Stories of Hope

Travis Crow

I rolled my vehicle on the way home and had a left scapular fracture and a left open ankle dislocation…

Paul Wickham

I had a motor cycle accident. My left leg was crushed right above the ankle. The fibula was broke, the tibia was crushed just above the ankle as well as a fracture through the ankle joint…

My accident was caused from a lawn mower. I slipped and my left foot went under the mower as the blade was slowing down when I let go of the cut off lever on the mower and it cut my left foot just below my left big toe and crushed the big toe bone and nerves completely and had to have emergency surgery to clean it out and 5 more surgeries after that…

Matt Morrell

I was in a motorcycle accident that happened less than a mile from KU Med center. When they took me to the hospital I assumed and was ready for my first broken bone and wear a cast for 6-8 weeks but that was not the case. My leg was crushed between the car and my motorcycle, fractured my left tibia at the joint and mid-shin and my leg went without blood for 4 hours and the decision to amputate me leg was thrown around several times…

Mark Uhlrig

I sustained multiple traumatic injuries: Broken Right Wrist, Broken Right Ribs, Broken Right, Shoulder Blade, Ripped Diaphragm, Collapsed Right Lung, Left Lower Leg was degloved and sustained multiple fractures from ankle to knee ultimately resulting in amputation below the knee…

Lori Pheigaru

I hydroplaned on Hwy 59 between Ottawa and Lawrence KS which resulted in a severe head-on car crash. I had to be cut out of my Nissan Sentra. Thankfully, there were no fatalities. I broke both my left and right femur bones, and my left forearm. I now have a metal rod and multiple pins in my right knee/leg; two metal plates and over 18 pins in my left knee/leg as well as metal plates and pins in my left arm…

Kieth Folck

I fractured cervical spine (C5,C6 & C7) and multiple fractures throughout the spinal vertebrae with an injured spinal cord… Multiple pelvic fractures requiring a pelvic ring… Crushed tibia just below the knee requiring a fixator, surgery, and a cast… Broken wrist… Right middle PIP repair (received a prosthetic joint)… Damaged throat resulting in surgical placement of a feeding tube… Currently, an incomplete quadriplegic.

Jacob Fischer

I sustained a head trauma to the two frontal lobes, also a shattered left heel, broken left femur that sustained a bone eating infection that luckily a orthopedic surgeon from KU Med Dr. Archie Heddings defeated, collapsed lung, and to finish it a case of nerve damage on the right leg known as drop foot which who knows if I’ll ever heal it and regain the use of the right leg from knee down…

Hallie Dudley

I sustained a left femur fracture, a tib/fib fracture, strain of the rotator cuff muscles, right eye contusion, concussion and severe nerve damage in both of my feet from my accident…

Erin

I sustained a Type 6 Bicondylar Tibial Plateau Fracture of my left leg…

Donna Baker

Multiple fractures: left pelvis (4), left distal radius(multiple FX, which required surgical repair), right ankle (avulsion); achilles tendon damage; sprains to right calf and ankle, right knee bruising and swelling…

David Spangler

Both legs were shattered above the knee. My left leg was amputated above the knee. Following multiple cleansings, I received surgery to place a metal plate in my right leg. Mere bone fragments remained at the time of surgery. Fist-sized, concave wounds to flesh and muscle on both inside thighs required skin grafts, followed by several months of daily dressing and healing. Today, my left stump is healed and functional. This is very important to facilitate walking with a prosthetic left leg. My right leg has grown a strong, solid femur, complemented by the metal plate. The wounds are healed as well…