Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and prayers for Matt and his recovery!
On Friday, May 13, 2022, Matt was involved in an accident in which a car hit him and our two dogs, Copper and Chief. Unfortunately, our fur babies did not make it, but God was watching over Matt and he is still with us. We were just north of Paris, Texas when this accident occurred around 10PM. As we were waiting for the ambulance to arrive many people in the area stopped to help including some nurses who helped me (Kendall, his wife) stabilize Matt. Another ambulance that was transferring a patient happened upon the accident and stopped to help triage and stabilize Matt further. The ambulance that was called for Matt arrived shortly after and we were able to get him on a stretcher and into the ambulance while waiting for a helicopter to come to the scene to airlift him out. A sweet couple arranged for the helicopter to land in their pasture that was right across the street from the scene and they kindly took care of me while we waited. Unfortunately, when the helicopter landed, a window had broken and was unable to airlift Matt from the scene. Due to needing Matt to be seen and evaluated ASAP, we rode in the ambulance to Paris Regional Medical Center. There they ran CT scans of his whole body and determined he needed to be transferred to a trauma center for a higher level of care. Another helicopter was already at the hospital to take another patient but Matt's condition was more critical and they were able to take him almost right away! He was transferred to Presbyterian Dallas Hospital via helicopter and two of my community group members drove me to meet him at the hospital. He sustained a pelvic fracture mostly including muscle and ligaments and a large wound on his side from the car hitting him. By the grace of God, he had not sustained any brain or spinal cord injury! Matt was scanned then quickly taken to surgery where they placed an external fixation device to his pelvis and cleaned out the large laceration on his side. They were able to pack and stabilize the injury and Matt was transferred to the ICU to recover. Almost immediately after coming to the ICU after he was extubated (breathing tube taken out), he was making jokes and acting like himself (through some really intense pain!). Matt has been in high spirits, all things considering, making jokes, and being himself. He has definitely made us, multiple nurses, and doctors laugh today. The doctors are optimistic with his recovery and expect him to fully recover. It will be a long road which will likely include rehab and non-weight baring for 6-12 weeks (pending interventions and his response). (Matt is already planning on doing wheelies in his wheel chair so pray that he changes his mind between now and then) Please feel free to continue to reach out and check on us because the words of encouragement and prayers over us are more helpful than you can know. I wanted a more central place to put updates on his surgeries and recovery so that we are not having to update a lot of different people about the same thing. I promise if you reach out I will try get back to you as quickly as I am able.
Thank you all for reading our story and praying for my sweet husband! Love, Kendall Eckel
Matt has been home for several days now and is doing well, all things considering. He’s able to get around the house via wheelchair and is slowly getting used to it. It’s definitely bittersweet being home but I am so thankful to be able to have Matt here.
Matt will be going to multiple doctors appointments several times a week for the next month or two to change his wound vac since he didn’t qualify for home health care. He’s already had it changed twice since we’ve been home and he’s tolerating that well.
I go back to work next week so please continue to pray for us, for Matt’s healing and pain, and for us to be able to manage everything in our near future.
If you’d like to help with meals please see the meal train our community group set up!
Thank you all for your continued prayers and everyone’s kind words and wishes. We have definitely seen and felt love from so many people and it’s been so sweet during such a difficult time.
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