Oliver Jewelry Traumatic Hand Injury
Donation protected
Hello Everyone,
My name is Oliver and some of you may know me or my work from the many art shows that I do across the country. For the once that don’t know me, I am a life loving jeweler that resides in Naples Florida - my work is organic, nature inspired and sculptural.
On May 3rd I was altering a wooden mandrel to work with a unique cuff of mine. Not all tools that one can buy do exactly what you need them to do, so changing existing tools or making some from scratch is a common practice for jewelers. Making changes to this mandrel changed my life. I decided to use a circular saw to make the changes that I needed and severely injured my right hand in that process.
I basically cut through flesh, mussels, joints, bones, tendons, and nerves and after spending 4 days in the hospital (Blake Medical Center) and undergoing a 4 hour surgery (Juan Socas MD) I am patched back together. I have to take a moment to thank the entire staff and specially the operating surgeon for their amazing work and for giving me hope.
Having injured a hand and specially your dominant hand is a frightening realization for a hand-crafter. I am currently unable to make any jewelry and have a 6 to 8 month recovery time ahead of me. That means 6 weeks of basic healing before starting the rehabilitation process. The doctors are wage when it comes to the question on how much functionality I will regain, but it seems that I was lucky to have one of the top hand surgeons operate on me to give me the best possible outcome.
In the mean time I have to face the facts and come to terms with what I have done. A big part of that reality is the cost not only for the hospitalization, surgery and rehabilitation but also for the loss of income due to cancelled shows and the inability to work.
Everybody that knows me, is aware that I am very independent and only ask for help if absolutely necessary. This is unfortunately one of these rare occasions that leaves me asking for help.
My main goal is to continue to do what I love and make a living of my unique jewelry. To be able to do that I have to somehow gap the financial time of when the accident happened to the time of having the ability to work again. The medical bills keep rolling in and are astronomical - fortunately is having health insurance among the few smart decisions in my life - but even the deductibles are depleting my savings. Once the doctor clears me from absolute rest to being able to put stress on my body, I will look for an alternative way to provide. I still have inventory and will attend shows as soon as I am able to travel again. So if you happen to see me, please take a look at my work and maybe you find something you can not live without... I am also selling a selection of my work at a significantly discounted price over my website https://oliverjewelry.com/help-oliver Please take a look at this selection of jewelry and hopefully you find something for yourself or for that special person in your life. Apply the Discount Code: HelpOliver to get $50 of each piece in this selection.
My name is Oliver and some of you may know me or my work from the many art shows that I do across the country. For the once that don’t know me, I am a life loving jeweler that resides in Naples Florida - my work is organic, nature inspired and sculptural.
On May 3rd I was altering a wooden mandrel to work with a unique cuff of mine. Not all tools that one can buy do exactly what you need them to do, so changing existing tools or making some from scratch is a common practice for jewelers. Making changes to this mandrel changed my life. I decided to use a circular saw to make the changes that I needed and severely injured my right hand in that process.
I basically cut through flesh, mussels, joints, bones, tendons, and nerves and after spending 4 days in the hospital (Blake Medical Center) and undergoing a 4 hour surgery (Juan Socas MD) I am patched back together. I have to take a moment to thank the entire staff and specially the operating surgeon for their amazing work and for giving me hope.
Having injured a hand and specially your dominant hand is a frightening realization for a hand-crafter. I am currently unable to make any jewelry and have a 6 to 8 month recovery time ahead of me. That means 6 weeks of basic healing before starting the rehabilitation process. The doctors are wage when it comes to the question on how much functionality I will regain, but it seems that I was lucky to have one of the top hand surgeons operate on me to give me the best possible outcome.
In the mean time I have to face the facts and come to terms with what I have done. A big part of that reality is the cost not only for the hospitalization, surgery and rehabilitation but also for the loss of income due to cancelled shows and the inability to work.
Everybody that knows me, is aware that I am very independent and only ask for help if absolutely necessary. This is unfortunately one of these rare occasions that leaves me asking for help.
My main goal is to continue to do what I love and make a living of my unique jewelry. To be able to do that I have to somehow gap the financial time of when the accident happened to the time of having the ability to work again. The medical bills keep rolling in and are astronomical - fortunately is having health insurance among the few smart decisions in my life - but even the deductibles are depleting my savings. Once the doctor clears me from absolute rest to being able to put stress on my body, I will look for an alternative way to provide. I still have inventory and will attend shows as soon as I am able to travel again. So if you happen to see me, please take a look at my work and maybe you find something you can not live without... I am also selling a selection of my work at a significantly discounted price over my website https://oliverjewelry.com/help-oliver Please take a look at this selection of jewelry and hopefully you find something for yourself or for that special person in your life. Apply the Discount Code: HelpOliver to get $50 of each piece in this selection.
Organizer
Oliver Hampel
Organizer
Naples, FL
