Kinsley Thomas Wong Hurt!

[Jeffy]

Kinsley Thomas Wong of Pismo Beach was in critical condition Friday morning in the intensive care unit of Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center, hospital spokesman Ron Yukelson said. Wong was injured in a kiteboarding crash in San Simeon late Thursday afternoon. Wong was along the shore south of Pico Creek in San Simeon Acres when the accident happened at about 4 p.m. Thursday.
Retired Cambria dentist Dean Hilger was kiting that day, too.
“The winds were kind of gusty,” he said. Wong apparently was “powering up,” and doing a maneuver in the air. “A kite has a lot of power to it, tremendous lift, and it can get a little crazy,” Hilger said. “You can get yanked out of the water.”
When a gust of wind caught Wong’s kite, he apparently was pulled out of the water and dropped on the rocks, Hilger said. Wind gusts of up to 25 mph were recorded Thursday at an automated weather station at Piedras Blancas, about 8 miles north of San Simeon Acres.
Emergency responders who examined Wong on the beach near Pico Creek reported that he was unconscious and unresponsive but breathing, according to Eryn Tsudama, spokeswoman for Cal Fire.
A Calstar air ambulance took Wong to Twin Cities Community Hospital in Templeton, where he was treated before being transferred Thursday evening to Sierra Vista.

If you don't know Kinsley. He has the largest smile/stoke/aloha spirit of anyone I know.
He apparently hit his head on a partially submerged rock, while not wearing a helmet. I will be going up to visit him this week and post more on how he is doing.

[BobA]

Check out videos of him here:

http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php? ... 8&p=659555

Pure stoke, Kinsley is an incredibly talented kiteboarder. Super friendly and happy every time I met him.

I hope he recovers fully.

This event says wear a helmet. He also sustained back injury and in kiteboarding there is no back protection. So be careful out there.

[Jeffy]

He also teaches Paragliding and I have seen him fly without a helmet.
I concur Bob a helmet should always be worn when your getting any kind of air time.
http://www.xtremebigair.com/

[Jeffy]

The latest on Kinsley... To be honest, I don't know ALL the exact details of his injuries (and I think there is still a lot up in the air due to swelling). But basically, he had multiple skull fractures, and damage to his c5-c6. He had surgery to stabilize his spine and decrease the swelling. When he was first injured he had no feeling below his chest, but I believe has since had feeling on his stomach, moved arms, and felt cold on the bottom of his feet, etc. So there is improvement. From what I understand, Santa Clara has a spinal recovery center that can better help with his case and that is where he is headed to next. I went and saw Jamie (Kinsley's wife) today, but not much was clear other than it's just one day at a time right now, working towards recovery. With lots of therapy to regain movement and feeling. I didn't get to see Kinsley unfortunately, he was in therapy when I was there. I'll let you know when I hear more!!!

[sbkiter]

More info on Kinsley for those that would like to help.
-Jon

From Marina Chang:

Many of you have asked how you can best how support Kinsley and Jamie as they work through Kinsley’s rehabilitation efforts.

To be proactive on behalf of the ThomsWong family, Kip Wytel, Steve Davies and myself (Marina Chang) have taken the initiative to reach out to the local, as well as global kiteboarding and paragliding communities for help. Though Kinsley has insurance, it is 30% co-pay until a certain amount paid is reached. Meanwhile the costs associated with the medevac, ICU, surgeries and upcoming extended-stay treatment in the spine care recovery unit in Santa Clara have and will continue to be astronomical. Also, some costs of care and recovery simply won’t be covered by insurance, while long-term care needs could be a distinct possibility.

Many of us have been graced by Kinsley's selflessness, kiteboard/paraglide advocacy, passion for the ocean/air, and unique jovial spirit.

In particular, the kiteboarding and paragliding communities are considered Kinsley’s extended family. At the same time, we all realize that while we fly or kite solo, kiting and paragliding is a community sport where we have all likely been helped out of a jam by another at some time. Kinsley has elevated so many lives and has promoted both sports passionately, including the annual KiteXpo (Expo) in Pismo Beach. We would like to give back and hope you will join us in our outreach effort by donating to his health and recovery costs. Please also help us spread the word of this effort through your own networks.



We have created a website dedicated to Kinsley’s progress. http://kinsleydonation.weebly.com/index.html. Here, we will keep you all posted on Kinsley’s recovery progress on the Kinsley Condition Log and Blog links on the website’s menu. You can make comments on the blog link, or, post your own thoughts, photos, stories and electronic greetings (these are great to show Kinsley!) on a new facebook page we created just for this purpose (Friends of Kinsley ThomasWong). Under the “what you can do tab” on the website, you will find information on how you can help support Kinsley and Jamie through the Kinsley Thomas Wong Donation Fund.

Contributions can be made by check, paypal or directly to Bank of America. Unfortunately, donations to one individual for any philanthropic purpose, such as illness, are not tax deductable. But, donations are considered gifts and are not taxable income to the beneficiary. Additionally, unless the donation is specified ‘anonymous,’ at some point we will acknowledge those that contributed individually or through businesses (no amounts specified). All other information is confidential.

Donation checks can deposited in any Bank of America branch for the Kinsley ThomasWong Donation Fund.

If you want to send a check by mail, please make checks payable to Kinsley ThomasWong Donation and send to:
Melinda Thomas
26 El Viento
Pismo Beach, CA 93449

Thank you all for your kindness and support.