Support for Walt, Stephanie & Eli

Jan 22, 2024 Update: We are hoping to raise an additional $16,000 so Stephanie can buy a wheelchair accessible van. So we have increased the goal from the original $125K (which we achieved - THANK YOU!) to $142 ($125K +$16K + fees). It has become clear this is necessary to enable Walt to access offsite resources to make further progress in his recovery. Any and all support is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

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Original Post: The time has come for us to ask for support for Walt, Stephanie, and Eli. As you may know by now, Walt and Stephanie took a spontaneous trip to Steamboat Springs to see one of their favorite bands the week of December 12. In the morning of December 13, Walt had a fall in his hotel room and suffered a traumatic brain injury. He was airlifted to a trauma hospital in Loveland, Colorado and was there in the intensive care unit for almost a month. Due to pressure from brain swelling, they had to perform a craniectomy to remove part of his skull. He has been in a coma since the surgery and is on a ventilator. Stephanie has been by Walt’s side since the injury, and is remaining hopeful that Walt will wake up, despite a not-so-optimistic outlook from Walt’s ICU medical team. Stephanie (and Eli, while he was visiting) see signs of hope in Walt’s subtle movements – a yawn, a toe wiggle, or an eye movement, while the doctors question whether these are actually purposeful movements or merely reflexive. He is lacking certain essential reflexes, and appears to possibly have others. The damage to his brain is extensive.

On January 10, Walt was transferred out of the ICU to a Long Term Acute Care facility in Denver. His condition remains stable and we are now just waiting for him to wake up. If/when Walt wakes up, he would likely have quite a journey ahead of rehabilitation given the severity of his brain injury. Assuming he makes a recovery, we do not know if or when Walt might be able to work again. Unfortunately Walt had been laid off from his job in October (and had been actively searching for a new job) and his severance pay has just ended. In addition to the uncertainty of what will become of her life partner and love, Stephanie is facing a daunting financial reality, as Walt was the primary source of income for their family. Walt cannot be transported back to California unless and until he is off the ventilator and able to stand up and communicate. Stephanie wants to be by his side as much as possible in Colorado, but this will require expenses for flights, rental cars, hotels, and related costs. She has missed a month’s worth of work and income already, and faces more months of lost income for herself. With suddenly little to no income coming in, and mounting expenses (on top of all their usual bills), we want to help support them in this dire time of need. Let’s come together in support of them and help ease some of the financial stresses so that Stephanie can be by his side and focus on helping Walt heal and recovery and to ensure stability for their family during this extremely difficult time. (If you are interested in offering other means of support, gifting them some airline miles, dogsitting help, a car to use when in Denver, etc – please say so in the comments and we will reach out to you). If you would like to track Walt’s status, you may request to follow his CaringBridge site here: https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/waltwhitman