Please help support a tragically injured Wolverine

Submitted by SAMgO on

Last Saturday, Taylor Janssen, an incoming UM junior and two year top contributor on the Michigan Alpine Ski Team, dove off his boat on Lake Sherwood and broke his neck at the C5 vertebrae. He was airlifted to intensive care at the UM Hospital and currently is paralyzed below his shoulders, but is thankfully at full mental capacity. As you can imagine, he is about to enter into a greuling and lengthy recovery process.

Taylor is a phenomenal kid, and through an outpouring of support from friends, family, and other members of the UM community, we have managed to raise over $45,000 to offset medical expenses for his father in under 24 hours. If you would like to help, any and all contributions are very greatly appreciated, and would mean a lot to the Janssen family and his friends and teammates. Here is a link to his gofundme page:

http://www.gofundme.com/zvkvng

If you would like to follow Taylor's recovery and keep him in your thoughts, his father Mark is providing regular updates on his facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/mark.janssen.3158?fref=ts

Thank you

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mgokev

July 22nd, 2015 at 9:54 AM ^

How tragic. Speaking as a skier, it's easy to assume you're invincible or would only get injured on the slopes. It's terrible to hear about something so drastic happening from a day on the lake.



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bringthewood

July 22nd, 2015 at 11:17 AM ^

He is a great kid from my area, near the top of the same class as my daughter. Just wished they had used a fundraising tool that does not charge 7-9% of the donations like FundMe. In any case a good cause.

Joined: 09/07/2009

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True Blue Grit

July 22nd, 2015 at 11:29 AM ^

My wife and I knew Taylor's parents in college.  His mother Kathy was a sorority sister of my wife, and we went to their wedding years ago.   Both of them are among the nicest people you could meet.  Many thanks for posting this.  We will definitely be donating some money. 

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late night BTB

July 22nd, 2015 at 11:31 AM ^

hear about this happening several times each summer.

what a country we live in, where we have to ask donations from strangers for medical treatment that'd otherwise bankrupt a family.  

Joined: 12/05/2010

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michigankj

July 22nd, 2015 at 3:46 PM ^

I am Taylor's oldest brother, and as you can see, this is my first post to the blog. I registered for a username back in the summer of 2009(?) during a Drupal implosion that led me to believe that I needed a username to access the site. While I'm not a poster here, all my brothers and I are avid readers of the blog. First and foremost, I just want to extend the family's most sincere thanks to everyone who has reached out to support my brother. I can't begin to describe how great that support has been for us in the immediate aftermath of Taylor's accident and how much it will serve as motivation for Taylor once he is stablized and begins the rehabilitation process. We have a long, hard road ahead of us, but I am extremely confident that my brother will attack this challenge head-on with the determination and drive that I've seen him display countless times over the course of his young life. The support we have received from people associated with the Univeristy - be it the staff at the University hospital, the athletic department, the Greek system, etc. - has further solidified my belief that the University of Michigan produces truly special and long-lasting bonds. Thanks again for the support of my brother; it is providing us with the strength we need to get through this tragedy.

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