Max McColl's Accident Fund

Hi All,

I never thought I would have to see my big brother, biggest supporter, and best friend in this position. Those who know Max know he has the biggest heart and always puts others before him. Max would give the shirt off his back if one needed it more than him. At this time, I ask for this to be reciprocated to help Max get through this long road to recovery!

Even with good health care insurance, the cost of Max’s care is overwhelming. I ask you to please contribute to help him return to the Max we all know! This will be a marathon involving many professionals, and we would appreciate any financial help we can get at this hard time!

On September 22, my brother, Max McColl, was on his dirt bike running to the corner store and was involved in a hit-and-run accident. He was then rushed to the Detroit Receiving hospital Emergency Department. This was when the doctors discovered he had a compound fracture of his tibia and fibula on his left leg and a broken femur on his right leg. The doctors also found that he has a brain bleed and swelling and a fractured skull. Max was then transferred to the Neurology Intensive Care Unit. He was put on a ventilator and is in a medically induced coma to keep him as comfortable as possible.

The doctors ordered a CT scan of Max’s head to see how much bleeding and pressure there was in his brain. Once the results came in, the doctors suggested that Max to undergo an urgent craniectomy (surgically removing a part of his skull to ease pressure on the brain), which will help release the pressure and swelling. Following this procedure, Max was able to have both of his legs worked on to stabilize both of them temporarily. As of right now, he is stable and occasionally responds to commands. The current teams involved in Max’s care are the Surgical ICU, Neurosurgery, Neurology, Orthopedics, and Trauma. He also gets visits from other people such as X-ray technicians, Physical therapists, Respiratory therapists, etc.

On September 25th, the doctors took another CT of Max’s head to reevaluate his brain bleed, they noted a slight increase in bleeding, but it shouldn’t be a concern. Max also lost some blood due to his fractured femur and received a blood transfusion of two units. The Neuro team later reevaluated Max to see if he was stable enough to get cleared for the Orthopedic team to fix both of his legs permanently. They gave the Orthopedic team the okay to operate, and Max underwent a 5-hour procedure that the doctors said: “went very well.”

On September 26th, The Neuro team wanted to monitor Max’s brain activity to ensure that Max had no signs of seizures, so they ran an EEG for 24 hours to get an accurate reading. Due to Max being on a ventilator, they took a sample of his aspiration to culture to see if he has aspiration pneumonia. Also, Max’s vitals were not exactly where they needed to be; he had a slight fever which they said is common after a closed head injury, and his oxygen levels were low. To determine why his oxygen levels were low, the doctors took a chest x-ray to see if the ventilator tube was in the right place.

On September 27th, Max had a hard morning, he was very agitated, and the nurses had to sedate him more to calm him down. His blood pressure and pulse went down numerous times. The nurses also tested his hemoglobin levels and noted that they were low, so Max needed another blood transfusion. The Neuro team took another CT of his head because it was very swollen, and the CT indicated no changes. The neurosurgeons also mentioned that his head could swell up for another 7-10 days after a closed head injury like Max’s.

On September 28th, Max was scheduled to have another CT, but the doctors canceled it because his oxygen levels dropped when they started to transfer him. Due to this, they needed to increase his ventilator settings. The doctors also wanted to take an x-ray of his lungs to check for aspiration pneumonia. Later in the day, the doctors rounded and wanted another CT to ensure Max’s brain was stable enough to perform a tracheostomy. The results showed more swelling on the left side of his head (where the skull has been removed). Due to the swelling, they decided to postpone the tracheostomy until he was in a more stable state. The Orthopedic team checked Max’s progress and told us that he could be full weight-bearing on both his legs once he wakes up!

On September 29th, The doctors gave Max the okay to have his procedure to have a tracheostomy and gastrostomy (a feeding tube). After this two-hour procedure, Max looked the most comfortable he has so far, although he was heavily sedated. Now Max has no lines in his mouth or nose. The nurses tested his hemoglobin, which was low, so Max needs another blood transfusion.

Much love,

Ben McColl and Family