Saturday, April 29
As many of you have probably heard by now, Jill Businelle's husband, Greg,
was in a very serious water skiing accident this afternoon. Greg was ski-boarding with
family and friends when he took a fall, cart-wheeling head first into the water. He was
immediately rendered unconscious, and lay floating face down in the water. Greg's brother,
Dean, and a friend were able to quickly reach Greg and get him into the boat, however,
Greg's respiratory system had already failed and he had no pulse. Thank God Dean is a
paramedically trained firefighter and was able to revive Greg using CPR. Rescuers arrived
shortly thereafter and Greg was life-flighted to the Herman Hospital Trauma Center. Greg
was placed on a respirator to help him breathe, and given massive amounts of sedatives,
steroids, and pain-killers. After some effort, they finally managed to stabilize him for
the night. Greg is still in the Shock Trauma Intensive Care Unit (STICU) and will
remain there for the foreseeable future. He is very seldom conscious - primarily due to
the heavy sedation.
Sunday, April 30
X-rays and the MRI have now confirmed that Greg has a fractured C4 vertebra. The
medical team has been able to straighten Greg's spine and put him in traction to ensure
continued correct positioning, however, an operation is still going to be necessary to
splint and set the spine so that it can heal. For the moment all we know is that he has
limited movement in his arms, and feeling, at least to some degree, in all parts of his
body. Everything else is going to be touch and go and only time will help answer all of
our questions.