A Helping Hand for Jeff
Donation protected
Hey friends!! As you all know our dear friend Jeff Schlautman was in a horrific motorcycle accident on March 31, 2018. Secondary to extreme crosswinds that came out of nowhere on that cold dark night. He was rushed to Bergan Mercy where he spent 9 days sedated and on a vent. He fractured 9 ribs, had closed C-spine fractures, his pelvis was fractured in half and right scapula looked like a broken up puzzle. Jeff also endured a collapsed lung, a grade 3 laceration to his liver and a grade 2 laceration to his spleen. However the most traumatic injury was to his spine where he has an incomplete spinal cord burst at T7-8. Jeff underwent a spinal fusion from T3-T10 and a pinning of his pelvis that goes from his left hip to his right hip. After an extensive recovery from those surgeries and other complications on April 18th Jeff was moved to Immanuel Trauma Rehab where he began his next step of rehabilitation.
At Immanuel Jeff had Physical, Occupational, Speech and Cognitive Therapy a few hours every day. This was exhausting for him but he kept working hard and pushing himself to make every gain possible. On May 25th he was transferred to QLI in Omaha to begin his next step in the recovery process.
QLI is an all day intensive Rehabilitation Center specializing in Brain and Spinal Cord injuries. He is busy all day, working very hard to gain all the physical, mental and emotional skills he needs to be productive and active outside the safety of the rehab walls. Each day he is in therapy of one type or another from the time he wakes up to the time he goes to bed. The work is painful and exhausting but he fights on and takes each new day as a challenge to gain a new strength, a new skill and another step towards walking.
Jeff knows that recovery can take up to 3 years post accident...It's a long process. However, he has the determination, the will and competitive edge to continue working as hard as he can for as long as he can to meet his goal of walking again.
Jeff is currently a paraplegic and he is dependent on his wheelchair to be mobile and needs special equipment and ramps built that would allow him to get into a house, the ability to take a shower and even use the toilet. Unfortunately, his truck cannot be converted with the changes needed for him to be able to drive it. Therefore he will sell it and new options will be explored for the right type of vehicle that can get converted so he can learn to drive again and have more independence. These conversions are very expensive (up to $20,000). Jeff's manual wheelchair was not covered by insurance and cost over $12,000 since he needed an assist on the wheels to help him maneuver it since his right arm isn't working very well. The insurance company should cover 90% of the $30,000 for his electric wheelchair.
An old friend of Jeff's donated close to $18,000 worth of medical equipment and dear friends moved that very heavy equipment so Jeff can use it when the insurance company ends his stay at QLI.
Jeff had just started a new job with Plastilite 4 days prior to this accident. He did not have his new insurance yet but thankfully he had enrolled in Cobra thru 3M. Jeff has had NO income for months and expenses both currently and in the near future are TREMENDOUS. He has been awarded Social Security Disability which will start paying in October, however this is not an amount that will help with to many expenses, considering Cobra alone is $600 per month and he will not be eligible for Medicare for 24 months. Jeff does have his house on the market which he really only got to enjoy for less than a month.
Jeff is very grateful for all the love, support, visits, cards, calls, text messages and prayers that you have showered upon him! And because so many of you know Jeff, you know that asking for help is not one of his strong suits. He is always willing and usually the first one to lend a helping hand to anyone needing it...stranger and friend alike.
So we are asking for Jeff! He needs your financial help! We hope that this is a way, no matter how big or how small your donation may be, will help Jeff begin to gain independence in what is now and will become his new normal! Please help our friend and brother! God bless and thank you!
Please share this as much as you can:)
At Immanuel Jeff had Physical, Occupational, Speech and Cognitive Therapy a few hours every day. This was exhausting for him but he kept working hard and pushing himself to make every gain possible. On May 25th he was transferred to QLI in Omaha to begin his next step in the recovery process.
QLI is an all day intensive Rehabilitation Center specializing in Brain and Spinal Cord injuries. He is busy all day, working very hard to gain all the physical, mental and emotional skills he needs to be productive and active outside the safety of the rehab walls. Each day he is in therapy of one type or another from the time he wakes up to the time he goes to bed. The work is painful and exhausting but he fights on and takes each new day as a challenge to gain a new strength, a new skill and another step towards walking.
Jeff knows that recovery can take up to 3 years post accident...It's a long process. However, he has the determination, the will and competitive edge to continue working as hard as he can for as long as he can to meet his goal of walking again.
Jeff is currently a paraplegic and he is dependent on his wheelchair to be mobile and needs special equipment and ramps built that would allow him to get into a house, the ability to take a shower and even use the toilet. Unfortunately, his truck cannot be converted with the changes needed for him to be able to drive it. Therefore he will sell it and new options will be explored for the right type of vehicle that can get converted so he can learn to drive again and have more independence. These conversions are very expensive (up to $20,000). Jeff's manual wheelchair was not covered by insurance and cost over $12,000 since he needed an assist on the wheels to help him maneuver it since his right arm isn't working very well. The insurance company should cover 90% of the $30,000 for his electric wheelchair.
An old friend of Jeff's donated close to $18,000 worth of medical equipment and dear friends moved that very heavy equipment so Jeff can use it when the insurance company ends his stay at QLI.
Jeff had just started a new job with Plastilite 4 days prior to this accident. He did not have his new insurance yet but thankfully he had enrolled in Cobra thru 3M. Jeff has had NO income for months and expenses both currently and in the near future are TREMENDOUS. He has been awarded Social Security Disability which will start paying in October, however this is not an amount that will help with to many expenses, considering Cobra alone is $600 per month and he will not be eligible for Medicare for 24 months. Jeff does have his house on the market which he really only got to enjoy for less than a month.
Jeff is very grateful for all the love, support, visits, cards, calls, text messages and prayers that you have showered upon him! And because so many of you know Jeff, you know that asking for help is not one of his strong suits. He is always willing and usually the first one to lend a helping hand to anyone needing it...stranger and friend alike.
So we are asking for Jeff! He needs your financial help! We hope that this is a way, no matter how big or how small your donation may be, will help Jeff begin to gain independence in what is now and will become his new normal! Please help our friend and brother! God bless and thank you!
Please share this as much as you can:)
Organizer and beneficiary
Charis Voss
Organizer
Fremont, NE
Jeff Schlautman
Beneficiary