Vail Valley Charitable Fund: A setback is a setup for a comeback
Vail Valley Charitable Fund
Courtesy photo
My name is Zac Johnson, and I am a ski instructor and trainer at Beaver Creek. For the past few ski seasons, I have been training for my PSIA Alpine Trainer Assessment.
This year’s ski assessment took place in February at Aspen Highlands. Everything was going well, and I was feeling confident in my performance. The assessment ended around 3:30 p.m., three quarters of the way to the bottom of Aspen Highlands.
After we were released, the group I was skiing with all day decided to ski the rest of the way down together, and thankfully, we did. About 300 yards from the bottom, my ski season ended. A fluke ski accident left me lying on the snow, wondering what happened. I had high-sided myself and didn’t regulate the magnitude of pressure correctly.
Lying there, I knew I was hurt but didn’t know how bad. I had heard and felt a “pop” or “snap.” I tried to get up, but quickly realized I needed ski patrol. My self-assessment was that I broke my leg. I didn’t know how serious it was.
With the help of my group, ski patrol showed up and immediately called for a sled and an ambulance at the bottom. After a short toboggan and ambulance ride, I arrived at Aspen Valley Hospital. X-rays and a CT scan confirmed that under Tower 5 of the Exhibition Lift at Aspen Highlands, I had shattered my tibia plateau and was at risk of losing my lower leg.
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I was rushed from the ER to the operating room, where I had surgery to stabilize and save the lower part of my right leg. I was fitted with an external fixator for a week while I waited in the hospital for the swelling to go down enough for the doctor to go back in for reconstructive surgery. The second surgery left me with three plates and 28 screws, as well as a long road to recovery.
I was lucky enough to have my amazing wife, Melanie, also a ski instructor at Beaver Creek, by my side while I was going through this. She spent the first couple of nights in the hospital with me until my mom could get there. Melanie knew she had to get back to the valley to work because I wasn’t going to be able to for the foreseeable future. This immediately brought worry and financial stress to both of us.
As word of my injury and situation spread through our ski instructor community, a close friend of ours reached out and told me to look into an amazing organization called Vail Valley Charitable Fund. I am so grateful I did. They were extremely helpful in my time of need, bringing financial relief and hope to my wife and me. The Vail Valley Charitable Fund assisted with rent, bills, and groceries, all basic human needs that one requires to survive.
I still have a long way to go, but I am further along because of the Vail Valley Charitable Fund. Thank you to everyone at Vail Valley Charitable Fund and to my friend who told me about this organization. You have helped me turn my setback into the start of a comeback.
