospital. One of his friends called me this evening at about 11:30pm and estimated that between Joel’s rate of speed and the oncoming vehicles rate of speed they collided at anywhere from 90-105mph.

His father arrived early and stayed by his side while Joel went Into and came out of surgery and did not leave his side until he was sedated for the evening. Joel made sure to ask his friends to call his priest, the leader of his youth group at USF to go see him and pray over him before his surgery. It breaks my heart to think of my son scared enough that he asked his friends to being him his priest.

At this point, we’re not even trying to think of the mess of medical bills we may be looking at. Some of you know he left to Army Bootcamp last fall as part of the National Guard while he completed ROTC in his hopes to learn the enlisted perspective before becoming an officer and hopefully follow his fathers footsteps to be a Green Beret. specifically, part of the 7th SFG(A) family. He was unable to complete Bootcamp and when he was removed from Active duty tricare the issue was not resolved to place him back under his fathers retired tricare as a full time student. It’s a bit of a gray area at this point if they will reinstate him retroactively since he was a student.

If you’ve ever met Joel, you know he has the biggest heart and is genuinely happy to see and greet you with the biggest shining smile. He has a beautiful playful energy, always tries to find the silver lining (even joking that at least he’s popular now since he made the local news), is a self professed mommas boy who loves God and his church youth group. He is a psychology major at the University of South Florida where his biggest desire is to be a therapist for adolescents dealing with depression and suicidal issues. It is a mission VERY deep in his soul.

Any funds donated that exceed my travel expenses will go to cover any medical, and/or school assistance he may need to pay back to the university, since at this point, I do not think he will be able to complete the school work to receive credit for the semester and will end up having to pay back any grants or student aid that was awarded to him.

Thank you for taking the time to read this far.

Claudia