Braegar Sprague is a 27 year old young man who is full of life and passion. He has graduated from WTAMU with a Master's degree in business. He has a fiancé and is an active and loving uncle, son, and brother.
On December 20th, 2013, Braegar was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia after several unsuccessful attempts at treating his condition with his regular doctor. It quickly became apparent that he was in much worse condition than was expected. The doctors decided they had to intubate and put him into a medically induced coma. He was being diagnosed as developing Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. (Statistically over 40% of people die of organ failure with this condition). Quickly they found that he had air escaping his lungs and filling his chest so yet another surgery was conducted to place tubes in his chest. Over the next several weeks, he fought hard for his life. He had several CT scans where blood clots were found. One found in his lungs and again another discovered in his leg and then again in his bicep. More continued to form. He was put on blood thinners to dissolve these. During his fight for life, at one point he had become unresponsive and lifeless to the Doctors and Nurses, they quickly rushed him into another CT scan to see if he had a stroke. Thankfully no brain damage was found. The Doctors told his family he may not live but they were trying everything to save him. Many long days and nights we stood beside his bed praying and hoping he would live. Then a miracle happened and God breathed life back into Braegar. On January 6th, after several days of trial runs, he was finally brought out of his coma and extubated. He worked hard at regaining his strength and was moved out of the ICU on January 10th 2014. For several more days, he worked on being able to walk on his own as he had lost the ability. He was determined and, while it was still difficult, he overcame this obstacle quickly. He was then moved into an in-patient, in-hospital rehabilitation program. On January 24th, 35 days after being admitted into the hospital, he returned home!
Sadly, this journey has not ended. He is still recovering from the damage done to his body from the pneumonia and his coma. He returned to work as quickly as they would allow and began to immediately attempt to pay his medical bills as he is required to maintain a good credit history for his job. Unfortunately, 35 days in the hospital (with 21 of those being in the MICU) are not cheap and he continues to discover new medical bills that he was previously unaware of.
We have set a fundraising goal of $10,000 to help him pay these enormous bills. Any dollar amount raised over the exact funds needed to pay his medical bills in full will be donated to the Boston University Medical Campus Pneumonia Biology division in order to help support pneumonia research and train pulmonologists.
Please consider making a donation to help this up and coming young man continue to succeed in life!