Help Chris Shertzer’s Recovery from Catastrophic Injuries

Story

Money raised in this Go Fund Me will go to the family of Chris Shertzer, to help during this most challenging time.

On Tuesday, May 13, Chris Shertzer was doing routine yard maintenance in the backyard while the kids were at school, and Maureen was at work. He was using a chainsaw on some smaller limbs of the avocado tree. The chainsaw “kicked back” and ripped his neck apart in two separate gashes. He then fell from the ladder, causing 9 broken ribs, a punctured lung, and a broken pelvis.

As horrific as these near-fatal injuries were, several things happened that kept Chris alive–barely. Maureen found Chris in the backyard, on his back, bleeding out. (The trauma surgeon said that he needed 15 units of blood, as well as platelets, and another minute may have been the difference.) The ambulance that came when Maureen called 911 arrived instantly, and for some reason, the back gate, usually locked, was open. So the crew didn’t lose another thirty seconds fetching bolt cutters from the rig. He was on his way to the hospital–only a mile away–in seconds. The trauma team was standing by, ready to rush him into surgery.

He is still intubated and sedated (today is day 10) and is battling a bacterial infection, as well as a fusarium mold from the wound.

Fusarium is a particularly nasty mold, and the only treatments for it are themselves quite toxic to humans, so he is not by any means out of the woods yet.

The kids know he has these injuries, but they do not know the extent of the neck wound or what specific type of equipment caused it.

Chris will be in the ICU for at least several more days, and there will be more surgeries before the trauma team can even consider moving him to a recovery room. And even if everything goes as well as it possibly can, he will be in a rehab facility for months, until his pelvis can bear weight again.

Maureen has had to take leave from her job with the local school district, to be there for Chris during this time. This has made the family’s finances tough indeed.

Thank you so much for your continued support and well wishes for Chris. Your contributions are going towards summer childcare in addition to the unexpected expenses that come with emergencies. What we are asking for is any amount that you can comfortably donate today.

I’m sure we are all becoming increasingly aware of the climbing costs of prolonged medical care in America these days. And we don’t even yet know the full extent of the future care and rehab that he will need. It seems that you don’t have to look far, to find stories of families who have taken years to recover financially from such circumstances. Our hope is to prevent Chris Shertzer’s family from becoming just another one of those stories.

Please help in any way you can. And thank you, thank you, thank you.

Organizers :

Terence Geoghegan is organizing this fundraiser on behalf of Maureen Shertzer.