Please help support Chris Richards after tragic accident

My name is Rocky Settles, and this fundraiser is for my cousin Chris Richards who was hit by a drunk driver while riding his motorcycle on Highway 13 in Springfield, MO on Wednesday, August 21, 2024. This money will go towards helping cover medical bills, lost wages for him and his wife, and other expenses that will certainly arise through a long, painful process. Please take a minute to read his story.

Chris was riding his bike on Wednesday from bolivar to Springfield on Highway 13 when a drunk driver ran a stop sign and stopped in the middle of the highway. Saw Chris on his motorcycle and tried to outrun him resulting in him, hitting her in the driver door at around 65 miles an hour with no time for any reaction. he was ejected from the bike 15 to 20 feet and landed in the middle of the highway. Miraculously a helicopter med VAC was right next to him and watch the whole thing happen and immediately him and his passenger went to action saving my cousins life on the side of the highway for 30 minutes until the ambulance arrived. If it had not been for these two men, I’m convinced he would have bled to death there. He had a huge laceration across his chin that was bleeding profusely that one of these men held together to keep him from bleeding to death while the other man Helped Chris from swallowing all of his teeth that he had knocked out on impact and kept him breathing because his lungs had also collapsed.

upon arriving at Mercy Hospital in Springfield an immediate scan revealed that he had internal bleeding from a ruptured artery in his intestines or bowels so they had to do emergency surgery and remove a portion of his bowel to stop the bleeding. Moments after that surgery, he had a plastic surgeon come in and sew his chin back together.

after what seemed like hours Waiting in the emergency room, the surgeon came out and spoke to the family and revealed that Chris had three skull fractures a brain bleed, three carotid artery tears in his neck a broken left shoulder, a shattered right wrist A broken neck, a broken back, and we later found out that he had several teeth and metal in his lungs and several teeth in his stomach as well.

so today is Saturday that I’m making this GoFundMe page and as of now Chris’s vital signs are good and his condition is stable But He still has not woke up yet, and that could be because of the sedatives and pain meds, but we are still unsure of Many things.

The driver of the other car did not have insurance has had multiple DWIs and so almost certainly will not shoulder any of the financial burden that is going to plague this family for years to come. So please consider donating anything you can. No matter the amount, everything helps.

Thank you for reading Chris’s story and we thank you all for the continuing prayers.