Get Kristofer Home

The Accident

 

On December 16, 2021, my brother-in-law, Kristofer LeRibeus was involved in a catastrophic car accident and suffered a severe spinal cord injury resulting in total paralysis below the neck and leaving him a person with quadriplegia. Driving in a remote area of Oman, the exact circumstances of the crash are still unknown. But in that instant, everything changed; his neck was broken at the C6/7 vertebrae, and his life was in danger. Kristofer was rushed to a nearby emergency room and stabilized to be transferred safely to a hospital in the capital city of Muscat. To date, Kristofer has undergone two surgeries to alleviate pressure around the spinal cord and stabilize his neck with metal rods and brackets. The hope was to regain some functionality below his neck; however, the damage was extensive, and these procedures have had limited success. It was not even clear whether Kristofer would survive in the first few days. His diaphragm was affected by the paralysis, and breathing was difficult. Thankfully, after undergoing various respiratory procedures, Kristofer is now breathing independently.

 

The prognosis is not good. After six weeks of intensive care, he is still completely paralyzed from the waist down, with some sensation in his hands. He is now battling other complications, including a stage-four pressure sore, various infections, and significant pain. It will still take several months to know the full extent of his injuries as swelling and inflammation in his spine is monitored. While the acute injury care he is receiving in Oman has been focused on keeping him stable, it has been determined that he will require long-term resources and intensive inpatient rehabilitation for his quadriplegic diagnosis.

 

Oman back-story

 

In 2015, Kristofer took a job at Petroleum Development Oman, and he moved to Muscat from Asheville, NC, with his family - his wife Allison (Alli) Hostetter, son Dylan and dog Lincoln. Not long after settling in, the family adopted another beloved dog Toki. Toki and Lincoln are a significant part of their lives and adventures in Oman. Both dogs were with Kristofer at the time of the accident. Lincoln remained with Kristofer until the ambulance arrived, and Toki was miraculously found by a kind Omani man over 100 km away swimming in the sea. The dogs were reunited with Alli, and both are doing well.

 

The move to Oman was met with excitement as Kristofer and Alli were no strangers to the Middle East, having both grown up in Saudi Arabia while their parents worked for Aramco in Abqaiq and Dhahran from the 1980’s to mid-2000s. Kristofer enjoyed playing baseball with his twin brothers Bryson and Blake. Bryson now lives in Mandeville, Louisiana and Blake in Austin, Texas.

 

During their time in Oman, they have grown to love the country and people, often exploring and camping in remote areas of the country. Kristofer was extremely active in the CrossFit and F45 fitness communities and was well known for his positive outlook and enthusiastic energy with the other members. He is an avid waterman at heart and frequently explored the Omani coast, searching for the perfect wave.

 

Current Family Situation

 

Upon learning about the accident, Kristofer's mother Rhonda and father Myron immediately flew from Houston to be with their son, only to later know the full extent of his injuries. They were soon joined by Alli's sister Shelly from nearby Saudi Arabia. As of now, Kristofer requires full-time care – that means turning him every two hours, plus bathing, eating, and pain management. He cannot even press the call button to ask for help, requiring Rhonda and Alli to alternate 24-hour shifts to assist with Kristofer’s care while also tracking his medications and meals. Although the current care has been focused on his medical stability, the environment in a large hospital makes a difficult situation even more challenging, as you could imagine. There are also governmental administrative matters such as visa requirements for visiting family and obligations that make it impossible to continue. Alli and Rhonda are exhausted, as are the other supporting family members. The situation there is simply unsustainable. 

 

There is Hope for the Future

 

The good news is that Kristofer has been accepted for treatment by a prominent neurosurgeon at a specialist hospital in Charlotte, NC (Atrium Health Carolinas Medical), which is an immense blessing. However, orchestrating this minor miracle from overseas is proving to be as tricky as you can imagine it would be. Kristofer is due in Charlotte on February 1, 2022. The family is trying desperately to arrange the special transportation required to get him back home to the States and continue his care closer to family.

 

It is only after exhausting all other options available that I, Mark Stenov, Kristofer’s brother-in-law, am now reaching out to you, our family and friends for support as we navigate the process of arranging a commercial flight medical stretcher from Oman to Charlotte, NC. The total cost of that flight is estimated at $72,000. A financial burden we are unable to bear alone. The service is 'bed to bed', meaning that it includes hospital coordination in Oman, ambulance, paramedics on the plane, modifying the commercial aircraft, airport transfers, immigration and other logistics. The planned route is from Muscat, through Istanbul, Turkey, to Atlanta and then via ambulance to Charlotte. This will be an intense experience – a 30-hour flight plus all the requirements for Kristofer to be rolled every two hours, fed and pain managed for the duration.

Kristofer’s Oman insurance covers his medical expenses while he is in Oman and no transportation or care outside of the country. His American medical insurance will only cover medical costs once he is in the US, which means we are left to shoulder the full weight of his evacuation. Kristofer needs to be home, in the USA, near sustainable family support, and he needs a specialist hospital/rehabilitation clinic to improve his chances of recovery.

 

All available resources to get him this far have now been exhausted, and the situation's urgency has reduced those options even further. The final cost for all the care Kristofer will need will not be known for several months. The priority upon arriving in Charlotte will focus on getting him strong enough to endure the months of rehabilitation ahead, all yet to be fully understood.

 

What we do know: The severity of his injuries, his prognosis, challenging circumstances for the family to stay in Oman to help and the transportation cost to the USA. The situation as it stands is unsustainable and his family cannot continue to care for him half a world away from home.

 

If you would like to contribute to Get Kristofer Home, please use the GoFundMe platform. All funds will be distributed to his wife Alli, as she has full POA for medical decisions and will coordinate the medical financing on behalf of Kristofer.

 

Any contributions are met with the utmost appreciation.

 

Thank you for being so kind.