Our family needs your prayers…

Last Wednesday night,??Jim’s 20 year old cousin, Alex, was snowboarding in Pennsylvania and broke his neck.?? He has bust fractures of the C5, C6, and part of??the C7 vertebrae.?? He is currently in a Pittsburgh??University hospital and is paralyzed basically from the chest down.????He had surgery on Thursday and they removed part of one of the vertebrae’s through the front of his neck and did a bone graft from his hip.?? After this surgery, he was able to lift his arms using his biceps but he still doesn’t have any control below the elbow.?? This seems to be typical of a spinal cord injury near the C5-C7 region.?? The spinal cord itself was not punctured or lacerated BUT the vertebrae’s were protruding into the cord and compressing it.?? The cells in the spinal cord do not rejuvenate so the question is, is the paralysis due to swelling or bruising or were the cells destroyed.?? If so, what percentage and how will this affect the degree of permanent paralysis?

I waited until tonight to post this because I wanted Alex’s permission first.?? Jim and I spoke to Alex on the phone tonight but he was intubated so he wasn’t able to converse on his end.?? This has been incredibly frustrating for him.?? He can breathe on his own and speak but since he is scheduled for surgery again tomorrow at 9:00 MST, 11:00 EST, the Dr.s didn’t want to extubate after the first surgery realizing they would have to reintubate for tomorrow’s.?? Too much risk of further injury to his neck with extubation and intubation.?? So not only has he been suffering with the paralysis but he can’t communicate either.

His parents flew to PA and Avi (Alex’s brother) is also there with him right now.?? The family is having trouble deciding what to do post surgery in regards to rehab.?? Alex was in PA because he was going to school to be an air traffic controller.?? All the family resides in AZ.?? It seems that the top spinal cord injury rehabilitation centers are not in AZ.?? So what to do??? Take him out of state? Considering Craig’s in Denver due to their reputation.?? On the other hand, can what Craig offer outweigh the influence of family if he goes to a non-acclaimed clinic in Arizona??? Very difficult decisions and as a family we have no frame of reference for this.?? If anyone has experience with spinal cord injuries, we would appreciate all the help and input we can get.?? He will need to be moved within the next week and a half and the questions are mounting.

Following is a list of our prayer requests:

* First and foremost – comfort and peace for Alex

* We are asking God to heal Alex physically – that this paralysis be temporary.??

* Wisdom for the Dr.s

*Wisdom for the family in making these decisions

*Mercy for all we don’t know – that God will just cover us and reign sovereignly over all of this.

*Strength for the immediate family with him now – that they can help infuse Alex with courage to face this.

*Wisdom for the family in the days/weeks/months ahead.?? How do we best help??? What do we say and not say???

*Awesome resources and influences for Alex

*Pray that Alex feels the presence of Jesus like never before.?? Though he can’t feel tonight on the outside, may Jesus wrap His arms around in such a way that Alex feels filled up from head to toe with Him.

I’ll post updates on the Jolley family tomorrow.?? I know you are waiting for those as well.??

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