Randy Ferguson: A Hero In Need

Randy Ferguson is a 62 year old, 40 year Dallas Police veteran who was grievously injured in a fall in his family’s home on November 20, 2016 just four days before Thanksgiving when he went up into the attic to retrieve the family’s Christmas tree. The attic floor was decked with 7/16 inch Oriented Strand Board which is a type of composite plywood. The floor gave way beneath Randy and he fell 10 feet and landed on the kitchen floor below and suffered catastrophic injuries, consisting of eight broken ribs, a punctured lung, head laceration requiring 29 staples and concussion, and worst of all, a broken spine at T11-12 resulting in permanent and complete paraplegia. Randy’s paraplegia is rated ASIA A complete. (The worst diagnosis on the ASIA scale).  He has no sensation or movement from about the naval down.  He has no bowel or bladder control. Randy had surgery at Baylor University Medical Center of Dallas one day after his accident and spent three weeks in Baylor Hospital, about 8 of those days were spent in ICU, as he suffered a massive infection the etiology of which was never identified but was felt to be a spinal fluid infection. During all the testing to determine the source of the infection, doctors discovered a cerebral spinal fluid leak on his brain. He was finally stabilized and able to be moved to Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation on December 10, 2016. Where he remains today – Day 66.  His target release date at this point is February 4.  It will be 76 days of hospitalization on that date.

During the first three weeks when Randy was hospitalized Randy’s wife didn’t leave the hospital. While she was at the hospital she was on leave from her job without pay. When he went to Baylor Rehab she was able to go back to work, but when he comes home from Rehab she will once again have to take leave without pay as Randy is not yet ready to be on his own as he cannot attend to the activities of daily living. He is unable to even sit on his own without moderate to max assistance. He cannot bathe, toilet or dress himself.  The goal of rehab is to get him strong enough so that he can eventually do these things for himself, but he isn’t there yet. He is very weak, he has lost over 30 lbs., and it is just going to take time.

The family has had to make a lot of modifications to their home. They have been truly blessed in that friends have helped by doing work on the bathroom to make it accessible (removing a wall and enlarging the shower and toilet area to make one large wet-room) and they applied to a foundation that came out and widened two inside doors in their home. However, one outside door will have to be widened at the family’s expense. There are insurance deductibles, co-pays and out-of-pocket max expenses for both 2016 and 2017 that total almost $17,000, as well as other modifications on their home that have to be made including pouring a concrete ramp in the garage as well as a ramp on the back patio and removing carpet and putting down vinyl flooring more friendly to Randy’s wheelchair. The family will also need to purchase a wheelchair accessible van that they can use to transport Randy and that Randy will eventually learn to drive using hand controls. Right now the family has to borrow a vehicle just to get him home from Rehab in February, as Randy’s personal vehicle is a 17 year old Toyota 4Runner.

Insurance also does not cover Randy’s daily bowel and bladder supplies (approximately $250 a month for self-cathing supplies and suppositories for his bowel evacuation program) or a rolling shower wheelchair (approximately $1700).