Please Pray for Nate Graybill
For those of you who don't know yet, Nate Graybill was in a mountain biking accident on the afternoon of this past Wednesday, April 26th. Nate was mountain biking with his friend Chad from Widener, and is believed to have hit his head on a tree or a log after going over his handlebars. Chad and Nate were 40 minutes out from anywhere where he could be reached, and so with the help of a high school track team Chad took him out to a spot where he was airlifted to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. There, Nate was admitted to the Surgical Intensive Care Unit where he first received care.
In the SICU, the doctors and nurses there originally said that it would be a miracle for Nate to make it through the night (Wed. night). We have experienced that miracle! Nate made it through the night, and then again on Thursday morning they gave Nate a maximum of 12 hours to live around 7 AM. Nate again survived through that, and the doctors decided to give him another 24 hours around 3:30 that afternoon! Following that, Nate received an MRI which confirmed that Nate still had brain activity and had a chance of living. As far as we (I) know, the current goal is to wean Nate off of the ventilation systems at the University of Penn so that he can be moved, perhaps to Milton Hershey Hospital or to a nursing home closer to Carlisle.
The response to Nate's accident has been terrific! Please continue to keep Nate in your prayers, and visit him if at all possible. If you don't know, my name is Keith Becker and I am one of Nate's friends from high school. I will be opening this blog up to the Graybills so that they can post updates. Feel free to comment and even leave e-mail addresses or phone numbers in your comments, as we don't want anyone to be left out in the phone chain if anything important happens. Brett Sheaffer, Beverly Cannon and I all have lists of people that we will call if there is any major update. Also, Katie Streeper is at the top of the Widener phone chain, and I will notify her. Thank you all for your love and support!
--Keith
In the SICU, the doctors and nurses there originally said that it would be a miracle for Nate to make it through the night (Wed. night). We have experienced that miracle! Nate made it through the night, and then again on Thursday morning they gave Nate a maximum of 12 hours to live around 7 AM. Nate again survived through that, and the doctors decided to give him another 24 hours around 3:30 that afternoon! Following that, Nate received an MRI which confirmed that Nate still had brain activity and had a chance of living. As far as we (I) know, the current goal is to wean Nate off of the ventilation systems at the University of Penn so that he can be moved, perhaps to Milton Hershey Hospital or to a nursing home closer to Carlisle.
The response to Nate's accident has been terrific! Please continue to keep Nate in your prayers, and visit him if at all possible. If you don't know, my name is Keith Becker and I am one of Nate's friends from high school. I will be opening this blog up to the Graybills so that they can post updates. Feel free to comment and even leave e-mail addresses or phone numbers in your comments, as we don't want anyone to be left out in the phone chain if anything important happens. Brett Sheaffer, Beverly Cannon and I all have lists of people that we will call if there is any major update. Also, Katie Streeper is at the top of the Widener phone chain, and I will notify her. Thank you all for your love and support!
--Keith
posted by Keith @ 1:54 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
My heart goes out to the Graybill family. I am the chair of the Chemical Engineering Department (located across the hall from Nate's hangout). A few years back one of my seniors, Nick Moroni, died in a car accident just before starting a career at Sunoco. Although I did not know Nate as well as I knew Nick the grief is very deep.
Those of us who choose to teach at Widener become very close to our students. You have the comfort in knowing that Nate has left a positive impact on all of us here. We are all the better for having known and worked with Nate.
G. J. Maffia
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