Josh's Leg Injury

     On Tuesday, August 5, 2008, my 22 year old son Joshua had a serious rappelling accident. It was his first time attempting to climb and his first descent. He somehow let go of the rope that was holding him and plummeted 50'. Frantically he grabbed the rope and was able to slow his fall considerably, tearing up his hands and giving him large friction blisters. This most likely saved his life, or at least kept him from injuring his spine and head. His only serious injury was a compound fracture (category II) of the left tibia.

     After having a rod placed down the center of the tibia, Josh underwent two irrigation and debridement procedures before undergoing double reverse muscle flap surgery. From what I understand, the plastic surgeons took part of two of his calf muscles and rotated them to cover the significant soft tissue loss on his lower leg, then they did a split thickness skin graft with skin taken from his upper left leg to cover the wound.

     The following pictures are a series of pictures we took to chronicle the healing of his leg. We find it fascinating to watch it heal. I know that Josh will be relentless in his rehabilitation, and will once again learn to run and perform his beloved sports, though perhaps differently than he did before, he will overcome!