Ian Palmer's Spinal Cord Injury Recovery

On July 25th, two weeks after his 17th birthday, Ian Palmer was in an accident. Like most teenagers, Ian had spent the afternoon soaking up the last bits of summer with his friends.  In a playful attempt to beat the heat, they decided to take a jump into his friend's swimming pool. Ian, a Kings River Kingfish swimmer, took a miscalculated dive into the pool. Upon impact his C5 vertebrae sustained a burst fracture, shattering and sending shards of bone fragment into his spinal cord tissue. In addition, his C6 vertebrae was also severely cracked. He was immediately paralyzed from the neck down. Terrified, confused, and unable to move his entire body at the bottom of the pool, his friends quickly jumped into action. They worked together to pull him out and call for help. Ian was then transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital where he was hurriedly taken into surgery to stabilize his spine. Despite a near 6-hour successful surgery, we learned there had been significant damage to his spinal cord. 

After surgery, Ian was transferred to the Neuro Intensive Care Unit where he has remained for the past three weeks. For the first week and half, he was dependent on a ventilator and breathing tube as his lungs and chest are paralyzed. Since then he has undergone a tracheotomy which will remain in place until his diaphragm is able to strengthen and assist his lungs in breathing normally. In this time he also had a surgery to implant a PEG tube to ensure he maintains proper nutrition.

In the time since his accident, Ian has already begun to make tremendous progress! He has regained range of motion in his shoulders, biceps, and wrists. He has sensation in his legs, feet, and abdomen. As of today, (August 14th) with lots of focus and concentration, Ian can wiggle his big toe! We are focused on the positive and will celebrate every single milestone, big and small, as Ian continues his road to recovery. 

As the Palmer/Hardesty family adjusts to their "new normal", we have set up this page in an effort to show them our support. All funds raised here will go directly to Justin and Amanda Hardesty to assist Ian's recovery as best that they see fit. Incurred medical expenses including but not limited to: hospital stays (visits, parking, meals, etc.), rehabilitation therapy, medical equipment (wheelchair, accessible bed, etc.), making their home accessible for Ian (ramps, widening hallways, etc.) 

The road ahead of them will be extremely difficult to navigate. Please consider making a donation to help alleviate the financial burden they will face.