Bo Gehring

Hi everyone - we decided to set up a website to post updates about Bo's medical condition so that Carol would not have to re-tell the story repeatedly!   As you may have heard, Bo and Carol were hiking on Saturday Sept 23 at one of their favorite spots, North South Lake in the Catskills.  They were on a steeply climbing path and Bo lost his footing when he was standing on a rock escarpment.  He fell backwards and down through the air about 20 feet and landed hard on his left side.  He sustained many broken bones, including vertebrae, ribs, clavicle and scapula.  Also  a fracture to his skull.   


He was med-evacuated out by helicopter to the Trauma Center at Albany Medical Center where he is now in the surgical intensive care unit.  They operated on his chest on Wednesday the 27th and repaired 6 ribs and drained fluid from his lung cavity.  He has been heavily anesthetized.  Originally he was on a ventilator so that he could breathe, but yesterday (Friday) he pulled the tube out of his throat (!) and amazingly he is now able to breathe with some assistance from an oxygen tank.  As you can imagine, he is very bruised and very and somewhat delerious with all the medication.  He is groggy and his speech is erratic.  But he is trying hard to communicate and indicates to  everyone he encounters that he wants to get out of that room!  He is in a body brace to stabilize his spine and ribs and this is also very uncomfortable.  It is hard to tell exactly how much he knows about what has happened. 


Carol is by his side and has taken a room at the hotel across the street for sleeping.  She is doing great, and realizes what a marathon this will be. She is finding ways to pace herself amidst all the intensity.  If you would like to send Bo and Carol a message (it would be much appreciated) you can enter it below in this website.  And stay tuned for updates on Bo’s condition.