Brad Klinkner

Brad loves to snowmobile. So much so that he had the idea to snowmobile from the Iowa border to the Canada border,  across the entire state of Minnesota - a bucket list item of his for the past several years. On January  15, Brad, Adam (his son) and a good friend started in southern Minnesota on Saturday morning.  After a few minor complications with the snowmobiles they ended in Avon, MN on Saturday evening and left from there on Sunday morning. From Avon, MN, they made their way toward Brainerd/Bemidji area with the final goal being International Falls.  They were  excited to reach their destination.  However, around  3:00 PM Sunday, while snowmobiling down the trail about 8 miles north of Blackduck, MN, only 70 miles from International Falls, Brad hit a driveway embankment and was sent airborne. When he landed his snowmobile,  he was thrown from it and hit by another sled while lying on the trail.  911 was called as they realized he was conscious but struggling to move.  Emergency ambulance was dispatched from Blackduck (8 miles away). Brad was taken to the Bemidji hospital and was assessed there -  he had internal bleeding and had lost 2-3 units of blood inside his chest cavity.  In Bemidji, he was sedated with a chest tube to drain the blood and a breathing tube then airlifted to North Memorial Hospital in Robbinsdale, MN.  After a CT scan it was determined that Brad had 5 broken ribs, a possible concussion, both shoulder blades broken, a punctured lung, a damaged disc between two vertebrae and a bruised aorta. He went into surgery for his vertebrae around 1pm, Tuesday, Jan 17. We will try to keep you updated as we know more. As of now prayers are all we need and they are helping tremendously already!