UNH Student Needs Your Help After Near-Death Scare

University of New Hampshire junior Mitch Wilson suffered devastating injuries this fall when he consumed a type of poison that severely burned his mouth, trachea, stomach and large intestine. He also suffered a collapsed lung and spent 8 weeks in the hospital.

His uncle, Rob Young, has started a GoFundMe.com page to help raise money to assist Mitch's family. Patch has partnered with GoFundMe and is helping to highlight worthy campaigns in local communities.

In one month, 134 people have already donated $7,173. The goal is $25,000.

From the page:

My nephew, Mitch Wilson, suffered devastating injuries at the beginning of October 2013. While up at University of New Hampshire, enjoying his junior year as a pre-med student, he consumed some type of caustic poison that severely burned his mouth, trachea, stomach and large intestine, he also suffered a collapsed lung. He was in Massachusetts General Hospital for 8 weeks and in that time he had been admitted to Surgical ICU on three different occasions totaling almost three weeks. He had a tracheotomy procedure shortly after arriving at the hospital to give his trachea time to heal. He also had a feeding tube inserted due to the extensive damage caused by this horrible incident. While at Mass General he underwent an operation where the surgeons had to remove a portion of his stomach due to the extensive damage it sustained. The surgeons tried to avoid the total removal of his stomach, hopefully it won't come to that. During his stay in the hospital Mitch had many different scope procedures on his trachea and bronchial airways. During one of the trachea procedures the doctors did not know that Mitch actually had pneumonia at the time. While under general anesthesia Mitch's blood pressure dropped (due to the pneumonia) and he went into cardiac arrest. The doctors revived him but he ended up back in the Surgical ICU for a week. It was a devastating set back and one of the scariest moments in our family's history. 

Mitchell is a great kid and a true fighter. Even with everything that was going on, and all his medical issues, he still greeted everyone who came to visit him with a smile. Due to having a tracheostomy in place, and the extensive damage to his trachea, he is still unable to speak. Communication is difficult because he is limited to a writing his thoughts on a white board or having his visitors read his lips. Before this accident happened he was a happy and healthy 20 year old college student, living his life away at college and enjoying every moment. At this point he is staying positive and has a great attitude, the doctors and nurses love him and refer to him as their "best patient". He never complains, he never feels sorry for himself, he just does what the doctors and nurses need him to do to recover. That is just how he is, always positive and very determined. A few weeks ago Mitch was finally released from the hospital and is healing at home. He still has a long road ahead of him and the healing process will take a long time. 

I am reaching out to everyone because his family needs your help. My sister Deb, Mitchell's mom, had spent every possible waking moment with Mitch while he was in the hospital. Because of this she was unable to work and her income, and her family, are suffering. We are happy that Mitch is home now but he needs constant care and my sister is still unable to work. Every week Mitch is seen by a visiting nurse and a physical therapist, he also needs special food (since he is still on a feeding tube), medication, medical equipment, etc, and all these costs add up.

Please find it in your heart to help Mitchell and his family. He is fighting daily, and hourly battles trying to recover from his injuries. The last thing his family needs to worry about are financial issues.

Thank you for reading his story and please pray for his health.