Medical bills and ongoing care

Here are updated details on Ethan’s condition.

Sunday, November 5, 2023: Ethan was grocery shopping with his mom and cousin at the Gilbertsville Giant. While returning the cart, he was run over by a moving SUV in the Gilbertsville Giant parking lot. After spending Saturday remembering the life of his Uncle Fran, who was tragically killed in a car accident the week before, this just seemed like an impossible nightmare.

There were a number of people who came to their aid, including a small group of men who lifted the car to get Ethan out from the car under which he was pinned. This group is now affectionately known as "Ethan's Angels."

He was airlifted to Lehigh Valley Hospital. His mom and dad (Karley and Ty) were with him as they faced uncertainty about his survival.

At this point, they realized that Ethan had a fractured skull, several facial fractures including a fractured eye socket, a broken clavicle, broken ribs, bruised lungs, both broken pelvises, a small brain bleed, a bleed in his stomach, and one behind his eye.

Because of the bleed in his stomach, the one behind his eye and his other extensive injuries, they decided to transfer him to CHOP.

Monday, November 6, 2023: They got the bleeding stopped at Lehigh, but Ethan was still airlifted to CHOP, where they were/are better prepared to care for his injuries and monitor him. He also has a split urethra, which required a catheter and will require multiple future surgeries. At this point, he was under an medically-induced coma and was intubated, but when they checked his reflexes, he responded to everything. His spinal cord was also determined to be okay. He was scheduled for surgery on Tuesday, November 7 for his broken pelvises. As of this morning, he was not stable enough to move for any scans and the prognosis was scary and uncertain.

Then on Monday night, they took Ethan off of some of his sedative medication and he started to wake up and flutter his eyes. While the responses were small, it was a miracle to see him open his eyes a bit.

Tuesday, November 7, 2023: Due to a doctor scheduling issue, his surgery was postponed until Sunday. CHOP continued to monitor his progress.

Wednesday, November 8, 2023: After doing an MRI, they determined that Ethan's neck and spine were good, so they were going to take the collar off and tube out. But after a closer look at the MRI, they determined his neck muscles were too swollen to take his collar off. They kept his collar on. He will be wearing the collar for at least another 4 weeks. He was also not ready to be extubated. It was a disappointing update.

The good news - he was able to squeeze the nurses fingers and wiggle his toes. He was also much more alert and responding to his parents with his hands or nodding yes or no. After days of uncertainty, this was a HUGE relief! He was also given a pain pump to control his pain, which was significant at this point.

Thursday, November 9, 2023: They determined Ethan was ready to be extubated. After having his tube out, he was talking quietly and even gave his mom the usual 10 year-old sassiness when he had to repeat himself after she couldn't hear him.

Ethan was agitated now and again (and if you know Ethan, he is NOT a kid to get agitated), but when he wasn't, he was talking A LOT. Every day, we were seeing more and more of our sweet boy.

Friday, November 10, 2023: Ethan was moved from ICU to the trauma center, which is a step up! He is talking and making daily progress. He was able to see his baby brother, Carter!

Saturday, November 11, 2023: Ethan was in excruciating pain due to his catheter being clogged. They weren’t able to unclog it, so they took him into emergency surgery to replace it. He went immediately from that surgery overnight Saturday into his pelvic surgery Sunday.

Sunday, November 12, 2023: Ethan woke up from his pelvic surgery with significant pain. They moved him back to ICU for pain management, but he was moved back to trauma once the pain was under control. Besides the pain, Ethan is doing well!

How Can I Help?!

Living in such a tight-knit community is so incredible! The support from our community has been overwhelming and amazing!

Here are some other options for helping:

****Send food vouchers to their hospital room: https://chop.catertrax.com/ (Please note: Ethan is in room Trauma Room 4418 and delivery phone number is [phone redacted])

****Drop donations, Wawa, Visa, gas gift cards, and get well cards atone if two drop-off location:

Kathy Moyer's Hair Affair

215 East 3rd St

Boyertown, PA 19512

Pivot Physical Therapy

173 Holly Road

Gilbertsville, PA 19525

(In Giant parking lot)