Dear family and friends,

       It's with a heavy heart that I am here to inform you about my brother Joel who was severely injured in a terrible motorcycle accident. As some of you may know, last Thursday as Joel was leaving work, he lost control and crashed into a solid brick pillar. He was immediately taken to the hospital and admitted into the ICU. He endured 5 broken ribs which caused his lung to collapse. He had to be put on a ventilator to breathe. The next major issue the doctors found was that he was suffering from the most severely shattered pelvis that the surgeon had ever seen. There was damage found to his kidney, bowel, and he had a laceration on his liver.       
        Well that was not the worst. Later that Thursday night, he had internal bleeding and was rushed to have emergency surgery to remove his spleen that nearly ruptured and a portion of his large intestine was removed as well. The next hurdle was surgery on his pelvis. He was given a total of 5 units of blood with both surgeries. We have also been informed that he has a few broken vertebrae, bone fragments in his shoulder (which will need surgery as well) and even though he is off of the ventilator, he is in severe pain.
     
       We are unaware of how long he will need to be in the trauma unit, but when he is stable enough he will be transferred to a rehabilitation center so he can learn to walk again. During this time in my brother's life he will be without any income and have no means to earn any wages. His rent is paid through November, however, with him needing months and months of recovery, there will be a need to help him with financial obligations and responsibilities. Joel is hurting at this time, and the last thing he would want is to ask for any help or handouts. We all know he can be stubborn and hard to love at times. He may think he is alone in all of this, but I pray that if anything good comes out of this awful tragedy, is that he knows just how many we all love and care about him!  I don't think that Joel has ever realized just how much his family and friends love him or the impact he has on us. He honestly has a major part in the way I turned out and I don't think I have ever really had the chance to say that to him. Our family thanks you for any support you can offer to my big brother Joel during this distressing time. 

      Thank you all for your help,
                               Kaitlynn