Gary Jacobson

First post: Oct 9, 2019 Latest post: Oct 8, 2021
As you may have heard, my dad was in a bad car accident a couple months ago. On July 13th he was finishing the mile and a half trip from his hobby farm, driving through the subdivision on his way back from a long hot day.  As he was making his way from the upper part of the neighborhood to the Wildcat River valley below, down to his culdesac, he drove off the road into a steep wooded ravine and crashed into a tree on the edge of a creek bank.  There was no evidence of braking, and none of the airbags of his 2018 Suburban deployed.

His orbital, left femur, sternum, and all of his ribs were fractured, and he suffered a degloved left lower leg.  He was trapped in the vehicle with his seat belt on for at least 30 minutes before he was found. Both driver side doors and pillar had to be cut out to reach him, and he coded at one point before he was taken into the ambulance.  He was revived but coded again in the ambulance and yet again in the ER of the hospital in Lafayette. Later that evening he was flown by helicopter to Indianapolis, where he has remained since.

He underwent successful surgery on his femur, was given a tracheotomy, and altogether spent a couple of weeks in the trauma ICU before being moved to the acute care center where he remains now.  Considering the level and types of trauma he sustained, it is easy to deem his survival as miraculous. But although much of his body has made great strides since the injuries, he continues to face trouble with breathing on his own.

Before the accident he had battled chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and congestive heart failure, as well as tachycardia (racing heartbeat) and atrial fibrillation (irregular heartbeat). And it was recently discovered while in care that half of his diaphragm is paralyzed.  He has been on a breathing machine (ventilator) since the accident, and unfortunately he hasn’t been able to breathe independently for more than a few hours at a time. His memory of the events has been spotty, but he is continuing to become more aware of his situation and asks lots of questions about the event.

My dad is not in a position to receive and respond to emails or texts.  If you’d like to reach out to my mom, please do so by email or text, jacobsonjody@hotmail.com and 765-404-5195. Contact me at eojacobson@gmail.com or 970-217-0025. Feel free to add to this space by commenting, telling stories, posting pics, etc. He would love to see these and have them read to him. He also very much enjoys visitors. Thank you for any positive thoughts and/or prayers sent his way as we stay hopeful for his recovery.  Donations are absolutely not necessary unless you'd like to donate to this free site.

-Erik


 

CaringBridge is a nonprofit social network dedicated to helping family and friends communicate with and support loved ones during a health journey. Learn more about CaringBridge.

To interact with Gary’s website, sign in or register today.

By registering with CaringBridge, you will join over 300,000 people a day who are supporting friends and family members.

Sign In Or Register
SVG_Icons_Back_To_Top
Top