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My Uncle Kevin was on his way to school when a woman made an illegal U-turn across a median and drove into his lane. He attempted to avoid her by switching lanes to the furthest lane where she cut him off yet again. He did all he was taught in motorcycle school which is required in the state of California where we"re from, but he ran out of real estate. He hit the driver side taillight with his body, knowing that he needed to save his head and the tank of his motorcycle hit the far side of the rear lift door of the Jeep Patriot. The force of the impact ripped his helmet from his head causing the most sever of his injuries. His injuries were:
1. Three broken ribs
2. Broken left foot
3. Broken right tibia and patelar plate (this injury specifically requires 3 surgeries in itself to reconstruct his knee and 1/3 of the tibia)
4. Most severe of all was the injury that occured from his helmet pulling his head in a different direction than his arm. This is known as flair arm, meaning the nerve roots have been torn from the spinal cord. The only chance he has to gain back some function in his arm is surgery. This surgery is only performed by a few experts in the United States. The surgery involves nerve transplants from both legs to his arms and moving other nerves in the area to also help regain feeling and function.
The urgency of this matter is the timeframe of 2-3 weeks for him to reach the best possible outcome for this surgery. His arm is currently 100% paralyzed with slim to none chances of regaining much function without said surgery. The surgeon's fee is $5,000. The Memorial Hermann Hospital (Houston, TX) fee is approximately $55,000.
My uncle was working in the oilfields in Midland, Texas and was laid off in February. He has no unemployment left. He decided to combine the skills he had learned to become a welding inspector at Ocean Corporation School in Houston, Texas. He was on VA Housing and a VA School Loan which stopped when the accident occured because he was no longer to attend school.
My uncle is a veteran who served for 5 years in The Coast Guard as a welder. Kevin is a great person. He is the life of the party to anyone who knows him and someone you can count on to turn your worst days into some of your favorite memories. In the picture of he and I, you can see a tattoo of his family crest on his inner arm, the same crest that I bear on the same arm. We are as close as family gets and always have each other's backs. Being a sophomore in college, I unfortunately do not have the financial means to help in the ways that I'd like to. I am his only family in Texas and make it a priority to visit him in Houston as often as possible when work and school permit me time to make a drive from San Antonio. I am creating this page in hopes that we can extinquish some of these costs for my uncle. He has a 5-10 year road to recovery and this is my way of showing him how many people are by his side. My family and I are forever grateful despite the outcome of this GoFundMe and I know my uncle is as well. It would be a great blessing to be able to releive some of the pressure off of my uncle so that he can focus on his recovery.
Thank you,
Austin Drugatz
1. Three broken ribs
2. Broken left foot
3. Broken right tibia and patelar plate (this injury specifically requires 3 surgeries in itself to reconstruct his knee and 1/3 of the tibia)
4. Most severe of all was the injury that occured from his helmet pulling his head in a different direction than his arm. This is known as flair arm, meaning the nerve roots have been torn from the spinal cord. The only chance he has to gain back some function in his arm is surgery. This surgery is only performed by a few experts in the United States. The surgery involves nerve transplants from both legs to his arms and moving other nerves in the area to also help regain feeling and function.
The urgency of this matter is the timeframe of 2-3 weeks for him to reach the best possible outcome for this surgery. His arm is currently 100% paralyzed with slim to none chances of regaining much function without said surgery. The surgeon's fee is $5,000. The Memorial Hermann Hospital (Houston, TX) fee is approximately $55,000.
My uncle was working in the oilfields in Midland, Texas and was laid off in February. He has no unemployment left. He decided to combine the skills he had learned to become a welding inspector at Ocean Corporation School in Houston, Texas. He was on VA Housing and a VA School Loan which stopped when the accident occured because he was no longer to attend school.
My uncle is a veteran who served for 5 years in The Coast Guard as a welder. Kevin is a great person. He is the life of the party to anyone who knows him and someone you can count on to turn your worst days into some of your favorite memories. In the picture of he and I, you can see a tattoo of his family crest on his inner arm, the same crest that I bear on the same arm. We are as close as family gets and always have each other's backs. Being a sophomore in college, I unfortunately do not have the financial means to help in the ways that I'd like to. I am his only family in Texas and make it a priority to visit him in Houston as often as possible when work and school permit me time to make a drive from San Antonio. I am creating this page in hopes that we can extinquish some of these costs for my uncle. He has a 5-10 year road to recovery and this is my way of showing him how many people are by his side. My family and I are forever grateful despite the outcome of this GoFundMe and I know my uncle is as well. It would be a great blessing to be able to releive some of the pressure off of my uncle so that he can focus on his recovery.
Thank you,
Austin Drugatz