FALLING INTO GRATITUDE

Family and friends of Wyatt Dennett are raising money for the nonprofit Help Hope Live to fund uninsured medical expenses associated with his catastrophic injury. Wyatt was paralyzed October 2018 after a fall from a third-story balcony, fracturing 4 vertebrae in his neck and spine…

Although Wyatt was initially paralyzed from the neck down, and doctors did not expect him to to regain much function, in a few months he was able to breath without a ventilator, eschew a feeding tube for real food, rotate his head and torso, and recover motion of his right arm. However, when he was ready to leave rehab, the only option was to place him in long-term care at an assisted-living facility for the elderly hundreds of miles away. Not wanting this young man to spend the rest of his life that way, a network of supporters rallied around him. Eileen and Tom Ochsner, the parents of one of Wyatt’s friends, opened their hearts and home to Wyatt. There he receives 24-hour care, only a small portion of which is covered by insurance.