By Jason Sloss, News Channel 3 Anchor
jsloss@kesq.com
PALM SPRINGS - Each day is an monumental struggle for Dixie Slocum, as her son Chad Boley battles to stay alive.
He's been hospitalized since an off-roading accident 2 months ago in Joshua Tree.
"He was riding with friends, and they got ahead of him," she recalls. "That was it. Nobody knows what happened. Nobody knows."
Dixie says Chad was rushed to High Desert Medical Center with punctured lungs and a severed kidney. He lost his other kidney and his spleen. But he had been wearing a helmet and he was conscious.
Chad was then flown to Desert Regional for surgery. His family says it was during the second of three surgeries that his heart stopped, and he suffered severe brain damage.
"They said 3 units of blood was lost out of his brain," Dixie said. "With no oxygen. That's when they cracked open his chest, and massaged his heart."
The crash and the fight for an uncertain recovery has been devastating for Chad's loved ones, especially his 19 year-old wife Dana and their 18-month old daughter Peytin.
"She cries every night for her daddy, because he used to put her to bed. Every night it's 'dad, dad, dad.' It's sad."
Chad spent a month in the intensive care unit, and just recently was taken off a respirator.
"He'll blink once for 'yes', twice for 'no'. He puts his head on my shoulder and cries."
His family says the hospital bills have soared past a million dollars. Chad did not have insurance.
Doctors at Desert Regional have said they can't do much more for Chad, except keep him comfortable. The advanced treatment he needs now is expensive. His family isn't sure how they'll be able to pay for it.
But Thursday, they were at Chad's bedside on his 22nd birthday hopeful as ever that they'll find a way.
"I just want to get him back where he can be with his daughter," said his mom. "He already grew up with his dad dying, his daughter doesn't need to grow up without her daddy. I would hope no parent would go through this; it's the most awful thing to go through."
A fund has been set up in the name of Chad Boley. You can donate at any US Bank.
