Bad news for my family - my nephew, my brother’s step-son, had a vehicle roll-over while on duty in Afghanistan and has broken his back. He apparently isn’t paralyzed, thank God. At this point we don’t know much more. They med-evaced him to Germany and we don’t know when they’ll bring him home. He’s 21.
StG
Keep your cool.
He’s in the hands of the most experienced trauma care people in the World.
Give your brother & his wife all the support you can.
Sending prayers and good wishes.
The military has cutting edge medical skills and the doctors see this sort of thing often enough to be very good at what they are doing. I know that is small comfort, but do know that once he got to medical care, they were very good.
It’s possible to do quite a bit of damage to the bones of the back without doing any damage to the nerves, so fingers crossed.
He is not paralyzed, so the worry over the worst is not necessary. I have a Navy friend who had this happen to him. He could not fly fighter jets anymore due to the broken vertebrate. He needed immobile bed rest and then life went on.
I know it could be worse, but it’s still scary to have a kid continents away. With luck we’ll hear more soon.
StG
Wishing you the best outcome, and strength through this.
He’s going to have great treatment, and he may have a very manageable injury. I broke three vertebrae, recieved no treatment, and somehow managed to walk away with zero linger effects. I hope it is something like that.
Oh, StG, that is terrible, but it sounds like the potential for a solid recovery. Wishing him and your family strength.
Best wishes for him. I have a good friend who broke his back in a motorcycle accident. Similarly, he was not paralyzed. In fact, he’s absolutely fine now - goes mountain biking, for instance.
I hope your nephew has a similar experience.
Hang tough.
There are organizations that will assist with getting his parents (or spouse) to him so they can be with him in the hospital in Germany- PM me if you need details. They’ll likely transfer him to Texas or Maryland for additional care; both are top-notch facilities and staffed with well experienced medical folks.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
This. My brother broke his back (compression-fracture of a thoracic vertebra) in a motorcycle accident 14 years ago. No spinal cord injury, he’s led a normal life since then.
OP, if your nephew has no spinal cord injury, then the worst is probably over with at this point.
Don’t worry, that happened to Batman, and he recovered nicely.
Wishing your nephew all the best for a full and quick recovery.
I broke my back (T2 and T3) about 10 years ago, and was able to actually walk afterwards.
Stunned the folks in the ER, that was for sure. I still have some neuralgia but no loss of function.
I wish you and yours the best, StG. Since he isn’t paralyzed (thank Og), then he is likely to recover completely. He may be out of the service, though. I am not certain about that. Maybe relegated to a desk job.
Please keep us posted.
StGermain–call your Congressman & Senator, & ask for all the help he can give.
You’d be surprised.
This is about a real person who is related to the OP, not a fictional character. Please try to keep such things in mind when dropping snark like that into a thread such as this.
Hal Briston - MPSIMS Moderator
StGermain, I really hope all goes well for your nephew.
Best wishes from me here, as well. Do please let us know, good or bad, how things are going for your brother’s corner of the world.
Best wishes & hang in there. Its all you can do.
The only person I ever knew who broke their back is also the only person I ever knew who won any bodybuilding awards; he was introduced to weightlifting after breaking his back in a car accident. It sounds like a horrible and painful thing to go through though, I wish him the best.