The Accident & Progress so far
Tuesday morning, September 26th, at 5:30 Josh left his home in Buena Vista, Colorado for his usual early morning workout before going to work. He rode his bike to the gym. At around 6:30 a jeep struck Josh while he was riding home. After the accident three men happened to be running by and one was medically trained ex-special forces. The man immediately assessed Josh and saw that he was unresponsive and required CPR. He began administering CPR to Josh on the scene and amazingly was able to resuscitate Josh and keep him alive until emergency medical personnel arrived. Josh was then life-flighted to Colorado Springs Memorial Hospital.
Upon examination the Hospital realized, among a long list of other things, that he had sustained a massive head trauma and needed immediate surgery. After surgery he was declared stable but in serious critical condition. Upon hearing the news the family, Mike and Kelly (mother and father) and John Michael and Kelsey (brother and sister in law) began driving from Arkansas to Colorado Springs to be with Josh. Sister Maggie was able to fly out from Nashville. Afterwards news of the accident was quickly disseminated to friends and family.
Luckily, if you know Josh, you know he is not shy and makes friends easily and quickly. Upon hearing the situation people began flooding from Buena Vista, Denver, and Colorado Springs to be with Josh. By time he was out of surgery around 5pm on the 26th, he had an army nearly twenty-five strong of friends and prayer warriors around him. Josh has always been an incredibly passionate person who refuses to do anything half speed and those who love and know him were not about to halfheartedly support him. By the time his family was able to arrive from Arkansas at around one in the morning he still had over fifteen people present praying and cheering him on. Since that time even more family and friends have arrived from all over the country to be with Josh and the Fohner family.
This is the part that is so difficult to articulate and bare. We want to make sure in discussing his medical status to simply share the facts and not speculate or project our hopes and expectations on Josh's situation. It should be known that from a medical perspective Josh's overall prognosis is poor and his recovery will be very long and difficult. Josh is currently in a comatose state and has not woken up since the accident. We pray fervently that he will wake up.
In discussions around Josh's future, the family has made clear in this process that Josh is a fighter and we want to give him the absolute best chance to fight this because we know he is young, strong, and has always done everything at 100%. The doctors once said this needs to be thought of as a marathon not a sprint and John Michael responded with, "Josh has always sprinted marathons."
Fortunately and most importantly in this, we know our God and His incredible power to work in and through those that love Him. We are asking that you please pray often and boldly for the recovery of Josh's brain and body. Ask specifically that the Lord would heal Josh's severe brain injury. Ask that he would show actual improvement cognitively, even explicitly ask that Josh would give us a thumbs up when asked. This would mark an incredible point of recovery that the neurosurgeon said would be a "game changer." Ask for wisdom, direction, comfort, and blessing over the Fohner family. They need encouragement and strength in this process.
The incredibly generous outpouring of texts, calls, messages, flowers, cards, love, and support has meant the world to Josh and his family. I am convinced it is impossible to express in words meaningful enough how blessed the family has felt in this terribly difficult time by everyone's encouragement. We know now that this process and Josh's recovery and life will be a long difficult road and it is so important to continue to love and support the Fohners as they continue to battle towards Josh's recovery.
Some of the specific requests from the family in addition to the above prayer requests are below:
1. Prayers and messages of encouragement from everyone, although numerous, have not been overwhelming and they appreciate and need your encouraging words so please continue to send them. Although, if you are wanting updates on Josh and his condition, this website is the best place to receive those.
2. Please ask for wisdom moving forward for the family as they are making decisions regarding Josh's future and the family's role.
3. It would be huge for Josh to follow a command like to give a thumbs up.
4. Please send Josh cards, words of encouragement, flowers, notes, and bible verses. Mike specifically asked that Josh's ICU room become a sanctuary. Address: Joshua Fohner, Memorial Hospital, 1400 East Boulder St, Colorado Springs, CO, 80909.
