Paul's accident and status as of 10/21

Paul took a significant fall while rock climbing and hit an overhanging rock landing on his face. He was knocked unconscious immediately and needed to be helivaced to Melbourne.

Paul fractured his skull and many of the bones in his face. The most recent surgery was to ease the inner cranial pressure and to allow his brain to respond to the trauma of the impact. They had to put Paul in a drug induced coma for the next several days to allow his brain to recover from the trauma.

There is little known about the extent of the trauma in his brain until he is removed from the drug induced coma. However, there were no bone fragments in his brain and no brain tissue needed to be removed during the surgery. His spine is intact and everything below his arms is not seriously injured. I want to emphasize that Paul’s baselines are stable currently and the coma he is in was induced by drugs.

His Parents are on their way to Melbourne and should be arriving shortly. Much more knowledge will be available after his parents are given access to his medical charts. They will be staying with Paul for the duration until he can be moved back to the U.S. Currently, Sara Gaskin Sam Haskett, and Paul’s cousin Kirsten are with him.