A promising university student from Atlanta faces a future of gruelling rehabilitation after a catastrophic skiing accident in Colorado left him with life-altering spinal injuries.
A Fateful Decision on the Slopes
Ayden Slipsager, an 18-year-old freshman at the University of Georgia, was on a trip with his father and a friend on December 17 when tragedy struck. Just hours before the incident, his mother, Tami Slipsager, had pleaded with him to take private ski lessons, concerned about his novice abilities on the challenging terrain.
"I'm doing okay," was the teenager's confident reply, according to his mother's account to Atlanta News First. That confidence proved tragically misplaced. Roughly two hours later, Tami received a harrowing phone call informing her that her son was in urgent care, severely bleeding and requiring a breathing port.
The accident occurred as conditions on the slopes turned icy. Slipsager hit an unknown object with such force that he was knocked unconscious. He lay undiscovered for a staggering 40 minutes before a stranger spotted him and summoned emergency help.
"We don’t know what he hit," Tami Slipsager explained. "All the damage probably came from trees, but they said they didn’t find him anywhere near trees. We don’t know if it was ice or a stump or rock."
Catastrophic Injuries and a Daunting Recovery
The impact of the collision was devastating. Medical reports confirmed Ayden suffered spinal cord injuries, a fractured skull, broken ribs, a collapsed lung, and a broken collarbone.
"It was scary. He wasn’t awake, tubes and braces, and intubated, and I wasn’t even sure he was in there," his mother recalled of seeing him in hospital. She described it as "the worst day of my life."
While Ayden has made some progress, he remains unable to walk. His recovery journey now hinges on a specialised transfer from his current hospital in Denver to the renowned Shepherd Center spinal cord rehabilitation facility in Georgia, closer to his family's support network.
A Financial Mountain to Climb
This critical medical evacuation, however, presents a monumental financial hurdle. The family has been quoted a cost of between $100,000 and $150,000 (approximately £80,000 to £120,000) for the transport, an expense not fully covered by insurance.
"This is an expense that insurance does not fully cover, and it’s a financial burden his family cannot take on alone," states a GoFundMe page set up by a friend. The fundraiser, which has so far gathered over $44,000, aims to bridge this gap, offering "so much hope" that Ayden can access the specialised care he needs.
The family is clinging to the hope of a full recovery for the high-achieving student, who finished his first semester with an impressive 3.9 GPA and aspires to major in business or finance. Described as a stellar athlete with "unbelievable goals," his future now depends on a long and uncertain path to rehabilitation.
