Support Joseph Furtek's Road to Recovery

Hi, my name is Laura Furtek, and I am creating this fundraiser for my brother, Joseph Furtek. On October 18 of this year, Joseph suffered severe injuries resulting from a catastrophic landslide on Highway 18 in Crestline, California, while driving on the highway.

Joe suffered severe, life-threatening, and life-altering critical injuries and was the sole victim of this rockslide. Hundreds of pounds of boulders smashed his Sprinter Van and crushed the cabin. Joe was pinned inside the vehicle and was assisted by some amazing “good Samaritans,” and he was rushed by ambulance down the mountain to a trauma center where he was rushed immediately into surgery to save his life.

Joe suffered extensive and severe injuries, including multiple compound fractures in his right leg and both feet. Joe also suffered a head injury, a serious scalp laceration, and a severe concussion. The fracture of Joe’s femur was so severe that Joe lost nearly 3/4 of his blood volume by the time he arrived at the emergency room at the hospital where he is receiving treatment. He has required multiple surgeries to stabilize his injuries and treat his severe wounds and will require a lengthy and tortuous rehabilitation in an acute rehabilitation facility, and another surgery to place a bone graft where Joe lost substantial bone from his femur.

At this point, his recovery is ongoing, and the plan will be for Joe to transition to an acute rehabilitation facility, but his prognosis for full recovery in the use of his right leg remains uncertain at this point. We are hopeful and remain optimistic, but the road ahead will be arduous and painful for Joe.

Anything you can donate toward Joe’s recovery will be used to help pay for expenses related to his injuries and rehabilitation.

At the time of the rockslide, Joe was metaphorically and literally on the road to rebuilding his life and had planned on relocating in San Luis Obispo County. The trauma that Joe endured has altered the timeline and trajectory of the new life he looked forward to beginning, but Joe remains optimistic and steadfast in his goal of rebuilding his life.

The funds raised will be used to help Joe pay for the cost of medical expenses and therapies incurred that insurance does not cover. The funds will also be used to help Joe pay for any other expenses related to the loss of his home on wheels, his new Sprinter Van. He had the van packed with everything he needed to start his new nomadic lifestyle.

Joe has endured multiple setbacks in the past two years, but nothing has kept him from tenaciously and persistently moving forward and carrying on with a purposeful life.

I am grateful that Joe survived this, and I know he will manifest greater and better things for others once he recovers from his injuries.