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Joshua and Mackenzie’s Story

Site created on May 19, 2021

Welcome to Josh and Makenzie’s CaringBridge site. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. A relief fund has been setup at https://gofundme.com/f/joshandmackenzie. We thank you in advance for all your kindness and love! On Saturday, May 15, 2021, siblings Mackenzie Porten and Joshua Jeffreys were involved in a horrific multi-car, head-on collision on Highway 72 and Zehner Road that resulted in multiple medflight transports. Mackenzie was airlifted to Huntsville Main ICU while Joshua was flown to UAB ICU. Mackenzie had a dislocated pelvis, fractured L5 vertebrae, fractured fibula, fractured radius, bruised lung, and severe seatbelt lacerations. Joshua sustained two broken femurs, a broken tibia, collapsed lung, and multiple lacerations. He has endured several surgeries with more to follow to repair the shattered femur. He remained intubated and on a ventilator for three days. Both remain hospitalized 100 miles apart as they begin their healing process.

Mackenzie is a 23 years old type 1 diabetic and was recently selected to attend UAB Medical School in pursuit of a doctorate in endocrinology. Joshua is 15 years old and plays football at James Clemens High School. These beautiful kids are the product of a loving patchwork family that is no stranger to adversity, and whose vocation has been serving their community.

Newest Update

Journal entry by Lee Jeffreys — Jun 21, 2021

Joshua update 6/21/2021

Joshua had an OT session today where they focused on writing. He said it is getting better each time.

After therapy, we went out to lunch and shopped at Academy.

Tonight he was working with the app his speech therapist suggested. He was naming parts of speech and putting parts of a sentence together.

Later he was working on math.

Read More of the journal titled "June 21, 2021"

Josh was working hard on getting his math skills back. Luckily, it his favorite subject.

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