I experienced a major life event on memorial day a few weeks ago. I experienced a strong downdraft while Paramotoring in Helper Utah and fell at least 100 feet before impacting the ground. My injuries are sever but the doctors assure me that I will walk again. I managed to completely dislocate my left foot, shatter both knees, shear my pelvis in half, crush my L4 and chip my L3 vertebra.

The week following my accident saw me going into surgery to first repair my pelvis. This meant a plate on the top and several rods on the bottom. Then my back was embedded with a ton of screws and bolts to try and support the crushed L4, the L3 was simply chipped so the doc only had to fish around in my spinal cord to retrieve the bits and pieces. During this surgery they decided to inserts a tube into my lung to drain the fluid that had accumulated and attempt to get it to re-inflate. The final step was to repair my knees. This was a 9 hour surgery that successfully rebuilt my tibial plateaus. This also means that i will be confined to a wheelchair for several months while my knees heal. I also received an extra surprise during this surgery, an IVC filter to prevent potential blood clots from killing me.

In the morning I will be going into, what I hope will be my final surgery for a while, to have the IVC filter removed. They are going to use a form of sedation called “Waking Sedation.” this means I will be semi-awake but should be pain free as they insert various catheters and dyes into me so the x-ray can locate the filter and they can remove it. The filter is shaped like an umbrella and looks like a miniature fishing net. It has a hook at the top the can be manipulated to collapse the filter so it can be removed. Essentially the doctors will be fishing in my veins.

I started this odyssey at Utah Valley Hospital in Provo and spent several weeks there in ICU, currently I am in rehab at the University of Utah Hospital learning how to maneuver and operate in a wheelchair. Tentatively I will be heading to Arkansas on Friday where I will spend the rest of my summer and then start rehab so I can learn to walk again.

If your in the Salt Lake area and want to stop in feel free to come on in. Just email me and I will give you directions: jeremystegall at gmail dot com

UPDATE Thursday June 25

The IVC filter came out smoothly and without any issues. I will be discharged from the U of U tomorrow and plan to make my way to Arkansas for the next step of my recovery.

As an added bonus here is a link to a succsessful launch and landing.