Support Nate Davenport's Funeral Expenses

On Sunday, July 29th, Nate Davenport was involved in a drunk driving hit and run while cruising on his new motorcycle. After 3 weeks in the ICU, his injuries have shown too much damage to his brain to continue life.

His children are currently raising funds to support a respectable funeral and cremation with an estimated cost of $5,000.

Below, you will find the full story of his accident, injuries, and progression of his time in the hospital:

An update for those that are looking for some answers...

On Sunday Evening Dad/Nate was riding his motorcycle back to his truck for the night after spending the day out visiting friends and family. Around midnight, he was struck by a drunk driver, who fled the scene. We have no answers yet on how long he was in the road, who may have seen what happened, or who called emergency lines - but thankfully someone found him and called emergency for him. The person who hit him has been arrested and is being held on multiple charges.

He was taken to St Vincent Hospital and immediately brought into surgery for a skull fracture and bleeding in his brain. He is also suffering from injuries to his body including broken bones in his right leg, broken ankle on his left leg, broken right arm, and multiple breaks in his face.

While many speculated that he would not make it, he has made it his mission to prove us wrong so far and fight against the pain. While he has not actively woken up or been taken off of his sedation, he has reacted to his pain as well as some light stimulation and vocal commands from his team.

Nate is still under heavy sedation and pain medications, his team has been working around the clock to keep him comfortable and as pain free as possible. They have been attempting to get him off sedation and are getting very close, but he's still getting fairly agitated when they pull his sedation medication completely, so they've had to bump the medication a few times to keep him steady.

He seems to react and move the most when people are talking with him, or when the medication starts to wear off and the pain kicks in a bit.

Please continue to be hopeful, and if you're the type to pray then you know that's all he would want right now from everyone.

Visitors are more than welcome during hospital hours, as long as he remains in a steady condition right now. If you would like, please reach out for more info on where to visit.

I will take some time to update this post directly with any changes or concerns.

Update 7/31 @ 10 AM

He had a pretty restless night with his team needing to check in and adjust medications frequently. His blood pressure and heart rate were high. His body was responding to pain through the night. His neurologist has noted that there's not much of a difference in his brain improvement since Monday morning. He will be going for an MRI of the brain later in the day at 11:30 a.m. to see if there is anything internally that could give more information. His right pupil is currently unresponsive while his left has movement and is responsive. His team is noting that some of his body movement and hand squeezing may be involuntary as opposed to voluntary.

Update 7/31 @ 3:30 PM

He's back in his room resting after his MRI, his body is so tired right now. His results won't be ready until later this evening or tomorrow morning. They've removed the tube that was draining the blood and fluid buildup in his brain and rewrapped his head nicely. He has been off of the Propofol sedative since 8 AM with no reaction other than spike in his blood pressure so they have medication drip to manage that and keep it low. He's currently on Fentanyl for his pain and sedation now.

Update 8/1 @ 7:30 AM

He had another rough night. We're currently waiting around for doctors to come with his MRI results. After his results we may have them start a series of tests that gives us an idea of his level of brain activity that might be left. It's been recommended that if you've been wanting to visit, you should come today to see him. St. Vincent Hospital on Washington Ave ICU room 2102.

Update 8/1 @ 11:30 AM

His MRI results aren't very promising. He has a blood clot that has formed in his brain, the connection between his brain and his body communicating together is nearly non-existent. It's a conflicting decision between choosing to start being more aggressive with his care which could risk increasing his brain pressure and the swelling, or to transition towards comfort care which would allow his body and his brain to function on its own and be comfortable for end of life. His quality of life and recovery would be multiple years potentially of pain and rehab for his body if we chose the aggressive care route and he survived those treatments. Damien will be discussing with everyone at some point today what's best before making decisions.

Update 8/1 @ 6:00 PM

After talking with most of everyone today, Damien and I came to the decision that we will go ahead and start on an aggressive route to figure out what's going to be needed for his care and how much he can handle. With that choice, we will be moving forward with the two beginning procedures that they have requested us to decide on, which is a bronchoscopy to check out his lungs, suction out any potential fluid, and make sure he does not start to develop pneumonia. With that procedure they will need to lay him flat as well as position his head to make sure he can get a trach down his throat and into his lungs. That procedure will put a lot of pressure on his head more pressure than he's had so far. It's going to put him in a position that is going to be uncomfortable so with that procedure we will be reviewing how he takes it and how his brain reacts. He also needs a central line for medication flow. We won't be having any of these procedures started until Sunday at the earliest while we give some time for more family to arrive in town and see him before treatments get started.

Update 8/2 @ 10:00 PM

Tonight's update isn't really an update at all, because not much happened today. No negative decline and no positive healing still. They are attempting to lower his fentanyl dosage by giving him an oral oxycodone dose through his feeding tube, which is helping him more with the pain than the fentanyl was. Instead for today's updates I'm going to do my best to list from head to toe what all is going on:

Brain: Shearing of the brain causing significant damage which has severed a lot of bodily functions. A fractured skull that a portion of his skull has been removed to allow the brain room to swell that has not much gone down yet. A blood clot has formed. He had his initial surgery when he was first brought to the hospital and the surgeon did an incredible job saving his life this far.

Face:A severe facial break to his forehead, eye bones, and nose. In order to undergo surgery for any of his facial injuries he will need to be transferred to a level 1 trauma hospital in one of the surrounding big cities (but is unable to transfer until he heals more of his brain.) His right eye is fixed and dilated and showing no response during neuro checks but his left eye shows a response, however it is sluggish. He currently is on a ventilator through his mouth but will soon need a trach through his throat.

Upper body: Fractures to his clavical and multiple ribs, breaks in his humerus and radius of his right arm. None of which they can operate or cast until his brain can let his body undergo procedures.

Internal: Lungs are showing signs of potential early pneumonia with fluid buildup, awaiting a bronchoscopy and a tracheotomy to help him breathe. A grade 2 laceration to his spleen and liver, which will heal over time if his body withstands all the other healing he will need to do. He does need a central line put in soon to better manage his medication flow.

Lower body: Breaks in the tibia and fibula of the right leg, broken or fractured left ankle.

Please continue keeping him in your thoughts and visit as much as possible because we never know if his next day is promised to us right now.

Update 8/3 @ 9:20 PM

It's been a quiet day today. His heart rate is getting lower (good changes, it was very high for a few days). His blood pressure is still high, this evening they put him back on medication to try and lower it. The goal is for him to try to stay under 150 without medication, but it just isn't there yet. A big change a lot of you will notice when you come see him again is that his head isn't wrapped up any more! He's not bleeding or leaking through his staples where they closed him up from surgery anymore so they can let the incision sites breathe now. A lot of his facial swelling has started to go down and you can see his nose breaks a lot more. Tomorrow we will be talking with doctors about moving forward with his next procedures of bronchoscopy and placing a trach for his lungs and breathing support, as well as placing a central line to control his medication flow.

Update 8/4 @ 6:30 PM

When we arrived to the hospital today, the doctor informed us a bronchoscopy was no longer necessary as his lungs had cleared more on their own. Since he is doing alright on the ventilator he will also be holding off on the trach to see if we can make it out to Wednesday without needing it. He has needed more oxygen today than usual, so the doctors were a bit concerned and weren't sure why. Today, he had started catching his breath a few times which we hadn't seen yet. Before today all of his breathing was machine operated. It hasn't been enough that he has taken full breaths yet, but the doctor thinks that it may mean that the respiratory section of his brain is intact and not damaged. He has elevated white blood cells count which is showing a potential infection somewhere in his body but they are unsure of where so they took cultures of his blood, nose area, the ventilator, and his urine to test. His temperature lowered today, his heart rate is staying low and steady, he started to even out his blood pressure better.

Update 8/6 @ 10:30 PM

Sorry for taking time for a new update, it's been an emotional couple of days. Medically, no decline but also no improvements. The elevated white cell count revealed an infection in his lungs that they started antibiotics for. They have taken him off of fentanyl. The only medication he is on now is something for anxiety to keep him calm, and his antibiotics. His heart rate has been good, his blood pressure is better. His temp ranges from 100 up to 102.9, so they said if he spikes to 103 then they're going to get him an ice blanket. His oxygen requirements went back down and hasn't needed to be adjusted today, he still triggering his own breathing more over the ventilator. Today he started to fart... A lot. If you come by, grab a mask on your way in because he can easily clear a room right now. Ortho came by today to do a new CT for his leg and arm and are hoping to get him in for surgery at the earliest Thursday and at the latest Monday. Neuro is not hopeful for recovery of his brain still, and has said that if he's a miracle then he's going to have a very hard life coming out of this. We're still going to let him fight as much as he can though, we haven't changed our minds on letting him keep trying for life. He still moves a lot, raises his arm, squeezes hands, and clenches his upper body for pain. He coughs a lot on his own. They're just worried about how unresponsive his eye reflexes are right now, he's not blinking when they poke against his eyes which is indicative of lower brain stem activity. We just don't want to make any decisions for a few more days to see if he comes around.

Update on what happened to him

We've talked with the sheriff and investigator who gave us a better idea of what had happened the night of the accident. He had just left visiting a friend and was driving his new motorcycle to work for the night to sleep in his semi since he was going to be heading out on a route early in the morning for the week. Going southbound on the twin bridges, a drunk driver had been speeding and hit him from behind, and he flew over his bike to the ground hard. The driver continued on, apparently unaware he had hit anyone. A witness driving near them saw it all happened and called 911 immediately for him, so he was not there long before help arrived. The witness did not stay with him, but instead followed the other driver to where he was going so police could find him. Upon arrest, the driver was over the legal limit (unknown the exact BAC) but also had an open bottle in the car with him. He told police that he thought he had blown a tire and continued driving to the parking lot instead of stopping to check. He feels terrible for what has happened, has declined a lawyer and any resources. He originally had a court date 8/1 but it was pushed back and his new court date is tomorrow 8/7. He is facing charges of Operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol, failure to maintain required insurance, no drivers license, leaving the scene of an accident, failure to render aid/assist w death or physical injuries, and 1st degree assault. He was also in the process of his immigration, so they have halted his process and will be processing him for deportation after charging him. We have lawyers that have agreed to take on the case for us and assist us with all insurance, arrest records and outcome, and medical support we need right now.

I know many people have reached out to check in, or check on us, but I'm so tired and just can't keep up with individual messages right now. I will do my best to respond more tomorrow for everyone. Thank you all.

Update 8/7 @ 2:30 PM

His temperature spiked up to a fever of 104 so now they've got an ice blanket and an ice cap on his head, he's got pretty rapid breathing today and is moving around a lot so they're giving him some sedation to calm him down.

They want to get him into surgery for his arm and leg broken bones Thursday and do his trach and peg on Friday. His team is around the clock checking on him and making adjustments to keep him taken care of. Damien and I will make some continued care decisions after we see how well he does in his surgery tomorrow.

Update 8/8 @ 2:45 PM

They just came down to get him for surgery so he is going now for work on his right arm humerus and left leg tibia and fibula. His fever has stayed down with the help of the ice blanket and cold cap on his head. They've had him on very low level sedation since yesterday since he started moving around and breathing a lot more. They are not sure when they will pull him off of that sedation again since it is helping him to stay calm right now. I'll post an update with how he's doing once he's back from surgery.

Update 8/10 @ 5:30 PM

Sorry for the delay in updates, I needed a break from my phone and a good sleep. The surgery went great for him, he did very well with minimum blood loss and no spike in his brain pressure while under. Yesterday he also got a tracheotomy so that he could have more stability and avoid complications that too long on the ventilator could give him. He also got his peg tube into his stomach for his feeding. His mouth is finally free from all the tubes and he doesn't have a strap squishing on his face anymore. His tongue is pretty swollen from having all those tubes and the trauma his face has undergone so his tongue still hangs out his mouth. He moves his jaw a lot now. Still posturing his body a lot by moving his shoulders a bit and clinching his arms. He's finally making more regular bowel movements which they are happy with. His neuro checks have shown no changes, so it is neither negative nor positive with those updates.

Update 8/14 @ 12:30 PM

No real medical updates to give. His brain has no improvement in its activity level. His body is functioning as fine as it can with minimal medications. His staples in his head got removed from his surgery. He is still non responsive to brain stimulation commands and prompts.

Update 8/15 @ 8:15 PM

Damien and I are going to be taking the next steps in his care decisions / continues Care choices, and will be talking with everyone about these next updates in person tomorrow at the hospital before making any updates online. If you would like to be talked with in person, please reach out to me to let me know what time tomorrow you can come to the hospital to meet with us. Otherwise, the next update will be late this weekend.

Update 8/16 @ 5:55 PM

We've done as much as we can to try and talk with everyone in person or over the phone yesterday and today, so now we're posting his newest update. Yesterday he had a CT Scan that showed a shift in his brain that they couldn't originally see, that confirms there is no longer a strong enough connection from his brain, or any relevant activity. His progress has begun to decline, as he is no longer taking his own breaths, and his current life is fully machine supported now. Doctors have confirmed that he essentially is no longer with us, and his body and brain is being kept alive by the machines.

This weekend, please make time to come for a final conversation with him, and make peace with the decision we are moving forward with. On Monday, we will be removing him from the machines and taking him to palliative care, where it is estimated that he will pass within a few hours at most.

We appreciate everyone's support, strength, and hope these past 3 weeks, but it was within best interest that he will no longer be suffering and will pass with the dignity of being cared for by this incredible hospital team, and surrounded by his family.

Following his death, a funeral service will be planned and info will be sent out for everyone.