As Jeff reported yesterday, Sean Bradley of Exotics By Nature is paralyzed from the waist down due to a fall. Close friend Tim Bailey is helping with Exotics By Nature and his girlfriend Rachel is holding down the family fort. Sean will undergo surgery on Friday for spinal fusion.

Like many of our members, Sean is a small business owner and does not have health insurance. He could definitely use a little help from his friends. A Chip In account has been established to help defray some of the upcoming medical costs. The family and his friends will be updating it as much as possible with information.

His fiance Rachel sent us this update:

> Sean Bradley, the owner of Exotics by Nature, had a life-changing accident on the night of July 4th. He had some temporary memory loss, he does not remember exactly what happened. The story as we have it right now is that Rachel (Sean's fiancée) was inside the house and Sean was on the back balcony (talking on the phone). We had just had a bad storm blow through and everything was very wet. Sean thinks he must have slipped on the wet boards and fell approximately 12 feet to the ground. The next thing he remembered was waking up on the ground and being in pain. He was able to crawl over to the building and beat on the wall loud enough for Rachel to hear it.

Sean was then transported to University Charity hospital in New Orleans. Once there, they determined that Sean fractured his spine twice, broke his sternum and a few ribs. There were no internal injuries. The doctors have said that Sean will be paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life. He is preparing for surgery on Friday the 13th. To have his spine fused back together. We do not know how long he will be hospitalized.

For those that don't know, this is not the first major downfall of the year. Sean and Rachel's son, Will, was born on Christmas day in 2011. Will passed away on January 4th. It has been a very tough year for Sean and Rachel, and they need all the support that we can provide. Rachel is pregnant again right now, and the baby is definitely one thing that is keeping them going right now.

Sean has many local friends, customers and employees that are helping to take care of his eggs, breeding, collection and hatchlings (Rachel has been coming home in the evenings and taking care of the cats, dogs and iguanas), so they will be able to hold the fort down until the Reptile Expert can return to his collection.

I spoke with Sean this morning and let me tell you, he is not giving up! Despite the pain he is in and the medications, he was his normal smart-arse self. He wanted to express how thankful he is for all the support that is already coming his way from the community and pass along how much it means to him. We will continue to keep you in the loop as we hear more.