Help Lance & His Family

On Sunday, January 9, my brother Lance had a freak accident that almost paralyzed him. He is 36 years old, a loving husband and father, and has always been my longtime hero in every sense of the word.

 

Lance—the most adorning family man you could know—was playing in his home with his wife Meredith, niece, and children. He tripped and fell hard onto the base of his couch, immediately losing mobility below his neck.

 

Thanks to quick thinking from Meredith, EMTs were able to rush Lance to Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia. On the way there, he regained feeling in his toes and right hand, and once he got to the Neuro ICU, doctors confirmed that Lance had suffered a spinal cord injury.

 

He underwent emergency c5-c6 anterior discectomy and fusion, which helped stabilize his spine and restore function to his arms and legs. On Tuesday, he was even able to start walking a few steps and has been making progress since then. Thankfully, Lance's doctors expect him to make a full recovery.

 

Because of COVID, Lance has only been able to have one visitor a day, and I was able to spend the whole day with my big brother in the hospital on Wednesday. When we were kids, we played lots of Nintendo, and I came fully prepared to read him Super Mario walkthrough guides. He asked that instead of reading, card games, or a live personal reenactment of 10 Things I Hate About You (I offered a performance, which isn’t a surprise if you know me), we just quietly hang out. For starters, he needed help unscrewing the cap of his travel toothpaste so that he could brush his teeth for the first time in days.

 

We talked for hours, even laughed a bit, and when I asked him what his goals were and what he wanted to do when he got out of the hospital, all he said was that he wanted to live. He thought he was going to die on Sunday. He’s so grateful to be alive and be able to move his own body again, slowly but surely.

 

He was finally transferred out of the ICU on Friday, January 14, and will hopefully get to come home soon.

 

While we’re relieved by the exceptional medical care and miraculous progress we’ve already seen, my brother’s road to recovery is expected to be long and hard by any standards. He’s a fighter (literally, he has a Black belt in karate that he got when he was in middle school!), but given that Lance is a stay-at-home dad, I wanted to set up a fund to assist with medical bills, child care expenses, and rehabilitation. When I gave birth to my daughter in 2017, Lance and Meredith drove us home from the hospital, filled our fridge, ordered us takeout for weeks, and did everything they could to help us figure out our new normal. They are so generous and loving, and setting up this fund is the least I can do for the people who are the world to me.

 

All excess funds collected will be donated to the Adam Taliferro and Ryan Shazier foundations to help others who experience spinal cord injuries.

 

Thank you so much for reading and for considering giving. It means everything to me, Lance, and our entire family.