thought some of you may like to know that Jeff (Paddler) was injured down in Moab this weekend at an unofficial Isuzu gathering. He was CareFlighted to Grand Junction where, as I type this he is in the hospital, recovering.

It happened Friday, as we were doing Steel Bender. We(Jeff, myself, Troy/94Rodeo) and Ron & Mary(a couple in our local club), and 2 of Ron & Mary's kids in their own vehicles) had taken the longer route for Steel Bender (not the one found in Charles Wells 1st edition guide book, but the "official Jeep Safari route") We had come to the obstical known as The Wall. During the obsticle, one of the trucks we were with broke their pinion shaft. Although he had front wheel drive, we had to pull out the Carrier in order to get the pinion gear out of the way so at least the ring gear and axles could roatate. We backed the truck down to a spot that was relatively flat. We choked the front tires, and used a rock to place under a small floor jack to raise the axle. We were able to get the tires off, and put 1 under the driver side. The passenger side was a lot closer to the ground due to the mild slope we had...so we weren't able to put the tire under the passenger side. As Jeff was under the truck (even after the driver said he would do it) The force of the turns caused the truck to slid off and to the passenger side. Jeff was stuck underneath. Luckily the 4 guys and 2 girls were able to actually pick the truck up enough to let Jeff get out. (This was extremley lucky considering that we didn't have a quicly accessible Hi-lift without unbolting it from the bumper of another truck.

Jeff was alert and talking, although in a lot of pain in his abdomen. The ring gear had cut his head open pretty deep, and the shackle had landed between his belly button and groin. After calling 911, they were sending in the search and rescue. Anyway, Jeff was curious and asking why not a chopper. I called back and asked. They told me that due to the description, (Beside the fact he had a large head cut, feeling of internal bleeding, but being awake and concious) they decided to send them in via ATV.

After waiting for them to come for probably close to 45 mins, I got word from the others in the party that he was close to losing conciousness. I called back, and they then deicided to launch the chopper out of Grand Junction. It still takes 30 mins by air, which worried me. As the chopper approached, it actually missed us...based the GPS coordinates we gave (Jeff....when you read this, according to the sheriff the GPS coordinates were 2 miles off) they were quite a ways from us. The dispatcher called me and had me guide them in....we also used flares that luckily Ron had in his truck. The chopper made 2 attempts at landing but was unable due to the surroundings, so they landed a good 300+ yards away. Luckily, as they landed the sheriff, EMT's and Search and Rescue arrived at the same time.

They began working on Jeff(which I found out later he almost lost it during the 1st attempted landing of the chopper) As they worked on him, they expressed and confirmed that Jeff had major pain in his lower abdomen. They gave him and IV and strapped him to a back board. They had to use the ATV's to get him around to the chopper (The only other route was going up over The Wall) After they left, we were extra careful and finally finished Troy's repair. Mary drove Jeff's truck off the trail, and we made it back to town. I had called Jeff's wife Deana as they were taking him away in the helicopter and luckily she was already on her way so she was able to just head to Grand Junction instead.

I recieved a follow up call from Deana right as we got off the trail around 7:30pm. It turns out that Jeff's artery that feeds his colon and bowels had been torn open and he was bleeding internally. They did an emergency surgery on him to fix this damage. The head wound wasn't of much concern as I had thought. Deana also reported that they had to give Jeff a pint of blood in the helicopter and needed had needed to be revived.

Well, luckily Jeff is ok. He will be in Grand Junction for a few more days. The original estimate was 5 days in the hospital. I am sure he will be down and out for a while after that. All I can say is, thank God Jeff wondered about the helicopter and in some ways made me push the issue, otherwise I feel the outcome would be much worse.

This is a horrific reminder that regardless of the time it takes, make sure you follow all saftey measures. We all knew it wasn't the best setup, and everyone of us should have pushed the issue to get something under that passenger side. So, let me finish by saying, Thank God Jeff is alright and recovering....and remember that no matter what, take the time to do things right....for the risk is far to great.

Steve

Glad that Jeff is doing alright and will be getting out earlier then expected.

Details were kind of sketchy when we first heard about it after arriving back at portal on friday.

Holy Crap!!

Please keep us posted on Jeff's recovery.

Thanks for the heads up.

Steve

PS The head wound could only help . . .

Just heard from Corbin, he and his wife stopped in and saw Jeff today on their way back to Denver. His release may be on Friday now.

He will stay in our thoughts and prayers until the recovery is complete.

Jonesy, when you Zutah guys get some info on what they need, let me know. All I can do is paypal some $$ to help with expenses - I'm sure there will be some...

I am willing to chip it for expenses, wheeled with jeff 2 years ago on my first moab trip great guy. Thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery. Don

Get well soon, man. Glad to hear you're making a recovery. Hopefully folks reading this will learn from the lesson.

Get well soon, Jeff. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" /> I'll be keeping you in my thoughts <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Speedy recovery Jeff, get well. See you at CoZu in August. Looking forward to hearing this campfire story.

Thanks for letting us know Jonesy. Work safe everybody!

YIKES!!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />


This terrible news sure puts things in perspectiveà
Suddenly, flopping my Rodeo on its side last weekend in Uwharrie really isnÆt such a big deal anymore.


Jeff, I hope that you have a very swift and painless recovery!


Smiley

Jeff, you have my best wishes for a speedy and complete recovery. Please let us know if there is anything we can do.

It was shocking and scary to hear what happened; Fernando got a couple of phone calls about the EMT issues while we were at the Golden Crack that day...