My name is James Howard. I am a musician and guitar teacher currently in the Salem Hospital in Salem, Oregon.

I fell off a ladder on Tuesday, July 9, and suffered compound fractures to my fibula and tibia, the lower leg bones, of my right leg. I was taken to the hospital in an ambulance. The doctors performed a type of Orthopedic surgery called external fixation (pictured) on Wednesday, July 10, to hold the bones in place while the swelling goes down.

Today is Monday, July 15 and the swelling has gone down enough for the 2nd surgery to commence, called internal fixation, which is the plates and screws part. The internal fixation surgery will be tomorrow, Tuesday, July 16.

I am told that it can take up to 3 months before I can fully stand and walk on my right leg and six months before I return to a sense of normalcy. It can take as much as a year to fully recover from this type of injury and treatment.

I am a gig economy teacher/artist and I do not have the resources to support myself through this unfortunate turn of events. I am seeking help through my community. My devotion in life is serving the world through music. Now I am asking the world to help me stave off financial disaster as I recover.

Please donate what you can. Any little bit will help.