Prayers needed
I got to know Joe and Kristi Kohn, and their family in 2010 while covering what became known as the “Great Chicken Debate.”
At the time, Joe and his family were living in the city of Medford and they were keeping a few chickens as pets who earned their keep by keeping bugs down in their yard and providing some eggs. The chickens became the focal point of a summer-long debate about urban chickens and the balance between individual and community rights and responsibilities.
I got to know Joe and his family more over the years when they would be regulars in the baked-goods shop my wife ran and it was always good to catch up with them at the game night events. We became friends and have kept in touch with their family over the years watching their children grow and their oldest boy graduate from high school.
It was with shock last week that I saw a social media post from Kristi about Joe being involved in a work accident. Joe is a refrigeration technician and was doing work at a convenience store in Merrill on November 2 when a compressed gas canister exploded in his face.
According to Kristi, Joe was left with traumatic injuries to his face, including his eye, and his right arm. She said he will likely be in the hospital for months. “There will be many surgeries needed to reconstruct his face, since the bones in his face are all broken. He may lose vision out of one eye, and possibly have issues with the other eye as well. The right bicep was cut mostly in half in his arm, so he will need weeks for it to repair,” Kristi said.
Joe was flown to Madison and remains in the hospital there and his family members have traveled there to be with him through his surgeries.
“This has to be so scary for him; I know it is for me. I never thought in a million years something like this would happen to us, and I don’t know what the future holds for him. He may be permanently disabled by this. Please keep him in your thoughts,” Kristi stated.
On Sunday, Joe was in surgery for his face for about eight hours. They worked on his lower and upper jaw, cheek bone, and the bone around his eye. According to Kristi, he has metal plates and screws holding things together. For now things seem to be progressing in the right direction.
Joe and his family have a very long road ahead of them. At this point it is hour by hour and day by day dealing with what’s next, the next hurdle and the hurdle after that.
It will realistically take months, if not years, for Joe and his family to fully recover from his injuries. I include his family in there because while Joe is the one undergoing the surgeries and, God-willing, the long road to recovery, his wife and children and extended family will be there every step along the way. These sorts of major injuries affect entire families with the impacts felt even years after the stitches are removed. Scars may fade with time, but they never fully disappear.
The challenge ahead is for Joe to have as full a recovery as God and the skill of the medical team can provide. For his family there is the practical issues of retaining some level of normalcy while Joe fights his medical battles.
A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the family with some of the many expenses they have incurred as a result of the accident. Those wishing to donate may do so online at https://gofund.me/d79b7bc0.
At the risk of sounding cliche, in addition to the monetary donations, Joe and his family can use any thoughts and prayers that can be directed their way as well as practical help to the family in the coming weeks and months.
I am a firm believer in the power of prayer, having seen it work in my own life. While I take a pragmatic approach that the “Lord helps those, who help themselves,” keeping people like Joe and his family in our prayers doesn’t ever hurt.
Brian Wilson is News Editor at The Star News.
