Please Help Lee with Medical Expenses

On Saturday, August 28th around 7:10 pm, our dear uncle, brother, and friend, Lee Mattern, was in a motorcycle accident.

What was supposed to be a nice evening cruise with his buddies turned into a tragic accident in the blink of an eye. Lee veered too close to the side of the road, hit the pea gravel, and lost control of his motorcycle. He was mercy flown to Benefis of Great Falls. As soon as he arrived, he was taken in for CT scans and put on multiple monitors to check all of his levels. Lee had a very low heart rate and high blood pressure, he was conscious and verbal but motionless. The doctors found multiple fractures from the CT scans, some of which include: C7 fracture with spinal cord compression, C3 transverse process fracture, spinal shock, right upper lung contusion, small bone fragments in spinal canal, 1-6 ribs fractured on right side and right clavicle fracture.

The neurosurgeon decided at this time he would put a halo on Lee to stretch his neck out, which is basically a metal frame that uses weights to pull his head from his body preparing him for surgery to straighten his neck out.

The next morning (August 29th) Lee went in for his neck surgery and they removed the broken vertebrae and did vertebrae grafts to straighten his neck. Surgery went well and Lee was able to get through recovery and greet us again after we impatiently awaited his return. He seemed sore and uncomfortable - as expected -  but still going strong and doing great! He was alert, talking and still pushing himself to move around. After awhile, he started trying to cough, kept saying his neck brace was too tight and that he couldn’t breathe. He had quite a bit of phlegm in his lungs but couldn’t cough enough to get it out. After a few moments of trying to cough, his oxygen levels dropped and he really started to struggle. His nurses sedated him, put cameras down his throat and started to suction the phlegm out. Since they had to sedate him and with him struggling to breathe, they put a tube down his throat and put him on full oxygen to breathe. He will have the tube for 2-3 days and see how he does after that. Now we wait. Lee is getting some much needed rest as his body is going through so much!

For those of you who know Lee, you know he doesn’t stop moving and is a very hardworking man!

Despite how sore and tired he is, Lee keeps trying to move around and is challenging himself every chance he gets. Right now he is able to move his left arm around but not much else. Unfortunately with where he is at right now, we are not sure that he will get movement back in his legs. Basically from the chest down he is paralyzed.

(Praying for a miracle!!) We are very proud of his strength and will power to get through this!

However, we do not know what the future holds, we just know that while our family gets through each day with him, our lives still go on as does everyone's. Lee's bills don’t stop and things are piling up quick. We are asking for help with Lee’s medical bills so that once he finally breaks out of here, he won’t be stuck with a huge debt as he tries to figure out his new way of living. We appreciate all of the love and support Lee and our family has received and continues to receive.

Please keep Lee in your thoughts and prayers! We will update this page as we move forward! We thank you!

-The Mattern Family