Support Ben Phillips - Complications from Accident

Hi, my name is Julie and I am raising funds for my brother, Ben Phillips. Or as I like to call him, Benji.

As most of you probably know, he was in a very bad accident in September of 2021. September 24th to be exact. Not a phone call I expected early that morning.

Ben suffered a broken femur, broken hip, shattered knee, broken wrist, broken fingers and chipped teeth…along with all the bruising and road rash that comes after being hit by a car.

He was immediately taken to surgery where he had a metal rod from his knee to his hip installed to stabilize the femur fracture and multiple plates and screws to pin the hip fracture. 74 staples after all was said and done, our mom counted each and every one. He was hospitalized for 4 weeks.

He left the hospital on October 20, 2021 on a stretcher and an ambulance transported him to my parents house in Macon, IL. They transformed their den into a room for Ben to recover. It was equipped with a hospital bed, wheel chair and everything they needed to care for him. He was just learning how to get around with a walker. Sounds easy enough, but not when you have a non-weight bearing right leg and non-weight bearing right arm with broken fingers. That gets pretty complicated.

He was at my parents house for 8 weeks while he received physical and occupational therapy at St. Mary’s Hospital Outpatient Rehabilitation Center.

He slowly transitioned back to his home in Pekin, IL. He would stay with my parents 3 days per week while receiving therapy and head to Pekin on the weekends. This lasted another 6 weeks.

He was home in Pekin full time starting on January 25, 2022. Ben got settled and started working for Comet Supply Inc. in March. He was working and trying to adjust to his new normal.

He mentioned several times that he just didn’t feel “right,” but we all assumed it was part of his recovery. His orthopedic surgeon told us over and over his recovery would be close to a year. We knew his hip was healing very slowly.

Fast forward almost a year since the accident and Ben becomes super sick. Vomiting, high fever and lethargic. My parents took him back to the hospital in Peoria, IL where he has been since Monday August 29, 2022. He has had multiple blood tests and CT scans and X-rays and ultrasounds and nuclear imaging. They have found infection in the hardware in his hip. His hip which has not healed properly. They have also diagnosed avascular necrosis of the femoral head, which means the bone is dying. They are aggressively treating the infection. He will be on IV antibiotics for 14 days. Then they will run another nuclear scan. We have been told there are multiple surgeries to come. I will have more info once the antibiotics are completed and we have the results from the scan.

With that being said, I am starting this GoFundMe in hopes of raising money to help with his monthly bills while he is unable to work and to help with the long list of medical bills that he has and that will be coming.

We are so thankful that he is here with us today, God has big plans for him.

If you have any questions please reach out to me, Julie Lane Elwick on Facebook. I will be managing the donations and making sure his rent and medical bills are paid.

Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers, he has another long journey ahead.

We appreciate all of you!

Love,

Julie and the rest of the family.