Fund Created to Help Bring Injured North Bend Boy Home After Canadian Skiing Accident

** Updated 2/23/13, 3PM: Michael’s sister posted through social media that Michael and mom on a plane heading to Harborview Hospital in Seattle. **

** Updated: 2/23/13, 12:15PM:  If all goes well, Michael and mom, Kellie, should be airlifted from Calgary Children’s Hospital to Harborview in Seattle in the next hour or so.  The rest of the family will follow by car tomorrow. **

A traumatic Canadian skiing accident has turned one North Bend family’s life upside down, but friends and family, through an outpouring of love and prayers, are working to help.

Michael Essig, a Twin Falls Middle School student, was in a severe skiing accident and sustained a head injury during a family vacation in British Columbia.  According to a Facebook page devoted to Michael, he was in a semi-coma after Wednesday’s accident, but is now awake at Calgary Children’s Hospital.

As with most head traumas, Michael still has quite a recovery ahead.  His family is trying to move him to an ICU unit in Seattle, as well as get his parents and siblings back home, uniting them again for Michael’s treatment and recovery.

As of yesterday, the family’s insurance company hadn’t agreed to fund Michael’s medical transport home, saying he was in a trauma facility and receiving treatment.  It sounds like the door isn’t closed completely, though.

While the family waits, friend DeAnna Haverfield stepped in and went to work.  Yesterday, she created an online fundraiser devoted to raising $15,000 to help the Essig family with Michael’s medical expenses and transporting him home to Washington.  In one day, the online fund has raised over $10,000.  Yes, you read that right – in  24 hours over 90 people donated over $10,000.

If you would like to donate to the Praying For Michael Essig fund visit his online fundraiser.

There is also another fundraiser scheduled for Friday, March 1st from 2-4PM at Pioneer Coffee in North Bend.  For $11 you can have your photo taken in a vintage photo booth, generating 4×10 photos that will be displayed at Pioneer Coffee in support of the Essig Family.  100% of the net proceeds will be given to the Pray for Michael Essig Fund.

We live in a very special place.