One of our Own needs HELP!

[oossuuu754]

I am challenging everyone to help one of our own, SKYMANGS, The S10 Swap How To sticky thread author was severely injured in a fire at his shop. A detail of the events can be found here There is a GoFundMe page setup to help him and his family with expenses. Please help me by spreading the word. I ask that you incorporated the link http://gofundme.com/c49h5mjx8 into the signature, that way it automatically is posted on any thread you have replied on. Please help spread the word and link up your signature to "SKYMANGS" GoFund me link and let's help one of our own.

[Advanced Design]

I don't know Chris and I've seen him help a lot of folks on here with his advice and great build threads. It is pretty generous when someone who makes their living building these trucks freely shares their knowledge with others.

Thank you for whatever you can do to help.

[oossuuu754]

Appreciate all the donations, we are about a 1/3 of the way to the $5k goal, please keep this circulating so we can get there. With 57k forum members certainly we can raise the funds!

[oossuuu754]

Thank you to all who have donated! As you can see we cracked the $2000 mark and we are now almost halfway to the $5000 goal. Please keep spreading the word so we can help Chris out, donations can be made here or clinking the link in my signature. Additionally if you would please insert the Chris' link into your signature so it will show up on all the threads you reply on.

Chris has been in ICU almost a month now, here is the latest update from his wife.

By Jennifer Klapp — Aug 3, 2015 3:34pm

Chris is doing well, not much has really changed. He is off the ventilator during the day, night they put him on because of his sleep apnea. He is aware of the comings and goings in his room and will slightly respond to questions, by shrugs or shaking of head, or blinking. He is moving a little bit, I am sure his legs and arms feel as though they weigh a ton. He is still on dialysis, but is putting out urine, so they are slowly kicking back on. They are worried that he may have pneumonia again, but they watching. He is slowly getting to the point to were he will be able to have visitors, just need to get him out of ICU portion of the burn center.

[MARKDTN]

I will give you a donation and a bump. I don't have a 47-54, but I read through the sticky and it is very impressive all the details that are in there. He sounds like a really nice guy. Hope he gets better, serious situation.

[oossuuu754]

Originally Posted by MARKDTN

I will give you a donation and a bump. I don't have a 47-54, but I read through the sticky and it is very impressive all the details that are in there. He sounds like a really nice guy. Hope he gets better, serious situation.

Thank you sir!

[oossuuu754]

I talked to Chris' wife today, and received more info or more of their beat guess until Chris can tell us. He was finishing up the 54 for Bob R (pics on his page). Working on the filler neck or the fuel door and there was a flash fire that totally consumed the inside of the shop. I will post pics later but it is bad. Chris was trapped inside the shop for a while, but at some point got out and was able to call 911 before he passed out outside.

His burns are all above the waist, mostly on his arms and around his left ear. But the good news is that several of the burns are starting to heal on their own. If he can just fight the infection they are hopeful.

By Jennifer Klapp — 9 hours ago


This week started on a good note, with Chris really responding to questions and moving his head and limbs. But things took a turn for the worst on Tuesday morning. Chris spiked a 106 temperature and it took all day to get it down to 101. So Michael and I stayed the night with Chris that night and it stayed down all night, so home we went at 5:30am on Wednesday. Wednesday was a quiet day with a temperature still hanging around but not going over 102. Thursday was a quiet day with nothing real big happening, which is okay because Tuesday was quit exciting. Through the week Chris's urine output has gotten better. So this morning when I was visiting the kidney doctor was around and told me that if he continues on this up slope that they will stop dialysis and take out the stint for the dialysis. Tomorrow he is going to have a feeding tube put into his gut to make it easier on him. Right now the feeding tube is going through the nose, so I am sure it is a bit bothersome.

Chris is slowly climbing the hill of recovery and the prayers and good vibes are greatly appreciated.

[oossuuu754]

So for those of you who have asked for some photos of Chris' shop here they are. As you can see it is basically a complete loss. Two trucks destroyed, Chris son's TF truck and a customer Bob R. Currently we are sitting at about $2500 in donations, so please lets get the word and help if we can! Donate Here!

[Cam-Shaft]

That is unbelievable.

[ptc]

Building looks salvageable but definitely needs some good cleanup to find everything. Im sure those trucks are also salvageable but will need some TLC.

Hopefully they have insurance - and it covers everything lost.

[In The Ten Ring]

Donation made.

[sduckworth13]

The blue truck is my neighbor Bobs. He had told me that the guy building his truck had a garage fire and was in the hospital. Didn't realize Chris was the builder. That truck was Bobs pride and joy. He was always tinkering with it when I drove by. He said Chris was doing a frame and Vortec motor swap and was almost done with it when the fire occurred. I hope the best for Chris, trucks can be replaced.

[88Stanger]

I am so sorry to hear this, hurts my heart for him and his family and I do not even know him, but he is a fellow brother on here so I would like to do something here:

Dear Heavenly father, we ask that you keep your hands on this family. Lord we ask that remove any pain he is in, that you speed the recovery to his injuries and that you heal him. We ask that you give him the strength to fight through this and to know that you are here with him, today and forever. Dear Lord, we also ask that give strength and comfort to his family. Let them know that you are with them also, that you are in control of this. Lord we ask that Chris come out of this horrible situation soon, healed and back to doing what he loves. We ask this in your precious name, Amen.

Chris and family, you are and will be in our prayers. God Bless.

[Steve Hafner]

. . . .

The amount is over $3,000 now . . . lets keep this going !!!

. . . .

[oossuuu754]

Here is an update on Chris from his wife:


By Jennifer Klapp — Aug 15, 2015 9:10pm


Chris is doing well this week. His dialysis catheter was removed on Wednesday. He has still had a slight fever, but keeping down the upper 90's to 101. He tracks you with his eyes and tries to talk to you, but gets very frustrated when you can't figure out what he is trying to tell you. But the doctors are happy with his progress. The burns are healing well and the two places that they will have to do some reconstruction on they have vacuum packed right now. This procedure will cause the body to send extra blood to those areas to help stimulate growth on it is own. Next week he should be getting a feeding tube placed in the gut and removed from his nose.

[oossuuu754]

Jennifer posted another update

Busy week

By Jennifer Klapp — 49 minutes ago

this week has started off busy, in the aspect of Chris being rolled off to here and there and everywhere. Yesterday he went for a CT scan and today he is going to three different places, one being MRI. Right now they are putting in a filter to stop blood clots from going to the lungs. Later he is going to go down to have a drain tube or re put in to get some fluid off the lungs. Tomorrow or Thursday he is going to surgery for skin grafts on elbow and maybe hand. We meet Dr. Grossmen on VTC yesterday , a meeting about what they are going to do tomorrow or Thursday.

[oossuuu754]

Let's see if we can get this ball rolling again. We need about $1900 to get the $5000 goal. Please share this and lets help out Chris. He is making some progress but is still facing a long recovery battle. Please donate here: http://gofundme.com/c49h5mjx8

[oossuuu754]

Updated from Chris' Wife. We still need about $2k to hit the $5k goal

By Jennifer Klapp — Aug 27, 2015 10:45am


So naturally things have changed since the beginning of the week. He is no longer having the skin flap done until they can get this infection in and around his lungs resolved. So tomorrow Chris will be having surgery to have the fluid that developed on the outside of his lungs removed. Then in a couple of weeks once infection is not a worry they will do the skin flap on his elbow.

Every day he is becoming more aware of everything around him. Yesterday I got to tell him about what has happened since he has been in the hospital. How there was a time when we didn't know if he was going to make it through the night. It was a little hard and I don't know how much he understood. Probably more than I believe he understood.

Thank you for all the support and prayers that you all have been sending our direction.