Urgent Prayer Request

Cali (4th grade) with her grandparents: Toni and John

I am putting out an urgent prayer request this. I wanted to wait until Toni herself posted on Facebook before sharing outside of immediate prayer circle to protect their privacy, but now that she has posted and shared, I feel I can share as well. This is for PRAYER. I want everyone I know to be praying DILIGENTLY for John. I am not posting this to share news about my life. This isn't about me or how I am doing through this. This was definitely a traumatic event that I can process later. But this is for prayer. EVERYONE PRAY!!!

Yesterday around lunchtime, John and Toni and Cali came over to our house. Cali is going to be getting one of our puppies which she is naming "Abigail" after her friend from ballet, my Abigail, who introduced her to the puppies. They have come to the house many times for visits. I knew Toni as a fellow "ballet mom/grama" and we had become friends. When we got the puppies, they decided to get one for their granddaughter Cali, who lives with them.

I was taking the trash to the dump when they first got to the house. Apparently John sat down on a brick podium on our front porch and while Toni had her back turned, passed out. Toni immediately told my Abigail to run and get help. She ran in the house to get Grampa who was doing work at the house and babysitting. Just as Grampa and Toni got to John, I pulled up in my truck.

I won't get into all the details of everything that happened, but I will say that we were all greatly worried for John. I called my husband, JB, who was working at the ER, and he talked us through various things. At this point we thought maybe it was a heart attack or stroke that had caused him to fall over. We called 911 who came, stabilized him, and made the decision to bring a helicopter to the scene. We certainly live in a small town as all of our neighbors were coming to check on us. 911 immediately recognized this as the "Kitsteiner farm" and people thought something had happened to one of us. 

Because our farm is so hilly, the helicopter had to land about one mile away on a flat spot. This decision to fly him out was made so that John would not lose time going to Laughlin (where JB works) and instead go directly to a hospital with more critical care capabilities.

It does appear that the fall actually damaged John's back/neck. They still don't know what caused him to fall so I won't make any assumptions. The latest update from Toni indicates, that his spinal cord was not severed which was the initial diagnosis and instead he has a fractured neck with severe bruising to the spinal cord which is going to require surgery and use of a halo. 

I am including Toni's update below:

Going to try to give an update on John. at least as of now
..FIRST OF ALL, thanks with all my heart for all the prayers, phone calls and messages, sorry I couldnt get to them all. I am currently being told that his spinal cord is not severed rather he has a fractured neck with severe bruising to the spinal cord which is going to require surgery and use of a halo. That can not be done until his blood pressure is stabilized and it is determined why he took the fall from a sitting position today, heart/ vs possible stroke..it currently doesnt appear to b stroke related. heart is not 100% ruled out yet. How much function he will regain will be determined after surgery. PRAYERS PLEASE, first blood pressure stabilizes, surgeons hands are guided, he regains total use of his limbs and body and that he will once again be breathing on his own. NOW......PRAY for comfort for Cali, she has never spent the night away from us. I am trusting God completely that He will get glory from all that is going on. Please forgive me if I dont get to your calls or messages I will update as I know anything BUT WE DO NEED YOUR CONTINUED PRAYERS.

Cali and her puppy "Abigail"