Michael Oppegaard

As many of you know, on July 4, 2015, Michael Oppegaard was injured in a shallow diving accident on Lake Minnetonka. He sustained a C6/C7 spinal cord injury which left him paralyzed from the chest down. Michael is breathing on his own and is able to move his arms, although his right arm/hand has limited mobility and strength

Michael spent his first 18 days post-injury at North Memorial Hospital in Minnesota and on Wednesday, July 22nd, he was transferred via an ambulatory flight from Minneapolis to Denver, CO where he entered the rehab program at Craig Rehabilitation Hospital. Michael was thrilled when he was approved for this program.

Michael is an avid fisherman, a lover of the water, an outdoorsman, and his remarkable spirit and humor has moved us all. The true level of love for Michael has been evidenced in the amazing response and outpouring from the entire community – and this will be even more important moving forward. Even with insurance, Michael will have many uninsured injury-related expenses such as: continued rehab and home equipment, home modifications, accessible transportation and caregiver expenses, just to name a few. The CDC estimates that an individual living with a spinal cord injury will have between $500,000 and $3 million dollars in lifetime out-of pocket expenses.

To help offset such expenses, a fundraising campaign in Michael’s honor has been established with HelpHOPELive, a trusted nonprofit organization that has been providing community-based fundraising guidance to patients and their families for more than 30 years. All donations are tax-deductible, are held by HelpHOPELive in the North-Central Spinal Cord Injury Fund, and are administered by HelpHOPELive for injury-related expenses only. If you would like to make a contribution please click the DONATE NOW bar.

Thank you for your support. With your help we can truly make a difference for Michael.

Sincerely,

Janie Norby Curt Swenson Craig Norby