Last week, Jason found himself in the hospital after what sounded like an eventful day. His Pao pounded a deer, and then his heart did something called an Aortic Dissection, which is described as “a tear occurs in the inner layer of the large blood vessel branching off the heart,” as St. Clair Hospital’s website puts it. Serious stuff, and Jason had an operation right away. Our taillight man is now recovering and healing up. Jason will be missing from our pages indefinitely, but that’s a good thing because we’re all rooting for him.
In the meantime, our readers have done something incredible. Thad Thompson (Crank Shaft) set up a GoFundMe to help Jason and his family cover finances through this time. If you aren’t one of our American readers, this may seem confusing. See, the American healthcare system gets expensive quickly. Even with health insurance, a hospital stay can be so costly that you have to file bankruptcy once you walk out. That’s not even including the cost of surgery.
The Autopian’s readers did something that reaffirms my belief that the car community still has a lot of good. There may be endless bickering about transmissions or Teslas, but so many people have come together for a singular cause. Since Thad set up the GoFundMe, a total of 300 donations have come in, racking up an incredible $15,110. I’m sure Jason and his family will be immensely thankful for all of your generosity. You rock, all of you rock!
Now that I have you crying, let’s check in on how our readers are reacting. Yesterday, David gave you an update on Jason. All of you had something heartwarming to say, here are a few.
Fan (and fellow Autopian author) Andrea Petersen believes in laughter as good medicine:
Jason: *chainsaws out Changli batteries*
Surgeon: did you ever wonder how the Changli felt? *revs bone saw*
Dar Khorse says:
Oh man, that video got me right in the feels…
I was feeling sorry for myself because I was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer, but what you (and Sally and Otto) are going through is miles worse than what I’m dealing with, so you win!I know I speak for the rest of us when I say that we’re willing to wait as long as it takes to read your wonderful writing again, so take as much time as you need to heal up. I’ll make a deal with you – get back to good health and I promise I’ll never criticize your grammar again! (Gahhhh – That’s gonna be super tough for me, but I’m a man of my word.)
Oh, Dar Khorse, I’m so sorry. What you’re going through is pretty rough, too. As David points said, we’re here for our readers. I can do a ridiculously deep Holy Grails-style dive on the 500e!
D M sends more love Jason’s way:
Jesus, I get busy and don’t check the site for a week or two and y’all send Torch to the freaking hospital? Can’t I count on you people for anything?
In all seriousness, get better soon Jason. You have brought a ton of joy to my life. From lunch meat bumpers to chainsawing batteries. And I’m not sure if I’ve ever laughed harder than the “I took a dump like an Apollo astronaut” article. You’re a prince among men and the best kind of weirdo.
Everyone who can, please consider donating to the fundraiser. It looks like they hit their goal, but Medical costs are no joke and there will be a ton of incidental expenses that they may not have anticipated. It’s also right at the end of the year so he’ll probably end up hitting his out of pocket max for both years. Ugh.
Doc Brown (121gwats) brings more humor:
What, no ambulance review?! How was the body lean/cornering? What were the touch points like? Most importantly, were the tail lights LED or filament? I need to know if they were parts bin, if so what other vehicles were they shared with.
In all seriousness, glad you’re ok. Just know that strangers on the internet need you, and your weird brain. Heal up fast, I’m looking forward to the engine specs of that ambulance.
Again, we thank all of you so much. We cannot guarantee Jason will be back anytime soon, but he will be recharging his batteries and patching himself up with some JB Weld. You can’t hold him down. If you’re interested in helping out, the GoFundMe is still going. Have a great evening, everyone.
My FIL had an aortic dissection and it damn near got him. Turns out you have to reside in a tricky intersection of tough/lucky to not wind up dead from one.
So there you are, Torch. You are a tricky intersection, the kind that doesn’t kill people. Grats on not being dead! Because that would suck.
Looks like his tail lights were designed well enough to keep the aortic motorists to minor body damage. Even more surprisingly, seems like he found a body shop without several months of waitlist!
Get well soon, Torch!
Dar Khorse,
Sending you good vibes/prayers/whatever you want about your diagnosis. I hope you get the kind that stays dormant for decades.
My dad was diagnosed with PC about 10-11 years ago. His was very aggressive in the initial stages but they managed to put it in remission with surgery and radiation. For the past several years, he’s been part of an experimental treatment up at NIH and it’s kept it in check. Maybe ask your dr about that.
Cheers.
Aww, my first COTD since the old site! Goth humor is occasionally good medicine. I’m glad our boy is on the mend!
Glad to hear this gofundme is out there. As someone with an aortic dilation myself, this is in my future and I hope Jason is willing to share his story because there is not a lot out there about it (well, people surviving it that is).
Mine is 4.3cm and I just get an MRI annually to make sure it stays under 5cm. I am not supposed to overtax myself by lifting heavy things, etc so it’s a very manageable thing but you also never know when something like this could happen -especially if you are not aware you even have a dilation, like me.
I would urge everyone reading this to go and get an ultrasound based stress test as that is how I found mine and, to quote the 80’s cartoons “knowing is half the battle”.
Godspeed Jason!
23K this morning, insane! take care Jason. Can we start sending taillights instead of flowers for a speedy recovery?
JB Weld: I laughed 😀
Would it be JT Weld in this case?
Best wishes to you, Jason! I’d love to kick in a few bucks, but in the time between when David guilted me into getting a membership (nice T-shirt!) and when that bastard deer or something tore a hole in your aorta, I got laid off. I’ll be fine as long as I don’t sit around and mope like I did the last time this happened, which means that I need to seriously cut expenses because, well, I know myself. Given still-strong hiring in the overall economy (if not in industry) and both the amount of expenses and the way that inefficient billing systems will trickle them down (see, y’all, trickle-down does work – just not in a good way) over a span of months, if not years, I’m sadly aware that there will be lots o’ bills left for me to contribute to once I’m working again.
Aw, man, that sucks! The dehumanizing rejection can really get you down, even aside from the pulled-rug feeling of no way to meet your obligations. Maybe go take a hike if you do that. At least walk in a park. Don’t know where you are, but there’s always life to see: birds and tree rats at a minimum. Times like that I’ll try to spend a few hours in the woods away from human noise & rhythms—just long enough to listen to nature a bit and recharge.
Watch for the negative thoughts, and refuse delivery. Do some useful busywork like cleaning the bathroom: concentrate on a simple task and push the dark thoughts out. If you can, go help a friend: doing something for someone else takes me out of myself and helps me feel useful. I wish you the best of luck finding something fulfilling—or at least paying—quickly!
My God! Thank you all so insanely much for your donations. I love Jason so much (like all of you) and I’ve been such an annoying member behind the scenes that the success of this not only helps Torch and family, but somewhat assuages my guilt. Much appreciated on so many levels. 🙂
I don’t get to do a comment of the day, but if I did, it would surely go to Scot Mesner for his GoFundMe donation comment: “Crank guilted me.” I had no idea there were three other words in life that could make me feel quite so happy and proud. Thank you.
Also have to name drop Marvin Perkins for his generosity. You sir win the day in the best possible way. You have my gratitude.
I’ve used up months worth of posting privileges lately, so I’m going to try to shut the eff up for a while. Wish me luck.
(Whew! Made it with swearing once)
Thank you, Thad, for relentlessly posting the GFM on every article (and to Mercedes for pinning it at least once that I saw). I can’t even imagine how Jason was (and still is) feeling up in that too-cold sterile room with no hope of returning to his 8-bit lair for some time on top of the freak out, the pain, and the damn hiccups trying to rend his split sternum every few seconds. And Sally & Otto trying to be there as much as humanly possible up in that alien, dehumanizing, constantly beeping room while aware the meter clicks ever relentlessly upwards behind the scenes. You at least eased some of the background stress. That’s huge.
I got no awards either, man, but in my book you’re Good People—a stand up guy. Thanks for guilting me.
Scot
Also, we’re going to have to give a bit of slack editorially for awhile: Jason cant take his turns editing, so more stuff is slipping through. Yeah, I’ve noticed it—but I ain’t sayin’ shit, cause it’s only temporary: Jason will be back eventually. We can ignore some misspellings until he is.
It’s all small stuff, people: don’t sweat it
You two are trying to make me cry. Such a great community.
Heartwarming and extraordinary generosity from A Pendleton this morning.
No shit! I’m absolutely over the moon. It made my morning, day, week, month, and possibly year.
THANK YOU A PENDLETON!
I just want to throw my hat in with everyone else and say best wishes to Torch and his fam. I’m also disgusted that we live in a place where fundraisers are now regular functions of surviving medical expenses.
To poke fun in the reflectors on the walker, that is just as tragically heartwarming as it could get, knowing his writing since he started at the other place.
Good community you guys are building here at Autopian, I need to ask for a membership for Christmas and then buy one for myself when I don’t get it.
Cheers everyone, seriously this is a good place.
In a slightly lighter shade of news…
(though still kinda dark)
The police have arrested a suspect in the Capitola, Ca. hit and run.
A black 2023 Honda Pilot has been impounded as evidence.
As far as internet commentariats go…
I think we are doing some good for the real world.
Yeehaw! Great fucking news! :):):)
We were right. Thank you for posting this most excellent news.
(Well that didn’t last long)
Wow that’s awesome!
David was talking with the authorities about this yesterday. I think he’ll be writing a follow-up story.
I’m not trying to volunteer anybody for anything… but it’d a a holiday miracle if Torch came home in a running Beetle or patched up Pao.
Huh. I’m only an hour from the NC line—and the first motor I ever swapped was air cooled VW. Been awhile, but it’s pretty damn simple: 4 bolts, a fuel line, I think 3 wires in my bus, couple more if the carbs are electric choke, then the apron. Could drive down on Fri afternoon, assess, grab a sketchy motel, then throw it in on Saturday.
Anyone want to kill a weekend?
I can’t make it to NC but I’d be more than happy to kick in a little $ if that helps.
Much appreciated, but I can’t see it running above $250 all in, even having to run premium. No, I’m more concerned about where all the bolts & subassemblies might be. It’s been apart awhile—and we all know how that goes! First thing I thought of is that many, many bugs actually only have 3 bolts holding them in as (I can’t remember which ) one is tricky to get to. The next is that all my air-cooled were single carbs: I’ve never had to set up the dual linkage—or synchronize them. I need to find the articles in which he mentions this stuff to get a basic idea of the state of things.
Thanks Mercedes (and David and everyone else)! This is the best place on the internet, with the best people (Staff and commentariat), bar none. I often tell my wife about all the great stories I read and all the wonderful comments and good natured banter and she’s insanely jealous that I have such a great place to hang out on the interwebs.
While I would love to see a 500e deep-dive, I feel like I know how it would turn out: way better than David’s Leaf and not quite as good as his i3. But I do think that anyone who’s on the fence about EVs (as I was) would do themselves a favor by renting or borrowing a 500e or i3 for around town use for a week or two. If you’re like me, you’ll be amazed at how great the experience is and how quickly you stop worrying about range. We even drive ours to places like Estes Park (35 miles through mountains) and Golden (37 miles), and Ft Collins (40 miles) without a worry in the world. As long as there’s charging on the other end of the trip (I know that’s not a given for everyone), we can plug in, hike or have a meal, etc., and drive home without any issues. And of course, it’s all we use for getting around in-town.
So glad to see all the support for Torch and I eagerly await his next taillight article or whatever he decides to do when he’s vertical again!
Agreed. The actual cost will be nuts for this poor guy. Our health care system is a bad joke, and is basically broken. Thanks to everyone who was able to help out.
I am jealous of you. Grew up in Estes Park. I know how fun it can be to blast both up and down the Big Thompson or Boulder Canyon. Either one is a ton of fun. Wish I was still there, but life had other plans.
Not a FIAT guy but glad you enjoy yours.
Colorado has some of the most epic drives in North America, cheers!