{Karlton Bontrager}

We’re so excited. So many good things have happened. Last night when I returned from emailing at the university, a Chinese energy healer was there. Mom seemed to be comfortable with his work, and we could see marked changes in KS’s behavior. KS had been so restless before, reaching out with his right leg as if trying to explore the space around him, but sometimes nearly kicking anyone who was nearby. After the energy session, he settled into peaceful rest.

Again, people have been so wonderful. One of his friends stopped by yesterday morning about 7:15a on her way to work. As we were leaving the hospital at 9:00p, we ran into another friend on her way in to visit him. She’d been working all day and stopped by on her way home. Another friend brought in bags of pastries from the supermarket where she works. That covered what we needed to eat last night with enough for this morning and still more left over! Rest assured that we are in loving hands.

All of KS’s movements so far have been with his right arm and leg. That’s because the damage is to the right side of his brain. The only thing he was able to do on his left side yesterday was open his eye occasionally. This morning, however, we detected a small movement with his left arm. When asked to repeat it, however, he moved his right instead. It looks as if he’s having to use a different part of his brain to do the tasks he used to with his left.

He’s scheduled for a tracheostomy this morning. That is, they’re going to open an airway in his throat so he won’t have to have the air tube in his mouth. The fear in removing the airway is that his tongue will fall back and block his throat. The trachostomy will allow air to flow even if that should happen. It sounds scarey, but hospital staff assure is that it’s standard procedure and can be reversed when he’s healthier.

The press keeps trying to get an interview with us. Haven’t quite decided how we’ll handle that. Want to bring that up with the hospital social worker.

One of Karlton’s friends went back to Queenstown to start a campaign encouraging people to wear helmets when they snowboard. Great idea, huh?

I called the hospital at 7 p.m. today (Monday – Pacific time) and for the first time, they were able to say that he’s going to survive.

He was brought out of heavy sedation earlier today and there are many good signs. He’s been trying to open his eyes, and he’s been moving his right arm and leg. Mom says he squeezed her hand when she asked him to.

At this point he is still paralyzed on his left side, and it looks like he doesn’t have vision in his right eye. We are hoping that it’s not permanent – but it’s too early to tell. There’s still a long, long road toward recovery, but at least we know he’s on it.

My sister, one of his friends in L.A., and I all received mail from him today. A nice coincidence.

Thank you again for all your support. I’ve been passing on messages to him through my parents. I know that all the love, prayer and support is helping him recover.

Hi-wanted to update you on my brother’s condition. Yesterday he underwent a second round of surgery to remove more damaged brain tissue. It seemed to be successful, as his brain is pretty much in the correct position now. As before, they are trying to get the swelling down. His condition is stable – they are keeping him heavily sedated and keeping his body temperature low so that he can recover better.

The good news is that Dunedin Hospital is the primary teaching hospital for New Zealand and he is receiving excellent care. The entire hospital staff is going out of their way for my brother and for my parents. He also has many friends there who have been spending a lot of their time at the hospital.

Cards can be sent to:
Karlton Bontrager
Intensive Care Unit, 5A
Dunedin Public Hospital
210 Great King St
Dunedin, New Zealand

Thanks again for all your prayers, calls, and messages of support.

Some of you may have heard from me; others are hearing now for the first time. Sorry to contact you by email; as you can imagine it’s been pretty tough here.

Friday morning 7/5 my dad got a call from New Zealand. My brother had a bad snowboarding accident, sustained a major head trauma, and is in critical condition. Details follow below. My parents are in New Zealand now and my sister Alexa and I are waiting to see if we need to head out there as well.

Please send thoughts and prayers his way. I will forward the hospital address for cards when I have that information. Feel free to contact me at this email address or you can call me at my house.

Thanks for your support.

Thanks for contacting people for us and for him. His friends here have been great. They’ve stayed and talked with us, helping us feel more positive about the experience. They have great stories to tell about Karlton . . . about his work, his engaging personality, etc. We did a lot of smiling and laughing about him. He really is such a special person!

Friends tell us that he and a friend were snowboarding Friday. They took different trials, and he might have gotten off the trail, exploring on his own. It seems that his snowboard hit a rock that sent him flying. He landed on his face, hitting another rock with his head above the right eye. The ski patrol found him. It just so happened that a group from the hospital was out that direction. They immediately went to rescue him, and he was sent by helicopter to a town 3 hrs. away by car.

The accident was quite a blow to the brain with many fractures around the eye and down to the jaw. The doctors told us that he was in surgery to remove parts of the skull so that the brain had room to swell. The CAT scan yesterday revealed that the brain was shifting to the left side b/c of crowding. That’s why they took him back into surgery again today. They want the brain to stay in place. I was hopeful that since it wasn’t a neck injury, that he’d likely not lose the use of his limbs. But they didn’t give us any assurances. Vision in the right eye is probably the most certainly precarious right now. For the rest, we’ll have to see how he responds. He is out of surgery now.

He has been unconscious since the accident. At this point, the coma is drug induced. The doctors lessened the drugs today to see how he’d respond. Yesterday when they did that, he made grasping motions with his hands as if trying to pull at the tubes that I imagine are in his nose and/or throat. That, they tell is, is a natural response. But today his responses were more limited. He just extended his hand, no grasping motions. So that was further evidence that there was pressure on the brain and another reason to go back into surgery.

That’s about all we can tell you for now other than that we’re in really good hands. The hospital arranged a hotel for us to spend the nite. We’ll probably go there at some point, but may make that our base of operations as we try to spend most of our time in the hospital.

Thanks for all you’ve done and for your positive thoughts and prayers.