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THE ACCIDENT
On March 30th, 2014 at approximately 5:30 PM, the Wrens had their life turned upside down! Detective CJ Wren, a 17 year veteran of the Phoenix Police Department (and former US Marine) was heading home from work and observed a vehicle driving recklessly on the 101 freeway in Phoenix. Seeing the vehicle nearly cause several accidents, Det. Wren decided to stop the offending vehicle. Just as CJ was able to pull the vehicle over on the side of the road, he was struck from behind by an F350 truck pulling a trailer. He was immediately knocked unconcious and bounced around inside his vehicle as it travelled back across the five lanes of the freeway, finally coming to a stop after impacting the center median on the roadway. Law Enforcement investigators onscene said they had never seen so much damage to a vehicle, where the driver hadn't died.
Fox 10 Coverage of the Accident
CJ was extricated from the vehicle by the Phoenix Fire Department and transported to John C Lincoln, where miracoulously he suffered no broken bones. He stayed overnight for observation and pain management, but was released the next day.
THE INJURY
It wasn't until a day later when CJ went to a follow-up appointment that the real toll the accident took on him was discovered. Besides being stiff and sore, he was having difficulty sleeping, and could not focus or carry on complete conversations. For someone who has spoken in front of thousands of people during hundreds of presentations, this was very concerning! After additional tests it was determined CJ had suffered a traumatic brain injury called a Coup-ContreCoup Concussion.
(Video) Coup-ContreCoup Concussion explained
Over the past two months since the accident, CJ has suffered from hand tremors (uncontrolled shaking of the hand), black-outs, sleeplessness, and lack of appetite...(for those that really know CJ, this is a big problem! ;-) CJ has progressively gotten better, but there is no current estimation for a full return to duty to the job that he loves.
THE NEED
Since Det. Wren's injury occured while on duty, his medical expenses and injury pay have been covered by Workman's Comp...however, very few people really understand what that means.
CJ is paid his base salary every two weeks, just like he was still on duty, but the last time that he recieved a check that only contained his base pay, was over 14 years ago, just after he and Leslie were married and before they had children. There is no OT, Standby Pay, Callout, or any other special pay included in these wages. This cut Det. Wren's regular income by well over a third. To provide for his family, even with 17 years on, Det. Wren frequently worked Off-Duty jobs to bring in extra income, to include road construction and late night security work. Since he has been unable to work, all of that income has stopped as well.
Lastly, CJ's lovely wife Leslie is a teacher in the Paradise Valley School District. Leslie always helped out their family by picking up tutoring work after school. Being a fantastic teacher, she is a very sought after tutor, staying busy nearly everyday after school. Since CJ's accident, Leslie has had to do all of the driving, getting him to all of his doctors appointments and physical therapy sessions. She had to cancel many of her tutoring sessions over the last two months of school. Leslie is not paid during the Summer months, so her contribution to their family budget has also been dramatically impacted.
Even CJ and Leslie's kids have felt the effects. Both Carsen and Zach have given up their activities and sporting events for the Summer to try to help the family through this financial crunch.
The Wren's have cut all of their expenses down to just cover the essentials until CJ can get back to work, and the school year starts back up - but the family is still struggling to even cover the essentials.
There have been several charitable organizations that have assisted the Wren family over the past couple months to include the AZ Chapter of the Choir Boys LEMC, the AZ Chapter of the Usual Suspects LEMC, the 100 CLUB, and the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association (PLEA). CJ and Leslie are very thankful and humbled by these groups and their willingness to help their family out when needed and will be eternally indebited to them for their kindness and generosity.
Again, if you have met the Wren's, this won't surprise you at all. When the "Friends of the Wrens" first brought this idea of an online fundraiser up to them, they declined. Flat out. They know that other families are going through tough times and they didn't feel right asking for assistance from total strangers... and frankly they didn't feel like any one would contribute to such a cause. We assured them that people would empathize and would care that two people who have dedicated their lives to helping others, (Detective & Teacher) would find support from not only their community but also the wide internet outreach to the rest of the country.
CJ and Leslie finally agreed to allow us to start this fundraiser, as long as they were able to show their appreciation by giving a percentage back to further head trauma research. So for every donation received in the FRIENDS OF THE WRENS fundrazr account, 10% of each donation will go to The Brain Trauma Foundation, who funds and conducts research on not only concussion related injuries to the brain, but even non-traumatic brain injuries like Alzheimers. For more information on where a percentage of your donation will go, please CLICK HERE.
This falls right in line with the Wrens' "Giving Spirit" as they both have gone to great "lengths" to support others through charitable organizations for many years.
(Video) CJ shaved his head for charity
So PLEASE contribute whatever you can to help this incredible family, and equally as important - Please pass this fundrazr link on to others so we can prove to the Wrens that others really do care about the difficult times they are going through and that they aren't all alone in dealing with these issues!
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