Pem Jenkins

On Sunday, June 25, Pem was surfing in Nicaragua when he suffered a traumatic spinal cord injury.  Pem was transported to Managua and then air ambulanced to UNC, aided invaluably by his brother Joe Jenkins, who was with him at the moment of the accident. Doctors then confirmed that Pem had a spinal cord injury at the C6 level, resulting in sensory and function loss below his chest.

Since Monday, June 26, Pem has been under the excellent care of the neurosurgery team at UNC. Thanks to them — and to those who came to his aid in the moments after his accident until his arrival in Chapel Hill, particularly Kevin Malone, James Jenkins, Lance Moss, and the rest of the Surfari Charters team — he is doing wonderfully.  In the best way possible, he is sincerely overwhelmed  by the outpouring of love and support coming from virtually all corners of the world, and so are we. We'll be using this site as a means of keeping information and updates streamlined and public.

We should emphasize here that Pem is more himself than ever. Those of you who know him know that he is spiritually indomitable and physically tough as nails; you won't be surprised, then, to learn that in the first days after sustaining the injury, he has risen to every physical and emotional challenge.

He'll be in Chapel Hill until Thursday, July 6, when he'll begin rehabilitation at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta. This is excellent news. Shepherd is unanimously regarded as one of the best facilities in the United States for spinal cord injury treatment, and we're hugely optimistic about the results his work there will deliver. 

We’ll be posting updates on his recovery here. 

The Jenkins Family