Steven's Spinal Injury Rehab Fundraiser

If you are a paraglider pilot in Arizona, you know that Steven Grezlak was injured back in January when flying Yarnell and you know how much he means to our community.

If you’re not a paraglider pilot, Steven is one of the kindest souls I know and he and his family are going through a challenging chapter of their lives.

Either way, I am grateful that you are reading this and hope you will consider answering the Grezlaks’ humble request for help.

Before we get to the details of the incident, let’s take a moment to reflect on what Steven has meant to paragliding in Arizona. Steven has served our club in official and unofficial capacities since he started flying. He is always one of the first to help visiting pilots get acclimated and compliant, and he is always willing to share his thoughts on forecasting and opportunities (think of how many “who is flying the glass off” messages we see). Not to mention, we have Steven to thank for basically every Holfuy weather station in the State of Arizona.

Steven has always been there for us pilots and, now more than ever, he needs our help.

THE INCIDENT

Steven Grezlak, a pillar of the Arizona paragliding community since at 2015, and my good friend, had a hard landing near the town of Yarnell, Arizona on January 17th. In the final moments of flight, he hit massive sink and impacted fast and steep, fracturing his L1 vertebra.

A very painful hour transpired while he laid on his side with no feeling from the waist down, while pilot friends gathered around until first responders hiked in. Thankfully, one of his pilot friends is a military flight surgeon and an MD so he had a great hand to hold, though the “good stuff” would still wait until vitals were taken. A less than one mile helicopter trip followed, over to the Yarnell Fire Department. He was not able to be rolled on his back (the screams were the clue) onto the flight gurney, so he was airlifted on his side with an EMT harnessed next to him, almost face to face, as the chopper rose up the same flight level Steven was just 90 minutes earlier blissfully floating around in his paraglider along with about seven of his flying buddies.

Steven was put in an ambulance at the fire station, his vitals were taken, and an IV shunt was put in for the (THANK YOU) pain medications. Next step was a second helicopter trip from the fire station sixty miles southeast to the Level 1 trauma center at HonorHealth Deer Valley.

As he explains it, his last memory until post-op was being wheeled off of the chopper and into the hospital and immediately meeting his surgeon and what looked like 100 clinicians waiting behind him to assist in what would happen next . . . FADE TO BLACK.

Waking up in intensive care, he met Wendi (his wife) and his ICU nurses. Four blurry days of nearly-sleepless nights and lots of stiffness and pain followed. His happiest day was the transfer from the hospital to the rehab hospital 15 miles away in Scottsdale. His second happiest day was being discharged from in-patient rehab and returning home to his wife, son and unofficial therapy dog, Rory. He is living on the first floor of his two-story home.

THERAPY

Seven weeks of full-time physical therapy followed. In the beginning there was lots of pain and tears and maybe some profanity. His body was still tender from the injury and muscles were stiff from lack of movement. Finally, he was released and is now home with Wendi and Noah (his son) and Rory (emotional therapy dog without an official degree). Out-patient physical therapy now follows two or three times a week.

As a result of the injury, Steven cannot move his feet, though he has great use of his quads and hamstrings. He has touch sensation below the knee but it becomes progressively more dull moving down to the toes. Initially, the toes were the only part of his body where he had no touch sensation. That has changed over the weeks and now feeling is slowly returning and his toes, which randomly wiggle when he concentrates on moving them.

Steven is currently using a walker, but only under the supervision of his PT team due to lack of complete foot control. He has walked 50 feet in the rehab facility with his team walking with him and lightly guiding his foot motion. Now that he is home, he will next be working on walking more independently through the guidance of his out-patient physical therapy team at Banner Physical Therapy (Glendale).

PROGNOSIS

Based on his injury grade, Steven is expected to reach functional ambulation (walking independently "with or without” a walker or cane). The prayer of course is “without” a helping device but time will tell and spinal rehab can take up to a year.

THE ASK

As you can imagine, work has been difficult and medical bills are piling up. Steven was in the corporate world for many years before taking his skills solo and starting his own business (www.grezdesign.com) three years ago. Thankfully, he can work from home or wherever his laptop is sitting, but the injury has kept him out of work for weeks. The Grezlak family is asking for financial assistance to cover the following:

Lost wages (Steven) … $4,000 or more

Insurance deductible (Wendi’s insurance from her job thankfully covers much) … $4,500

Non-covered items (safety bars in bathrooms, ramp, etc., medical supplies) … $4,500

Lost wages (Wendi, currently on unpaid FMLA leave) … approx. $1,500

Anticipated expenses this year: additional remodeling to make home safe and accessible (possibly a stairlift so Steven can come upstairs), transportation to therapies and doctor appointments, etc., … $4,000 or more

Total that up and the Grezlaks are humbly requesting $18,500. Thank you!

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LEFT - Thirty minutes prior to the hard landing. Steven is far right in this photo. RIGHT - The first airlift, to Yarnell Fire Department. The EMT sitting next to him in this photo jokingly asked, "are you afraid of heights?" after lift off.