Justen Yerger - Amputation Fund

Nearly 18 years ago, Justen Yerger was in a terrible hunting accident. After coming close to death numerous times because of the bullet hitting an artery in his leg, he eventually pulled through. Throughout the first couple of years, Justen underwent many surgeries to save his life and left leg. All was well and he went on to marry his wife, Stacie Yerger, 10 years ago and they have 2 children. Justen lived in pain daily and began to battle infections stemming from his left leg a couple of years ago. In January on 2014, it was discovered that the original femorial graft done when he first was injured had failed and the blood flow to the leg was minimal. Without surgery, he would lose the leg piece by piece. In June, his vascular surgeon attempted to put a stent in the leg, but there was no vessel to stent. Amazingly, his body created collateral veins to bring blood to the foot, but it just wasn't sufficient. He and his wife decided to have a fempop done in June of 2014. The surgery was done to ensure appropriate blood flow and that if the time would ever come, he could have a below knee amputation. The surgery went well and he seemed to recover appropriately, but his leg stayed swollen. He went back to work for 2 weeks and his incision popped open. He was placed in ICU for a couple of days and tested positive for an infection. He was not able to work for a few weeks. In September, Justen went back to work battling the severe edema, which was effecting his daily life. On October 19, 2014 Justen's left leg was so large and painful he decide to go to the ER. They treated him in the hospital for 2 days for lymphodema and sent him to outpatient therapy because his blood work was OK and he didn't have obvious signs of an infection. The next Sunday, he was back in the hospital and the situation was much worse. They admitted him with cellulitis and on Tuesday morning he became septic and was placed in ICU for nearly a week, laying on his death bed once again. At this point they thought amputation was imminent. Through the hard work and dedication of the doctors and the prayers of friends, family, and strangers, he was able to leave the hospital on November 6, 2014. At this point, he and his wife knew it was time to make a decision about his left leg. How many times could he pull through an infection? Well, in January of 2015, they met with a doctor in Houston about amputation and then in February they met with the surgeon who ran a battery of tests to determine where the correct place would be to amputate. The call finally came and Justen had a left below the knee (BKA) done on March 9, 2015 in Houston. Today he is two and a half weeks out of surgery and he goes back next week for another check up. Please pray for the possible infection to be cleared and stitches to be removed. Although the family has health insurance because his wife is an elementary school teacher, Justen has not worked much due to his illness since June of 2014 and has been completely out of work since November of 2014. This fund is to help offset the cost of Justen's new prostetic or as he calls it, "running gear", their travel expenses to and from Houston, and to help support this amazing family during this very difficult time.