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As far as an update on him, not much has changed. He ended up getting a mild case of pneumonia from being on the vent. It is slowly getting better. He has a little fan at the foot of his bed that is always on him and last night my wife and I were up there and my wife and his mother had the sheet off of his legs messing with his feet for about 15 to 20 minutes and he woke up and said he wanted a blanket. That showed us that he has atleast some sensation in his legs.
GHR, are we a no go on something from JS7?
It's this type of thing that is the reason we have ongoing fundraisers - we just never know in this sport who it's going to be or when. Ride safe, ride tomorrow!
The Shop
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
I spent all morning at the hospital with Kalebs folks and the rep from Craigs hospital. Good news, Kaleb will be flown out to Craigs on Thursday!! Insurance is going to pay as well! They don't pay 100% obviously, so all of these fund raisers are still needed. Kalebs mom is going with him and will stay there the whole time he is there which is estimated to be 3-4 months. They will provide her with 1 month of free lodging after that, she has to pay $70 a night or go stay in a hotel. So, this is going to get expensive real quick.
With the urging of the Craigs rep, his doc here ordered a swallow test to see if he is capable of eating in drinking normally. Hopefully his throat is strong enough because he's gone over a week without a drink or a bite to eat. He gets fed froma feeding tube.
A few days after getting to Craigs they are going to start working with him on his breathing so that they can take the trake out. That will be a big improvement for him as it's really uncomfortable to him and he also can't talk with it in. We have to read his lips right now.
The rep doesn't make any promises, but said that Kaleb is way ahead of the curve already as far as his feeling and breathing and he doesn't have any other health issues. Right now, he has normal feeling down past his bicept then it starts going away a bit until his finger tips, where he can just barley feel touch. She didn't bother messing with his abdomen or legs yet.
I don't know how, but information from the night he arrived at the hospital was not the same as the rep told us today. She said that his C-4 slipped over the top of C-5, which pinched the spinal cord and deprived it of blood and oxygen. So, we just have to wait it out and only time will tell how much of the spinal cord will recover from being pinched.
His diaphram is fine. It is just being over worked right now because his lungs aren't working perfectly just yet. So, he should be fine breathing on his own soon and for the rest of his life without help from a machine.
His spirit is a bit down right now as anyone would expect for a 16 year old with his whole life ahead of him and to have such a tramatic injury happen. So, not only does Kaleb and his family need your help in the form of donations or buying stickers, braclets, raffles, etc.., Kaleb needs support for his mental well being. You guys can give him that.
FYI, the stickers got to my house this morning!!! My wife called the bracelet company to see if they would put a rush on making them so we could have them by this weekend and they told us that the cheaper bracelets (that we ordered) that have the name stamped on the bracelet take longer than the bracelets with the names embossed into the bracelet. So, we ordered 200 embossed bracelets which will be here before the TNT race and our original order of 250 will be in sometime next week.
Gary Tucker (Co Owner of TnT Raceway, owner of Signs on the Go), has agreed to make Kaleb a 30 inch by 6 foot vinyl banner in white that reads "Get Well Kaleb". We will have a table at the TNT race with that banner taped to it along with markers, so everyone needs to come by and write a quick message to Kaleb. We can then roll it up and send it to him at Craigs and he can un roll it and hang it on his wall as inspiration. My wife will also be selling the number plate stickers for $10 and the bracelets for $5 as well as raffles for $5 for the jersey ID printing which will have 4 winners drawn at the last race of the series and the Kings will also be at the table selling raffle tickets for a $700 Shoei Helmet signed by Travis Pastrana. The helmet was mailed to Travis today, so it won't make it back in time for the TNT race but should be back by the Midland round. We will still have a picture of the helmet though (without signature) of course at the TNT round. We are selling raffle tickets at $10 each for that. Of course you can buy as many tickets for the helmet or ID kit as you wish.
We have started receiving donations to the PayPal fund we setup for the family. So, a big thank you to those who have donated and a plea to everyone else, if you can spare $5, $10, or even $20, please send it to his PayPal account we recently setup.
I'm going to send some stickers to a contact I have in Amarillo who will distribute them to the local shops. So, if you live in that area, stop by Sharps and I think it called David Browns later this week or next to buy a sticker. I'm also going to have some at Lubbock Famly PowerSports, and I'm even sending some to River Valley. So, you folks in the DFW area riding at RV in the next few weeks, please buy a sticker and put it on your bike and let Kaleb ride with you, as he'll probably never get to ride by himself again.
Thats about all I can think of right now. If you have any questions, suggestion or just want to tell me that I'm ugly and stupid, don't hesitate to PM me on here or email to Russ@Erbemanphotos.com
Thanks
Russ
Also still stunned over the passing of Jesse and my thoughts are still with the Masterpool family.
ps. Check out the post for the Ricky Dietrich autographed gear which is stickied at the top of the Moto-Related section here at Vital. It's stuff like that combined with direct donations form the community that allow RiderDown to help out these guys when they go down. Bid high - it's for a good cause!
Hope the stickers showed up O.K . Keep us posted as to how the fund raising is going and if you need more decals just say the word.
Thanks again!!
Russ
Pit Row
And Russ my friend, you are a truly great man. Thank you and your dear wife for what you are doing!
105
johnnyjohnjohn210@hotmail.com , yeah shut up you try finding an email add with john in it that's not taken ha
but i'll give you a little bit of advice from my own experience.
take photos even of the hard stuff (if you know what i mean) cause he'll get better than he is now, but you lose sight of that so the reference helped me keep positive and see my progress it really helped, even now 7 years later i look at them and actually feel proud of myself if i'm having a low day (feeling sorry for myself)
oh and by the way his prognosis sounds really promising
Prayers for Kaleb and his family
Anyway, sorry to get off subject a bit. I've just got a warm and fuzzy right now from this whole thread.
Once again, thanks to all that have already helped in some way, and thanks to those of you who might do something in the near future as well.
Russ Erbe
Just a reminder while everyone is feeling it - there are MANY other riders (kids and adults) who suffer similar injuries and are faced with medical, emotional and financial consequences on an all too regular basis. RiderDown.org was started over 5 years ago to help just this type of rider, the amateur racer, weekend-warrior, recreational enthusiast who goes down while pursuing his (or her) passion for the sport. It was started to help ease the process of getting help to these guys when they go down. Rather than having to reinvent the wheel each time and have the local club hold a bake sale or a 50/50 raffle at the track we have tried to set up a conduit and funding vehicle that every injured rider can take advantage of. We jumped through all the hoops with the IRS to become a tax exempt charity so your contribution will be tax-deductible. We have a PayPal account set up for donations. We have a public forum for people to post injury reports and well wishes along with Fundraising events and opportunities to get involved and support the riders. We also have a sub-forum "Remembering Those Who Rode" where a continually updated list is maintained in honor of our fallen riders.
Tough stuff, but we've succeeded. We've helped hundreds of riders and their families. Visit the RiderDown.org website for more stories if you can handle it. I mean, it can seriously be depressing and might cause you to lose the edge or slow down when riding. Then again, there are some pretty uplifting messages of hope and individual strength. At the very least some of the stories will make you think.
We've accomplished a lot for a small group of volunteers with no real racing cred or industry insider connections. I don't draw a salary for what I do with RiderDown, if anything my "real" job has suffered dramatically for this cause. So has my personal ride time. RDF is not perfect and we know we can improve. We are limited in what we can do and how we can do it - limited by the number of you who are willing to actually give back. I'm always humbled by those who stop and take the time to help and to those individuals I say... thank you. But to everyone else - I am begging you to consider ways in which you can help - our fellow riders need you.
Thanks for listening - I hope I was able to convey the message clearly. Perhaps this should have been a separate thread because in no way do I want to take anything away from the positive vibe going for Kaleb.
Post a reply to: Ok Vital Community this kid needs you!