On Sunday, February 2nd Sam Merritt and his brother David were involved in a plane crash outside Cañon City, Colorado and Sam and the pilot of the plane were airlifted to Penrose Hospital in Colorado Springs.
https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/1-dead-in-fremont-county-plane-crash-on-doc-property-shortly-after-takeoff
Sam sustained multiple injuries including brain bleeding/ swelling causing a TBI, laceration to the neck (literally a milimeter more and he would not be with us as his carotid was exposed), compression fractures in his spine, broken leg, staples in his head, neck, arm and leg, and horrible brusing throughout his body. The worst (and most lasting pain) is that Sam's brother David, did not survive the crash. We are all mourning the loss of a beautiful soul who was taken too soon and will be incredibly missed.
Sam is currently completing in-patient rehab for the next few weeks for occupational, speech, and physical therapy. He will be unable to to walk for the next three months while his leg heals and his doctors would like to keep any strain off his back to allow the fracture to heal and avoid an additional surgery. This puts a lot of financial stress on his family as he is a self employed electrician and will be unable to run his business until he’s cleared to be back on his feet. If you are able to contribute in any way to help the Merritt family during this time, it would be greatly appreciated.