Team Jacob

When you wake up in the morning, you never know that it will be the day to change the rest of your life.  Saturday, April 21st, Jacob was in Missoula, MT for the Montana Rugby Union championship. As the President of the Osprey men's rugby club of Coeur D'Alene, Jacob felt prepared and excited for the games to begin. The day began with the Osprey matched against the Spokane men's club. The game started at 11:00.  At 11:15, Jacob was tackled to the ground during play. What followed was a horrifying image of his leg bent in unnatural ways and screams of pain. It was unclear what the initial injury was-- some friends thought he had just dislocated his knee. 911 arrived moments later and took Jacob to St. Patrick's hospital.  While in the ambulance Jacob lost all feeling and control of his lower left leg. Also, the EMTs were not able to find a pulse below his knee. St. Patrick's organized quickly and decided surgery was necessary to either repair damage to blood vessels that were ruptured, or remove the lower leg if it was unsalvageable.  Jacob went into the operating room at 1:00 PM and stayed there until 5:00 PM. Post-operation Jacob was ghostly white and lethargic. He needed to rest while the surgeon came to talk with family. Our surgeon began by telling us that it was pure luck that he was in Missoula on this day. Otherwise jacob would have been life flighted to Sacred Heart in Spokane. Jacob had suffered a severe and very uncommon injury. Upon impact, his knee hyperextended and was pushed laterally. The amount of force applied shredded his popliteal artery, lateral collateral ligament, posterior cruiate ligament, and lateral meniscus. With his popliteal artery severed Jacob was essentially bleeding out into his leg-- he lost three units of blood from the injury and surgery. The immense amount of pressure from blood pooling and muscle tissue swelling caused what is called compartment syndrome. The surgeon told us he repaired Jacob's popliteal artery and restored blood flow to the lower leg. He also left two large open wounds on Jacob's leg to allow the muscle to swell without constriction. These wounds will be closed at a later date. Although an orthopedic surgeon was present, they chose to forgo repairing the ligaments at this time and will try at a later date.  So what does all this mean for Jacob?  As of right now Jacob is at Sacred Heart in Spokane with the most talented vascular team in the region. He is on bed rest with his leg completely immobilized. On his wounds he has two wound vacuums to stimulate the tissue and remove drainage. He has still not recovered the ability to feel or move his lower leg. Our plan is to hopefully close his leg wounds with another surgery as soon as they are ready, which could be days, could be weeks. Through that process they will monitor his ability to sense and control his leg. They will also be monitoring if the muscle tissue in his leg is surviving-- although slim, it is a possibility that Jacob's leg will still be removed due to tissue death. If all goes well, Jacob will have his ligaments repaired in a few months time. From there he will need an extensive amount of physical therapy to even be able to walk again. There are many answers we don't have right now because we have to be patient with the healing process. Sometimes this is the hardest part.  For the duration of Jacob's hospitalization, which could be months, I will be the only one of the household able to work. With an almost year old child, rent, insurance, and bills on top of bills to be coming from all this, I am very scared of our financial future.  I try to keep the hospital bills at the back of my mind. We will cross that bridge when we get there. For right now, this Go Fund Me is to help us out during Jacob's hospitalization. Without a second income, covering our basic needs and expenses with my income will be a huge stretch.  Any contribution is appreciated.  In addition to a contribution I want to ask anyone and everyone who reads this-- please reach out to Jacob. His life is forever changed by this and he needs positivity. Come visit him, text, call, tag, write a card or send a care box. He is going to be in recovery for a long time and many days are going to be very hard. I want to be able to give him as many good days as possible!  With love and appreciation,  Lauren and Harper