On Thursday night, June 22nd 2023, my 26 year old brother Jon-Michael and his girlfriend were involved in a horrific car accident in Duplin County. They were moving from Winterville, NC to Wilmington, NC, to their new apartment together. A quick decision was made to bring them to the Level 1 Trauma center at the hospital here in Greenville, NC, about an hour and a half away. When they arrived, Jon-Michael was miraculously conscious enough to inform the trauma team that his mother was a nurse and currently at the hospital for her shift, and even provide them with her phone number. My mother, Lisa, was called to the trauma bay and could never have imagined what awaited her there.

Jon-Michael suffered an extensive list of serious life threatening injuries, including but not limited to, broken left arm, open fracture of the finger, broken right hand, broken pelvis, broken lumbar, broken scapula, lung contusions, left eye injury, an epidural brain bleed, and a subdural brain bleed. He received emergency open brain surgery, and part of his skull had to be removed to relieve pressure and left with a flap. Jon-Michael will require another brain surgery in approximately 3 months time, as well as various other surgeries. His girlfriend, Jess, was released from the hospital and is doing okay. Their cat, Ireland, was also in the vehicle. The Duplin County Animal Shelter have been absolute angels and will be holding her until Wednesday free of charge. She is also, incredibly, uninjured.

It is nothing but a miracle that Jon-Michael is alive. As we currently play the dreaded game of "Hurry up and Wait", I am asking for your help. We don't know what is going to happen. He will have a long, hard road ahead of him. Medical bills will soon be mounting. My mother, Lisa, has been a critical care nurse for over 30 years and currently works on the Emergency Response Team at ECU Health. After retiring in 2022, she took a travel assignment in Alaska and then chose to return to her job on ERT a few months later, never one for idle hands. Due to this, the Paid Time Off she had accrued over decades started over as a blank slate. My mom will be Jon-Michael's primary caretaker during his recovery, not including his expected months long hospital stay, and I would like to ease her worry and stress by helping her financially as much as possible so that she may take as much time as she needs to adequately care for my brother. She has ALWAYS put her children first and taken care of others before herself. He cannot be alone right now, and our family is taking shifts sitting by his bedside and advocating for him. I am a 911 Dispatch Supervisor for Pitt County, and have been serving our citizens for 7 years. I have taken many calls just like this one, but never imagined I would be living it. I returned from maternity leave 2 months ago, and also do not have the PTO to be able to take time off. Please consider donating, but we are grateful for any help we can get in any form, not just monetary. And please, keep my brother in your prayers. I will post additional updates as they become available. Thank you.

Jordan Banks