Posted By: Mary
Jack Schuh in critical condition - 05/15/03 04:03 PM
I did not post this yesterday -- guess I was just so upset that it did not occur to me. He is one of our catamaran senior citizens and pioneers and has been a good friend for at least 35 years. Recently he was inducted into the Catamaran Hall of Fame.
What happened is that he pitchpoled, but not on a boat. He was riding his bicycle and somehow went over the handlebars and landed on the left side of his face. This threw his neck back and crushed some vertebrae in his upper spine. Here is a quote from the message I received:
"He was completely paralyzed initally, but we have now been through 6 hours of surgery and progress is being made. He did not (thankfully) sever his spinal cord, but crushed the vertebrae, and there is cord involvement. It is high, the C3-4 vertebrae were fused last night and rods inserted to stablize his neck. today they are doing tracheotomy to help him breathe, we are hoping that will be short term. Best case, it will be 6-9 months before we will know his final recovery level, but he will be in wheelchair. Right this scond, there isn't much anyone can do, but pray.
We will need everyone in the coming months to keep his spirits up and motivated to maximize his recovery efforts. We will update as we know more. He is at Delray med center trauma ICU."
I have asked the family to keep me posted on his condition. And I will try to find out where to send cards.
What happened is that he pitchpoled, but not on a boat. He was riding his bicycle and somehow went over the handlebars and landed on the left side of his face. This threw his neck back and crushed some vertebrae in his upper spine. Here is a quote from the message I received:
"He was completely paralyzed initally, but we have now been through 6 hours of surgery and progress is being made. He did not (thankfully) sever his spinal cord, but crushed the vertebrae, and there is cord involvement. It is high, the C3-4 vertebrae were fused last night and rods inserted to stablize his neck. today they are doing tracheotomy to help him breathe, we are hoping that will be short term. Best case, it will be 6-9 months before we will know his final recovery level, but he will be in wheelchair. Right this scond, there isn't much anyone can do, but pray.
We will need everyone in the coming months to keep his spirits up and motivated to maximize his recovery efforts. We will update as we know more. He is at Delray med center trauma ICU."
I have asked the family to keep me posted on his condition. And I will try to find out where to send cards.