On Saturday, MMA fighter Jessica Bednark was taken to the hospital with a severe head injury.
The following is taken directly from another source (wfighter.com). I'm sure they'll understand:
"Jessica Bednark collapsed during training and was rushed to the
emergency room yesterday with a bleed to her brain. The doctors
preformed emergency surgery to remove the pressure on her brain. They
had to remove a small area of her skull as well. Jessica remains in a
medically induced coma right now. She is in ICU and can not have any
visitors until Tuesday or Wednesday.
Jessica is a professional
female fighter, with a record of 5-2-0 at 135lbs. She was scheduled to
fight June 12th against AJ Jenkins and was training when this happened.
I
was informed by her camp that she does NOT have medical insurance and
depended on her job for her training and bills. We need to come
together right now and help Jessica. Her family was extremely grateful
that we have posted bulletins, but now as a fighter community, we need
to extend a helping hand. Hit your sponsors as well.......
PLEASE SEND ALL DONATIONS and cards to:
Derek Gould
15824 Neon St NW
Ramsey MN
55303
Jessica you are a fighter with heart and courage, you will pull out of this. Keep her in your thoughts and prayers please."
Taken from MMAOpinion.com:
Update: Jessica’s boyfriend Jay Gould reports that “everything is going
as well as planned, so far.” Jessica had a catscan this morning, and
her brain was where doctors hoped it would be. She is scheduled to have
the piece of her skill put back in at 10:30 tomorrow morning, after
which the doctors will try to wake her up.
Update (5/28/09): Jessica is now moving. She can sit up and open her
eyes, respond to her name, etc. She knows who everyone is, remembers
birthdates and other relevant information. Her breathing tube and
pressure monitor to her brain have been removed. The doctors are
waiting until she is awake for 48 hours for her to gain full
consciousness before putting the piece of her skull back in.
Update: (6/28/09) Here's an update from Jessica (taken from her Myspace page)
Hey Guys Here's whats new. As some of you may know
I've been in the hospital for a couple weeks. I was sparring with some
friends a few weeks ago and somehow when I was done sparring I was all
wobbly and got tired and fell asleep. Nothing to blame on the guys I
was sparring with, they're great and they know I like it rough.
I
really have no memory of that day or the week after it. But anyhow, it
must have been some kind of fluke incident. I've been sparring for the
last 9 years taking all kinds of heavy blows to the head and now this-
ok here it goes.
So what happened is my brain started bleeding. My
pupils got all huge and my brain stem was getting all crowded with
blood. They said I almost died but the did emergency surgery and
drained all that extra blood out of my skull. A few days later they did
another surgery and patched my skull back up. So now my head is all
shaven and I've got a whole bunch of staples in my head.
My memory was
pretty much wiped starting on saturday and going till a week after my
surgery. Jay just brought me up to speed a few days ago. He told me how
I almost died and how he was really scared and then he told me the
doctor said no more fighting. I've never been heart broken before but
this must be what it feels like. I still can't even think about it
without crying. If they told me I could never compete again maybe I
could deal with that, but they don't want me getting hit in the head.
No more sparring. This is what I've loved doing more than anything else
for the past 9 years. I don"t even know what I'm gonna do with myself
when I get out of this hospital.
Jay suggested I take up jujitsu
hardcore, which I suppose I will do, but you don't get to punch anybody
in the face in jujitsu. I've always loved sparring, just goin at it
hard. I don't know what I'm gonna do.
---------------------
Loss.
Not being able to train is one of those fears that lingers on the periphery. It would be, without any risk of overstatement, as Jessica said, "heartbreaking." I'm sure you can empathize.
It's easy to miss a day or take a lazy week or two when you know you have the ability to go back to it. It's easy to take things, like training, that are such an important part of our lives for granted. Things that are such a feature of our lives or that are the basis of our lifestyle are assumed to be something we have control over. The thought of losing that control is terrifying.
I hope Jessica finds an outlet in Jiu-Jitsu and it gives her peace and a new passion moving forward.
Help.
It's my understanding that this type of injury is not very common, but unfortunately the lack of good medical coverage is less of a rarity. I've recently checked into non-profits and other organizations that assist with medical coverage for other professions (HAAM in Austin for example). It's a topic for us to discuss in the near future, but for now please see if there's anything you can do to get the word out and help Jessica.
There's a Paypal set-up in her name: helpforjessica@twincities.mn - It only takes a minute to send her a little assistance and anything you can send will help.
Coverage can be found at:
