Joe had two vertebraes in his neck fused from an old injury. Then, when he was shooting the X Games in San Diego, a screw backed out of the cage holding his neck together, punched a bunch of holes in his esophagus on the way down before lodging in his chest cavity. Bonnello had to go back to the doctors for another surgery. He drove himself from San Diego to St. Joseph's Hospital in Orange for immediate surgery, but by that time every single internal hole was infected and swelling shut. So they opened his throat, fused a couple more vertebraes, put in drip tubes, tracheal breather tube, and punched a hole into his chest to get the screw out. He couldn't swallow or even have a sip of water for six weeks. He was back in ICU soon after that with another infection.
We talked to Colin from Asterisk this week and they will be selling tee shirts ($20) and stickers ($5) at the Asterisk booth in Hangtown. If you cant make it to the race this weekend, and you would like to make a contribution then you can go to www.helpjoeb.com. All the proceeds go directly to Joe.
