Josh Porter

On December 28th, 2017, Josh Porter was on his way to work and 8 miles from home. The road that he was on was snow and ice covered. Another driver had slid and went left of center, hitting Josh head on.  Josh was air lifted to Parkview Regional. Josh suffered broken ribs, a broken wrist, a laceration to the kidney, and some cuts. All of these have healed. Unfortunately, the most severe injury was damage to his carotid artery which resulted in a massive stroke on the right side of his brain that evening. On New Year's Eve he had half his skull removed to allow room for the brain to swell after the stroke.  There was fear that he would not survive the swelling. The family waited hour by hour. Josh was placed on a vent, a feeding tube, pain medication, sedation, and other medications. It has now been six and a half weeks as I write this. Today he is in rehabilitation and could possibly be coming home on February  20th. He has a three year old and five year old who have very much missed their daddy being home. Josh also is very home sick. His progress so far is that he has went from a vent to a trach and the trach was taken out a few days ago. He still has a feeding tube in his stomach until he is able to eat more during the day. The brain is still swollen and it will be awhile longer before the swelling has gone down enough to put the other half of his skull back on. He has to wear a helmet when up and moving for protecting his brain.  His left leg moves a little bit and he is learning each day to move it more. His left arm does not work, but there is optimism that with therapy it will come back. He has been working really hard in therapy and each day he is doing more and more. I am confident a near full recovery is possible, it will just take time.  Recovery is best within the first year. Our goal is to work hard at therapy and get him back to where he needs to be to live a full and happy life. This will take time. If Josh is able to ever return back to work, it probably won't be for another year. He is definitely determined to prove me wrong! For those who know Josh well, you can't keep him down. It's all about attitude and what you believe you can do.   As of right now, Josh will be using a wheel chair until we are able to get him up, able to walk steadily, and without being a fall risk. He has been working very hard at that and doing fantastically by leaps and bounds. We are also outfitting the house with what we can for what he needs. I'm a stay at home mom and take care of our children, one of which is already doing Physical therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Speech Therapy for developmental delays. He is coming along well. I know and understand this area of therapy well and I am prepared to help Josh with his.  How can you help? I've had many ask and so I have started this fund for those who have asked, but too far away to really know what to do. We are not sure what the future holds. The money received from the accident will not cover the medical bills made already, let alone the future. We know we have options and ways of getting help. However, there will be things like gas money, maintenance on our remaining vehicle, bills, and other things for which there will be no help for. There is also the children and their needs. We are forever grateful to you all and to those who have helped so much since this has begun. Forever in my heart you will be. This has been a difficult time, but God has blessed us with so much and with so many wonderful people in our life. We are very grateful and thank you all so much.