Medical Fund for Jack Angerhofer

JACKS STORY

Jack is a loving husband to Michelle, father of Izack and Nathan (who are currently attending the U of M), brother and uncle. He has many friends, from church, his business, neighbors, and too many more to count.

It was just before Christmas and Jack was loading a vacuum into a customer’s truck at his shop, Plaza TV and Appliance in West Saint Paul. The trunk collapsed on top of his head. Not once, but on two separate occasions. 

Jack being the tough guy he is dismissed these accidents as something that can happen to anyone.  The headaches persisted and he went into the doctor where they confirmed that it was indeed a concussion.  A very bad concussion--but something that would improve with time.

Unfortunately, the headaches got worse.  He called to see if he could get a prescription for the pain but they wanted to wait.  At the end of February, the family celebrated Izack’s birthday at his sister, Linda’s house.  She noticed that his eyes were bright red. Jack said that he had a terrific headache and he kept sitting down, where in the past he would be socializing and standing around the center island with family.

A week later, Michelle called 911 because Jacks symptoms were worsening. It was established that Jack did indeed need immediate medical attention and needed to go to the ER. Michelle asked if she could drive him as she had recently taken a temporary position with a new company and they did not yet have premium medical insurance.

The original plan was to drill two nickel size holes into each side of his head to drain and suck out the excess blood which was compressing his brain.  The doctors said this was consistent with him hitting his head in December. However, the surgery wound up being much more extensive. They had to cut on both sides of the head (about an 8” strip) along with the sides of the temple.  After surgery, he complained about pain and then went to sleep.  After that point, he could not open his eyes or respond normally and the doctors determined after taking an MRI that he had a stroke.  The only thing he could do was gently squeeze a hand and wiggle his toes. We knew he was still in there when he communicated to us through his feet but it was difficult to see the strong and independent Jack we know connected to a respirator, oxygen, feeding tube, etc.  He also incidentally developed pneumonia which set him back even more.  The doctor gave Michelle a grim outlook.  Jack was in ICU for ten days at Mercy Hospital. They did a tracheotomy (an incision in the windpipe to relieve obstruction to breathing) and incision in his stomach for a feeding tube on St Patrick’s Day. Early the next week his eyes were starting to open a little and he was trying to mouth words. Unfortunately, with the tracheal tube he could not yet speak but other things were starting to come back such as his movement and greater awareness of the people around him. We even showed him a video of his great niece, Brynn’s first birthday which brought a smile to his face and a wave of relief to all of us to see him smile once again.

Several days after his tracheal tube and stomach tube were in place, Jack was transported to Bethesda Hospital. He has been getting three types of therapy.  Physical, Occupational, and Speech therapy are given daily.  He was able point to a laminated card with the alphabet.  Jack could point to the card and spell out words for us as he could not talk yet.  A couple days later the doctors put a cap on his trachea and he could whisper.  The therapists have been astounded as to his progress with using the walker. Jack said he feels like his legs are spaghetti, but they mentioned for every day you are in bed, it will take three days to get back to normal. Jack has been in hospitals for over a month so it will take a little work to get back to normal.  On April 1st, the doctors gave permission for him to be wheeled outside and capture the beautiful spring day. Each day is an improvement and makes us all appreciative of the little things in life such as the ability to walk and talk.

We are thrilled Jack is making remarkable progress, however the medical and household bills are mounting. Any financial assistance/donations that you can give on behalf of Jack would be greatly appreciated.

With the continued prayers and support from loved ones we have faith Jack and his family can get through this.