Traveling Triplets

Today Nate was featured on his college friends' blog,

The Traveling Triplets

We met Nate our freshmen year of college at BYU-Idaho back in 2006. He was wearing a Nixon brand belt buckle [hence the nickname] and probably had a Mountain Dew in his hand. We were friends with him throughout our college years and he was always there for us. We played soccer together, skied together, studied in the library together, and ate BBQ chips and cottage cheese together [weird triplet thing]. There is nobody quite like Nate.

((Click the link above to view full post))

Thanks Lisa, Kylie & Megan for helping spread the word!

And that's Nate.

We sure love this guy! 

domiNATE

Have you seen these yet?

That's right...it's time to domiNATE! 

So what is domiNATE? 

It's an awesome t-shirt campaign that will not only make you look super trendy, but help support Nate's rehabilitation. 

Barabara, long time friend of Nate, initially had the idea to make shirts to sell at a fundraiser hike in AZ, but it quickly became apparent that those who couldn't participate in the hike still wanted to purchase shirts. That's when she found Booster. She uploaded Nate's story and her shirt idea, and Booster does the rest (orders, printing the shirts, and shipping).

The fundraiser is open until Sunday, May 11th. Once Booster has received all the shirt orders, they will print the tees and individually ship them.

With the proceeds, Booster will write a check directly to Nate to help cover his medical expenses. 

REMEMBER: The shirts are cheaper to print in bulk, so the more ordered, the more money he will receive! Spread the word!!

((click HERE to order yours now))

We've said it before, and we'll say it again...THANK YOU for all the support! 

Rehab Update

Good news! 

Nate continues to gain strength; he is able to get in and out of his wheelchair with assistance....so 

he is being discharged this Friday from Brackenridge hospital in Austin! 

He will fly directly to Seattle to Harborview for acute inpatient rehab. 

Harborview was the top choice because he can be closer to Mom & Dad, and because Harborview is the primary investigator and  secondary investigator on a lot of spinal chord research. 

 FYI - Friends can visit in Seattle ANYTIME! The neurosurgeons say this is when Nate will need the most support from familiar faces. 

The entire family is continually overwhelmed with the love everyone around the nation is giving us. 

People are so kind and generous, thank you! 

KSL

Our boy Nate was featured on KSL.com today! 

It's an awesome article written by a friend of Nate's, Brooke Porter.

She did an amazing job, and we are so thankful for her help in spreading the word.

Nate continues to feel better everyday. 

We are so thankful for the prayers and support. 

Brooke nailed it on the head when she wrote, 

"It’s hard to not to have faith in someone who is caught smiling in every hospital picture, proclaiming to the world that he still plans on becoming a doctor — whether or not he gains functions in his legs again. Seems like this Aikele has more than one win left in his future."

Nate definitely has many more wins in his horizon, and we are thankful to be here cheering for him along the way!

View the full article HERE

Afternoon Walks

Nate continues to heal and is feeling better every day!

His only request is an IV filled with Diet Mountain Dew. 

(that's our Nate! :) )

As previously mentioned, this past weekend some friends from Midwestern university drove down for a surprise visit.

Nothing completes an afternoon walk like a great Tennis mural...reenacted to perfection, of course!

 And now for a back update.

(If you have a weak stomach...I highly suggest stopping right here)

Also, Nate's decided on initial rehab at Harborview at UW in Seattle.

Thank you for the continued prayers and donations. 

We are humbled everyday by the amount of love and support we receive.

Thank you!!

Thank Heaven for Helmets!!

This is why we wear helmets. 

Thanks to this little thing, Nate didn't suffer any brain damage. 

Litterally, a life saver. 

Today (with the help of 6 visiting med school friends, 2 sisters, and a cycling buddy) Nate finally escaped his room and got to soak in some sunlight!

Shauna (sister), whom Nate hasn't seen in a year and a half, also arrived today! 

It's been a great day, full of happy reunions and some much needed fresh air. :)

As always, thank you for the continued prayers and support.

Here's to many more sunny days, filled with healing and hope.

In the last 48 hours...

• Nate is sitting up in his bed and has actually got in a wheelchair - he got in a chair yesterday.

• The top two choices for rehab are Harborview in Seattle and Baylor in Dallas, but he's also considering UT Southwestern, also in Dallas.

• His appetite is gradually returning.

• They put his arm in a hard cast so that it will heal better - we are praying that it heals well so it can come off soon and he can have the use of his hand in rehab. 

• Lance has continued to email, tweet and support us. Nate's bike actually ended up at Mellow Johnny's in Austin - which Lance owns, so we had a laugh about that. 

Nate has moved rooms a lot. If anyone wants to visit or send packages, all you need to use is the address below, attention to Nathan Aikele, and the hospital will find him! 

University Medical Center Brackenridge - Seton

601 E 15th St

Austin, TX 78701

(512)324-7000

The entire family is overwhelmed with love and support from amazing people all over - we are so thankful.

Special Visitor

Check out who came to say 'Hey' to Nate today!

Professional cyclist Lance Armstrong surprised Nate and stopped by to give encouragement after hearing about his accident from one of Nate's cycling buddies.

When I asked Nate about this experience, he responded:
"He was a great guy, and super sincere. I loved all of it. He inspired me to get through this and get moving however possible!" 

One question in particular that Nate asked was "How do you deal with the agony that you go through on a endurance climb?." Lance responded "You get tunnel vision, you figure out what you need to do and you do it." This applies well to cycling, Nate said, to which I replied, "It applies well to life."
Nate also said of Lance "You see people that have gone through a hard time and made it out successful" Nate is going to do that same thing. #natethechampion #thatsmybro

It was inspiring for not only Nate but our entire family to see Lance today. Mom was overjoyed. We would like to thank Mason McMullin for making this all possible. I don't know HOW you managed to get Lance Armstrong here but we are all so thankful for you.  

Not only did Lance take the time to stop by, but he also donated to Nate's fund! 
(donations can be made HERE)

So many people have been reaching out and supporting Nate, cyclists and non-cyclists a-like! 
From retweets to reposts, to emails, to donations, to all kinds of spreading the word, we truly appreciate the love and support that has been felt. 

Nate, Lance, Diane (sister), and Lori (mom)

Thats all for tonight, I will repost soon. Keep praying and God Bless you all. #natethechampion

Nate Update

Nate and Skyler, a med school friend

FROM DIANE:

an email sent to family and friends, notifying and giving details of Nate's accident.

Everything is confusing and unclear because Nate does not remember anything from the crash, but I spoke to the race director, Andrew Willis, and although he did not personally see what happened, the riders behind Nate recounted this story to him: The course has two u turns before you get to the finish line. The riders had done a few laps already, so he knew the turns were coming up, but he was pretty close to the finish line. He looked over his right shoulder to determine what his lead on the other riders was as he came in for 1st. Since the course had those 2 u-turns near the end, when he looked over his shoulder he went off course and hit a tree.

Nate refused to give any paramedic contact info for a family member for some time. He didn't want to worry anyone. Finally the woman who admitted him to the ER was able to get a phone number out of him - he had my dads number memorized. I got a call from dad at about 8:30 pm on Thursday, the day of the accident, and left Dallas at about 10pm with AmyJo. We got here around 2am on Friday morning and got on the phone with the PA from the Nero team who said she admitted him and looked at his CT scan and MRI and saw partial tears in the spine. She scheduled surgery for 3pm on Friday the 11th. He slept and was in and out and was saying all kinds of crazy things - he had to be at work in a few hours, where was his bike? where were his biking clothes - they were really expensive so why would they cut them? 

He kept asking when he would be able to feel his feet and legs. They didn't have any final answers before surgery, and we were all hopeful the tear was incomplete so that he could feel them after surgery and some PT. Nate doesn't remember much about what happened before surgery. He remembers nothing from the crash. 

The surgery entailed reconstructing the spine from T8 up to T4 and also some work on L1 in his lumbar region. The T7 and T8 vertebrae controls anything from below about the nipple line or mid ribs. During surgery, the surgeon was actually able to see the chord, which is not typical, (they usually just see the vertebrae and reconstruct the), but because Nate's tear was so severe, they saw the chord. The tear was described as a traumatic dural tear with leaking cerebral spinal fluid (csf). We have to monitor for headaches because with that csf leak, you can get spinal headaches. [I have heard of pregnant women getting them when they have epidurals - I hear they are terrible.] He has had a headache, but not a strong one that indicates the spinal headache. Anyway, the chord was completely severed and snapped right back into place at the time of impact. They used bones from his pelvis and screws and metal to stabilize the spine and to protect the chord from any further damage. Nate is now able to move his upper trunk freely without risking any further damage to his chord. They cut into him right from the base of his neck all the way to above his butt. A long incision. 

His left arm has a fracture that the Otho team said they were originally going to reset during spinal reconstructive surgery while he was already under anesthesia. I am not sure why they changed their minds but he is just in a splint for now. (I think the break can heal on its own and their plan right now is not to reset it.) He needs that hand for practicing podiatry, and he is continuing to ask questions about it. He feels like there is a metacarpal fracture, but x-rays show there isn't and he should regain full mobility in that hand. 

The break in his left hand is on his radial steroid and ulna. The break is non operative so they are just going to let it heal itself with a splint. The neurosurgeon who reconstructed his spine is actually glad they just splinted it because he said that in PT it is better to have full use of the hand rather than it being in a cast. If it is in a cast, Nate can't do the exercises that focus on his upper body strength he will need if he is in a wheel chair - which he will be at least temporarily.His face has no scars or road rash. The only visible scars are on his hands and arms, and are minimal. So his skin on his legs and body and face and neck look really good - still handsome.

The neurosurgeon said Nate is an ideal candidate for some of the most recent and innovative spinal rehab studies. Some of the best work they are doing is in Toronto, Miami, Seattle and Houston. He strongly recommends that Nate go to the best rehab facility, but having family and support from familiar people is vital to the success of his rehab program. Once he does pick a rehab program, any visitors are encouraged to come at that time. Visitors are actually better for rehab than here in the ICU. 

They moved him from ICU to intermediate care (IMC) last night. Today they are doing a physical therapy/occupational therapy evaluation at 3 pm to see how he responds to sitting up out of his bed. After they do the evaluation (getting him out of his bed for the first time and actually sitting in a chair, lifting his body, etc.) and see how he responds and how strong he is, that will determine when they will discharge him from this location.  

He is on Zofran and another pain med that keeps him sleepy. He is really involved in what drugs they are giving him; how many mg and what their plans are. He knows all this medical terminology that I don't know and he is really involved every time someone comes in the room. I think it exhausted him so much that he is FINALLY sleeping now. (This is the first day I have actually seen him rest.) He has his phone on him, but it hurts his eyes to look at it. He likes waking up from naps and seeing text messages and voice mails. He was super excited to talk to his mission president and presidents wife yesterday.

Because pain meds really slow down gi tract movement, Nate is super bloated. He looks 5 months pregnant. The stomach bloating pushes on his broken sternum and hurts a lot, and the bloating is giving him constant hiccups. The only time I have seen him frustrated is when the hiccups wont stop. When he finally falls asleep, he is woken up by hiccups. He's tried sugar, gargling water, being scared, pulling on his tongue, tickling the soft palette of his mouth with a cotton swab, etc....because every time he hiccups, his broken ribs really hurt. 

He was so dehydrated when they went in for surgery that after surgery he was drank so much that he got what is called a post op ilius. They tried an NG tube which was HORRIBLE. It is a thick plastic tube that you insert through your nose and it goes down your throat and sits in your stomach and vacuums out liquid in your stomach. It was awful. That is the first time I heard him complain of pain. He said "I know what pain is and this is the most awful thing I have ever felt." The tube pumped out some liquid, but did not relieve his abdominal pain so I made the nurse take it out, even though they wanted to leave it in 24 hours. The hospital has been good about letting him call the shots. 

The cycling world, I have come to find out, is really like a tight-knit brotherhood. They take care of each other. We have had a lot of support from ER docs and cyclists here that take the news super bad. I am tired of making people cry when I drop these bombs on them about his condition. 

Honestly, I am not lying when I say he has been extremely positive. The most frustrating thing for him right now is the hiccups. He has not been resting much because he likes to have people around. (Luckily he is finally starting to let his sleep be a priority today.) He loves to have us read him the scriptures and say prayers with him. He is making jokes and talking to everyone super respectfully. At one point he said "s#!t" when the nurse put the NG tube down his nose, and he was apologizing profusely after that. He has been really kind to me, and I know that must take a lot because he should be really frustrated at this point with not being able to moving anything.

Please help us earn money to offset the medical costs associated with inpatient rehabilitation, by donating at 

https://fundly.com/nate-for-the-win?ft_src=widget_campaign_card