Update (6/9/23): Thank you for helping us reach--and surpass!--the initial $300,000 fundraising goal! Lukas continues to make incredible progress at the Craig Hospital, and additional funds raised here will help cover accessibility retrofits and other related future expenses for him and AdriAnne. Thank you for your generous support!

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Supporting Lukas' Spinal Cord Rehabilitation Treatment - Background

Anyone who has met Lukas and Adri remembers them instantly, for life. Their energy, vitality, intelligence, kindness, and humor are uniquely infectious. As their friends, as their family, we have gone from laughter to tears to annoyance to delight so many times together. And in all those years we have known them–in their years of work in Bristol Bay, starting a writing career, and building loving and talented communities across this planet that we call home–they have been unfailingly generous.

But now they need our help.

Lukas was in a serious accident, and while much of Lukas’ brain and speech function are intact, he is paralyzed from the neck down. He was riding a snowmachine on a flat surface at a normal speed, wearing a helmet, when he lost his grip and fell off. If you've ever ridden on a snowmachine in fresh snow, you've almost certainly fallen off more than once, and walked away unharmed. In this instance, one of his vertebrae was broken, leaving him in critical condition.

The prognosis with spinal cord injuries is uncertain: Lukas may regain some mobility or he may not. Either way, it's impossible to overstate how much this has overturned Lukas and Adri’s lives.

Lukas was going to leave for Bristol Bay, their primary source of income, for another season of fishing in just a few weeks. Adri, who has multiple writing and book deadlines, which is their other source of income, is now in the hospital with Lukas 24/7 acting as a primary caregiver. Additionally, Lukas’ medical team has recommended extensive rehabilitation outside of his home state and insurance network, and insurance doesn’t cover nearly the rehab that he needs.

Despite this, Lukas and Adri remain unfailingly themselves–determined, brave, humor somehow intact, first thinking of the comfort of others and incredibly, still trying not to be a burden to their friends. They both have a beautiful zest for life, brilliance, warmth, and ability to conquer even the most complex of challenges that the universe throws at them.

This new challenge is as big as they come–it will require an unthinkable transformation in just about every aspect of their lives, as well as enduring support and love from their community near and far.

As Lukas and Adri continue on a long healing journey, there are many immediate and long-term needs and expenses (for example, meals, housing, transportation, various treatments, home renovations and retrofits for accessibility, self-care, and beyond). This will be a very long road.

Friends and family all around the world have asked how to help, and what they can do. In the spirit of that, we’ve created this fundraiser for an immediate need: move Lukas toward a rehab center and get this treatment underway.

No rehab center in Alaska has ever treated an injury of Lukas’ severity. However, there is an outstanding facility that specializes in spinal cord injury rehabilitation in Colorado, called the Craig Hospital (https://craighospital.org/). Doctors have emphasized that proper rehabilitation offers Lukas the best chance at the fullest recovery. Adri is working to move Lukas there, but the costs are astronomical:

This comes out to roughly $255,000. Add in other medical expenses, transportation, etc., and they’re easily looking at $300,000 for this stage of the healing process.

Let’s show Lukas and Adri just how much we are behind them, supporting them on this journey; that there is no step along the way where we are not there for them, and there is no moment they will be alone, either in thought, deed, or finances.

We invite you to contribute funds–large or small–to support Lukas and Adri in navigating the twists and turns of this journey. Every donation and note of love here will be a pinhole of light to send their way, and let them know they are loved.

Thank you in advance for your generosity.

Please share this GoFundMe with others in Lukas and Adri’s community, or beyond, who may be interested in making a contribution.

If you have questions about the fundraiser, please reach out to any of the following people:

Michael Miller +1 (907) 841 - 7368

Margaret Adsit +1 (907) 982 - 4387

Jenny Cooper +1 (510) 299 - 4678

Katy Newhouse +1 (503) 896 - 8680

Kenny Fahey +1 (202) 258 - 6420

Gintė Skersytė +34 649 74 09 00