Helping Michael
Donation protected
On October 11, 2020, Michael was in a car accident. The car hit 2 trees and he was ejected from the vehicle. At some point after, another car came upon the scene and hit Michael's car. She is ok, thank God, but she found Michael in a ditch. He was rushed to Beaufort, who then air-lifted him to Pitt. He had some bleeding behind his eye, so they immediately did a procedure to save his vision in that eye. He is still having some issues with that vision today. Once they got him to Pitt and stabilized him, he went into surgery, as his bone came thru the skin, at his ankle on the right side and at his elbow on the left. The elbow also had another fracture, which they found during surgery. On top of the eye and broken bones, he had/has a brain bleed, a subdural hematoma, multiple skull fractures, a bruised lung, a gash on his left knee that required 14 stapels, a broken nose, both black eyes, and facial fractures. He has had 3 blood transfusions already. His sodium levels were really low so he was on seizure medicine as well. He stayed in the hospital for 10 days the 1st time. He checked himself out of the hospital on the 10th day. Against Medical Advice. Honestly, Michael was in denial. On top of the brain injuries. He wanted things to be normal again and he couldn't face the difficult road he had ahead of him, so with his brain healing, he couldn't process everything.
Last Friday, he started running a slight fever. His white blood cell count was a little high before he checked out so we knew his body was fighting against something. Saturday, his fever was gone and then Sunday, it came back again. We had sent pictures to his nurse and talked to the doctors and they said the pictures looked normal and if he felt ok, he could wait until his doctor appointment on Monday. So Monday, he goes into the doctor for a follow up. The doctors readmitted him that night, due to his leg being infected. He didn't have a fever at the doctors or when I took him back to be admitted. They immediately did surgery first thing Tuesday morning 10/27 to open his leg wound back up and clean it out. We found out after his surgery that the infection is in his bone, and he will have to be on IV treatment for 6 weeks, for heavy antibiotics. He will have another surgery on Friday, hopefully to close that wound up, but if not, he will have surgery on Sunday or Monday as well. The doctors have informed us that he has a 60% chance of losing his leg.
Today 10/29, we found out he has MRSA. Which isn't good. None of this is good. But MRSA is nothing to play around with. If it enters his bloodstream, he will lose his leg and its life threatening. He has already made the decision to amputate his leg IF IT gets any worse. He does NOT want to take the chance of it getting into his bloodstream. The long, bumpy, rough road he ahead of him was just thrown a lot of detours and pot holes. We are in for a long difficult journey. BUT, I know God has Michael in his hands and will continue to guide him thru all this life changing injuries. I had taken pictures of his injuries that 1st night, so if he asked later on, he could see. After looking thru them later that night, in a picture of his road rash on his head, there was either a scratch or dried up blood, but it was a cross. A CROSS ✝ ON TOP OF HIS HEAD!!! If we had any doubts that God would get us thru, it ended that night after seeing that picture. (I attached the picture and its hard to see so I adjusted it a little. It's not perfect, but it's there and really....what is perfect but HIM)I mean, how does one did ejected out of a car and has NO SPINAL injuries??!! GOD!!! His injuries are super serious and could be life threatening now, but we still stop and remember that it could have been worse. He is HERE!! And we thank God for that everyday!!
I think reality hit him this week and he realizes he CAN NOT rush his recovery or risk leaving the hospital again AMA. Michael is tough, and as hard as it is and will be for him to admit this, he WILL need help. Mom and me will need help. Emotionally, physically, spiritually, and unfortunately financially. Which brings me to here.
I had started a fundraiser a couple days after the accident and I can't begin to explain how thankful we are for everyone that donated. As I had mentioned before, Michael accidentally (or not) deleted me off Facebook one bad night. That's where the brain injuries made their presence known. They say his behavior and emotions were somewhat normal with a TBI. Anyways, deleting me automatically deleted the fundraiser as his name was the beneficiary. I didn't read all the small print so I didn't even know that was possible. He had no idea why he reacted that way (TBI) and immediately added me back that morning, but had no idea he had deleted the fundraiser until I told him. I have reached out to Facebook in hopes of reactivating it, as I don't even know everyone that donated. I haven't heard anything. Half of the money that wasn't paid out to us or in the process of being paid out was refunded to the donors. And since I can't see anything from that page, I don't know who actually was refunded and who wasn't. Right now, Michael's normal bills are coming thru, not even counting his gigantic medical bills, now with a lot more to come. The donated money was used for a couple nights at the hotel, food, gas, medical equipment he needed at home, clothes to fit over the 2 casts, and so much more. But as we all know, money goes FAST!! Mom and I are using every penny we have to travel back and forth from Washington to Greenville. Michael was in moms car and his car broke down on us last week so we had to fix that. And my little Honda can't hold a battery charge. we were broke before all this, and now we are all drowning.
So, we come to you all again, not liking this at all but facing a reality and a life change that we need help for. If you CAN, anything will help us. But PLEASE don't put yourself in a bind. We greatly appreciate literally every single one of you and everything you all have done for us so far. MOST OF ALL, we ask you to pray!! Pray for Michael and his healing. Pray for the doctors and nurses that are doing surgeries and taking care of him. Pray for my sweet little mama. Pray for me to continue being strong for my family. Pray for my Kaden, as he loves his Uncle Mikey and is scared, even though he's trying to be brave. Pray for us all. We need them, and feel them! We know we couldn't have made it this far without you all!! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Last Friday, he started running a slight fever. His white blood cell count was a little high before he checked out so we knew his body was fighting against something. Saturday, his fever was gone and then Sunday, it came back again. We had sent pictures to his nurse and talked to the doctors and they said the pictures looked normal and if he felt ok, he could wait until his doctor appointment on Monday. So Monday, he goes into the doctor for a follow up. The doctors readmitted him that night, due to his leg being infected. He didn't have a fever at the doctors or when I took him back to be admitted. They immediately did surgery first thing Tuesday morning 10/27 to open his leg wound back up and clean it out. We found out after his surgery that the infection is in his bone, and he will have to be on IV treatment for 6 weeks, for heavy antibiotics. He will have another surgery on Friday, hopefully to close that wound up, but if not, he will have surgery on Sunday or Monday as well. The doctors have informed us that he has a 60% chance of losing his leg.
Today 10/29, we found out he has MRSA. Which isn't good. None of this is good. But MRSA is nothing to play around with. If it enters his bloodstream, he will lose his leg and its life threatening. He has already made the decision to amputate his leg IF IT gets any worse. He does NOT want to take the chance of it getting into his bloodstream. The long, bumpy, rough road he ahead of him was just thrown a lot of detours and pot holes. We are in for a long difficult journey. BUT, I know God has Michael in his hands and will continue to guide him thru all this life changing injuries. I had taken pictures of his injuries that 1st night, so if he asked later on, he could see. After looking thru them later that night, in a picture of his road rash on his head, there was either a scratch or dried up blood, but it was a cross. A CROSS ✝ ON TOP OF HIS HEAD!!! If we had any doubts that God would get us thru, it ended that night after seeing that picture. (I attached the picture and its hard to see so I adjusted it a little. It's not perfect, but it's there and really....what is perfect but HIM)I mean, how does one did ejected out of a car and has NO SPINAL injuries??!! GOD!!! His injuries are super serious and could be life threatening now, but we still stop and remember that it could have been worse. He is HERE!! And we thank God for that everyday!!
I think reality hit him this week and he realizes he CAN NOT rush his recovery or risk leaving the hospital again AMA. Michael is tough, and as hard as it is and will be for him to admit this, he WILL need help. Mom and me will need help. Emotionally, physically, spiritually, and unfortunately financially. Which brings me to here.
I had started a fundraiser a couple days after the accident and I can't begin to explain how thankful we are for everyone that donated. As I had mentioned before, Michael accidentally (or not) deleted me off Facebook one bad night. That's where the brain injuries made their presence known. They say his behavior and emotions were somewhat normal with a TBI. Anyways, deleting me automatically deleted the fundraiser as his name was the beneficiary. I didn't read all the small print so I didn't even know that was possible. He had no idea why he reacted that way (TBI) and immediately added me back that morning, but had no idea he had deleted the fundraiser until I told him. I have reached out to Facebook in hopes of reactivating it, as I don't even know everyone that donated. I haven't heard anything. Half of the money that wasn't paid out to us or in the process of being paid out was refunded to the donors. And since I can't see anything from that page, I don't know who actually was refunded and who wasn't. Right now, Michael's normal bills are coming thru, not even counting his gigantic medical bills, now with a lot more to come. The donated money was used for a couple nights at the hotel, food, gas, medical equipment he needed at home, clothes to fit over the 2 casts, and so much more. But as we all know, money goes FAST!! Mom and I are using every penny we have to travel back and forth from Washington to Greenville. Michael was in moms car and his car broke down on us last week so we had to fix that. And my little Honda can't hold a battery charge. we were broke before all this, and now we are all drowning.
So, we come to you all again, not liking this at all but facing a reality and a life change that we need help for. If you CAN, anything will help us. But PLEASE don't put yourself in a bind. We greatly appreciate literally every single one of you and everything you all have done for us so far. MOST OF ALL, we ask you to pray!! Pray for Michael and his healing. Pray for the doctors and nurses that are doing surgeries and taking care of him. Pray for my sweet little mama. Pray for me to continue being strong for my family. Pray for my Kaden, as he loves his Uncle Mikey and is scared, even though he's trying to be brave. Pray for us all. We need them, and feel them! We know we couldn't have made it this far without you all!! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Organizer
Katie Pickens
Organizer
Washington, NC
