As we mentioned – Harry Sherman, a 16-year old snowboarder from the Bay Area who crushes Squaw on the weekends and has been leaving his mark on the SASS crew for a long time, crashed during his boardercross run at the USASA Nationals in Copper mtn., Colorado last week. According the post left after the accident by his parents,
“Our son, Harry Sherman, was in a snowboarding racing accident at the USASA Nationals at Copper Mountain, CO on Wed, April 6. He was unconscious at the scene of the accident which occurred at 9:45 am on the Boardercross course. He is in a coma and has not regained consciousness from the accident. Copper Mountain’s ER team was unable to evacuate Harry by helicopter, due to weather. He was taken by ambulance to a Level I Trauma Center in Denver. Harry reached the Trauma Center within two hours of the accident and has been here since. He has some fluid in his lungs, additional fluid between the lungs and chest cavity, a cracked rib and bruises on his soft tissues (chest, neck), and bruised neck vertebrae, but all of those are manageable and just make him uncomfortable. However, he has suffered a brain injury from the impact. The brain injury is called shearing, which has resulted in bleeding in his brain. Both CAT scans and MRI have been performed. The neurosurgeon who examined him yesterday and today does not believe there is a need to operate to reduce the pressure from the bleeding at this time. While the injury was yesterday, swelling occurs later. We are watching the swelling hour by hour. The cranium of a 16 year old fits tight around the brain and there isn’t really extra room to accommodate swelling. He was been breathing on a ventilator, but they weaned him off it this morning, and he is now breathing on his own. He does not respond to any verbal commands and has not opened his eyes; he remains in a coma. On the more positive side, he is moving his arms and legs and he is young, healthy and strong. We will remain in Denver as long as necessary. Sandy and I appreciate your love and prayers.”
Since Harry arrived at the trauma center, he has gone from a Level 2 to a Level 4 (1 being the worst-8 the best), and although he is still in a coma about 20 hours a day, he can sit up, eat solid food and drink liquid, feel his hands and feet, and even put on the medal his teammates brought him. While he can’t speak or seem to hear well, as the brain swelling comes down his situation slowly improves. The doctors expect to move him out of intensive care and into a rehab center within a week.
We will be following Harry’s situation closely and keep you all updated as he moves along the slow road to recovery. Harry has been a model of perseverance and strength for the SASS family for many years, from coaches to clients, and we are all pulling for him every day. We know his genius is simply sleeping and somewhere in the back of his mind is an invention idea of some kind of next-generation hydrodynamic fusion as we sit here. We look forward to seeing Harry come back and crush his favorite lines in Argentina, and have every amount of faith we’ll be seeing him do that.
Leave a message for Harry here on the blog or on his guestbook, where you can also follow his progress. Go get ’em Shermanator!!!!