Austin’s Story

Site created on February 4, 2019

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.
On Saturday,Feb 2,Austin was at Fleetwood Pa for the wedding of a friend. Enjoying  a few minutes of skating on the farm pond where he had spent many hours as a child. He fell and hit his head,breaking many facial bones and fracturing his upper jaw. The trauma to the temporal bone rendered him completely deaf in his right ear as well.

Newest Update

Journal entry by Chad Koehn

 This weekend we are 4 weeks out from Austin's accident,and he is nearly back to normal.After 2 weeks soaking up the love and care of Gramma Suzanne,he returned to us on Monday via Amtrak.He is not allowed to travel by plane for a while so this was a great option,especially since he could board in Lancaster City and get off at Hamlet,which is about 30 minutes north of us.It was comfortable,smooth,and affordable.He travelled with some Amish boys headed for Pinecraft.
 His last visit with the trauma doctor was encouraging,and Austin was released to travel and do light work.He is getting a lot of rest and helping out at the house and the shop,checking his trail cams and going to youth activities,and feels quite well and strong.He has always been our most resilient
child,through all the years of mishaps and broken bones and bloodwork and hospitals and pain and long nights and still is our most courageous one...still loves God,adventure,loyal friends,hard work and good coffee.
 This week we start the follow up doctor visits,starting with his family doctor then any specialists that he recommends for treatment of Austin's deaf right ear.We were hoping it might resolve on its own but there has been little improvement.Noisy public functions are miserable as it creates an uncomfortable roar in his head and we are really hoping to get him some help.
 Austin still has some impaction in his left sinuses,so there is a bit of bruising left on that side of his face,but mostly his color is normal.The hematoma in his left eye is gone and besides looking pale,he looks quite well.His jaw has healed back quite well and he is enjoying most foods again.
 When we think back to 4 weeks ago,not knowing what the outcome was going to look like,we feel very humbled and most of all,grateful.God has blessed us far beyond all that we could ask or think.
Besides the whole Fleetwood community that reached out with food,gifts,visits and support,we also had many people who prayed.Family members across the country brought his situation to their respective churches that Sunday and many people we don't even know prayed for Austin.Our home congregation had a special prayer for Austin during the service and we felt the ongoing prayer support very much.We feel that God heard all those prayers and had mercy.We thank all of you for sharing this burden with us. 
                                          Margaret

































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