Nick’s Road Toward Recovery….Cellini Strong

Nick’s Road toward Recovery

Nicholas is our 21-year-old son who is lying in the Trauma ICU! On July 24th, 2022, we received a nightmare call... Nick was involved in a horrific motorcycle accident due to a negligent driver.

We are truly grateful and blessed that he is still alive. This is a very challenging time for our family and Nick's friends. Our hearts are truly broken. He is such a good, kind human being. He is gifted with a sensitive soul who can easily make anyone feel better just by his presence and sense of humor. He is a gamer, a natural at sporting activities & he enjoys fishing. Nick also has a great group of lifetime friends who look out for each other. Nick "was" looking forward to having skin removal surgery by the end of this year since he had worked so hard and deserved this after such an accomplishment.

We are a very close-knit family who has suffered tremendously with the loss of Nick's older brother Chris, who died suddenly at 23 yrs of age two years ago. Nick also lost his Pop Pop Rick 9 months ago, who lived with him throughout his life. Family & love are so important... We have been trying to move forward...and now this tragedy:

Nick is currently in a trauma ICU on a ventilator to protect his airway while fighting for his life. Thankfully, the CT scan showed no brain damage since he always wore his helmet, but Nick has multiple life-changing injuries! Nick's left leg was injured and needed surgery, but his right leg suffered a severe injury called degloving, which is excruciatingly painful, debilitating & disfiguring. Nick's right leg will require many surgeries with a Plastic Surgeon Specialist to perform multiple skin grafts. He is now on his 7th surgery to remove the necrotic tissue. Recovery time will be extended (2+ years), and he will need follow-up physical therapy to regain the use of the leg, if possible.

Nick is now fighting sepsis. The surgeons informed us if they can not get this leg infection under control, Nick will have to have his leg amputated, but the Trauma Team is working hard not to let that happen!

He has also suffered orbital fractures, broken ribs, a collapsed lung, lacerations, glass-filled puncture wounds in his chest, multiple severe scrapes, has a chest tube, and he has received 12 units of blood & 6 units of plasma so far to date.

The most devastating news is regarding Nick's vertebrae fractures: spinal compression and heavy bruising injuries to the thoracic area of T-10 & T-11. Also, the protective coating around the spinal cord in that area was destroyed, causing spinal fluid to leak into his chest cavity.

Nick has undergone major spinal surgery resulting in a rod & screws placed to stabilize his spine. The Neurosurgeon stated this is a severe spinal cord injury, even though he had a slight wiggle in his toes and some leg movement. The trauma team is waiting for the swelling to go down around his spine for a better assessment. We pray that Nick has full function of his legs, knowing that this road will be extremely long, but he has youth on his side.

Please consider donating what you can to help Nick and his family. This journey will be a painfully long and unfathomable costly, both personally for him and physically.

The plan is to wean him off the ventilator, control the infection and then transfer him from the Trauma ICU to the Burn Treatment Center, where they are equipped to deal with severe wounds. Nick will then be transferred to a Specialty Spinal Rehab with the goal of returning back to his home (which will need handicap accessibility modifications) to live with his family again. Once there, he will need to continue outpatient rehab. Nick will not have any financial resources & will depend on his family.

We are afraid! We are devastated! We are broken-hearted! Our biggest wish is that our young son will eventually be able to live a happy and fulfilling life!

Thank you for reading Nicholas' story, and please keep him in your thoughts and prayers! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts,

Nick’s mom & dad, Dawn & Chris, his twin sister Alyssa, his younger brother Matthew,

Nick’s Aunts Jenny & Linda

And let us not forget Nick’s five-year-old nephew, Chris Jr & his Mommy, Amanda