Father of 4 paralyzed after slipping on ice is stunned when a Secret Santa has gifts delivered to him
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The EastIdahoNews.com team is busy helping a local Secret Santa give $1 million to deserving people in eastern Idaho this holiday season.
On Feb. 27 of this year, Justin was just getting to work. The parking lot had melted the previous day and then frozen over leaving a thin sheet of black ice. He took two steps out of his Jeep and slipped and landed hard on his back. Some of his coworkers saw that he fell and noticed he didn’t get up.
Usually when a young man slips on the ice, it is not a big deal but Justin couldn’t move. When help arrived, it was obvious something serious had happened. He was moving his head but nothing below his neck.
He was rushed to EIRMC where it was determined he needed emergency surgery as he had spinal cord damage, disc damage and needed to have several discs fused together. He was essentially a quadriplegic from slipping on the ice.
This turned into several weeks in EIRMC then several months in the Spinal Rehab facility at the University of Utah Hospital. Now Justin is in rehab and re-learning how to live and do basic tasks all over again.
Justin and his wife Kendra had 3 children at the time of the accident. Kendra was about six months pregnant with their 4th. Justin made enough progress at the hospital in Utah that he was able to make it home in June just in time for Kendra to have their 4th child. A few weeks later, their basement flooded.
Secret Santa asked the East Idaho News team if we could pay Justin a visit with some early Christmas gifts. Watch the surprise in the video player above!
