Please support the Stender family as U.S. Marine and FBI Special Agent Jason Stender courageously fights to recover from a tragic injury that has left him paralyzed.
On Saturday morning, October 25th, Jason Stender was on the east coast of Puerto Rico in Palmas Del Mar, for a work-related task. That afternoon his wife and two young sons met him to go hiking and fishing. They hiked to a look-out point right outside of Palmas called Punta Icacos. After climbing down a rock scramble, the family set up in the rocky outcropping to fish. One of the fishing hooks got stuck. Jason climbed up about 6 feet to a flat ledge to free the hook. After the hook was free, he began climbing down, facing the wall. Suddenly his hand hold crumpled away, at the same time that his foot hold slid out from under him. He fell backward from 6 feet high and landed on hard rock. He sheared the c6, c7 vertebrae, and fractured the c6 vertebrae. He was instantly paralyzed from mid- chest down, with some retention of movement in his arms. Off- duty police officers happened to be climbing down to the same rocky outcropping the moment the accident happened. They quickly jumped in to help, and interfaced with the local paramedics once they arrived, to facilitate communication due to the language barrier.
Jason maintained consciousness througout the incident, and was able to communicate with his wife to call two close friends who also are bureau employees. They arrived on scene shortly after the accident, and assissted on both the ems side, as well as communication with the Coast Guard.
About one and a half hours after the accident, coast guard arrived and air-lifted Jason to centro médico, the only level 1 trauma center on the island.
He received manual halo spinal traction that evening, to re-align his spine. Sunday afternoon, 24 hours later, he went under surgery from 4:30 pm -12am. He had a titanium cage put around his c6 vertebrae, and was reinforced with screws from c2 to t2.
Monday evening around 6:00 pm he was air ambulanced to Jackson Memorial hospital in Miami Florida. He was in Neuro ICU for a week, was discharged to a step down floor for a few days, and since then has been in the acute rehab center at Lynn rehabilitation. Following his discharge on December 11th, Jason and his family moved to Richmond, Virginia to began his outpatient care.
Jason is maintaining good spirits, and plans to give rehab and recovery everything he has. He has sensation through his whole body, but no movement as of yet in his hands, or below his chest. His arm and wrist control are intact.
He and his wife, Mary, are living in the acute rehab center together. Their two young sons are with Jason’s brother and his family in NC until Jason is discharged from inpatient and makes his way to Richmond for outpatient. They can’t wait to be reunited as a family, and will be in Richmond for the outpatient side of rehab, as there is a much larger family support network in the area.
