Justin is a proud graduate of the University of Texas, has earned two masters degrees, and is currently a PhD candidate studying early dinosaur flight at the University of Southern California. He is also an award winning teaching assistant having won 5 awards for his outstanding performance.
Just like his dog, Roosevelt, Justin has had a rough year. In the fall of 2014 he fell, breaking his nose in multiple places and sustaining a major concussion. In October he had major reconstructive surgery for his nose, nasal septum, and sinuses. The surgery was really unpleasant, but after the pain and swelling finally went away, Justin was enjoying being able to breathe freely, not snoring, or sounding like a dinosaur whenever he blew his nose. The injury, surgery, and pursuing recovery took most of the autumn. After recovering, Justin was finally getting back to full speed on his research and dissertation, and was on pace to graduate in December of 2015.
When Justin woke up early in the morning on July 4th, 2015 to find that the house was on fire, he immediately got his girlfriend and Roosevelt out of the house to safety. As Justin was running out of house, flaming falling debris from the kitchen ceiling hit him in the head and back and knocked him to ground. Fortunately Justin was near the back door and was able to leap through the door, making it out of the house. His body, hair and beard were on fire, but luckily he remembered his elementary school training to “stop, drop and roll”. After putting out the fire on his own body, he ushered his girlfriend, Roosevelt, and two others who escaped the house up the driveway to the gate, which he unlocked to let everyone out. Once paramedics arrived, Justin was rushed to a nearby emergency room where he was treated for smoke inhalation. When he had been stabilized, Justin was transferred to the burn unit at LA County-USC Hospital. After removing his burnt hair and cleaning the soot and ash off of his skin, doctors determined that Justin had sustained 2nd and 3rd degree burns on 20% of his body. Justin spent nearly a week in the hospital, with several days in the intensive care unit before being transferred to the regular burn ward. While in the hospital, Justin had the burnt skin debrided (a process where burned skin is scraped and cleaned) several times. This is an extremely painful process, but is necessary to promote healing and prevent infection as new skin begins to form.
Since being released from the hospital, Justin has continued to receive outpatient treatment. Given the extent of his injuries, he has to rely on others to clean and bandage his wounds every day. As you can imagine, this is a very time consuming process, which takes more than an hour to complete each time. Justin has to return to the hospital periodically to be re-evaluated and have his burned skin debrided.
Justin is very grateful that he, his girlfriend, and Roosevelt survived the fire, but he lost everything he owned, aside from the pair of underwear he was sleeping in and a pair of shorts he managed to throw on. Some of the things he lost include photographs, his book collection (many of which are irreplaceable), clothes, shoes/boots, shirts, suits, camping/field equipment, a digitizer, TV, computer and monitors, and even his laptop (which had his dissertation saved on it). Justin had his dissertation backed up on 3 external hard drives, stored in different parts of the house, but all were destroyed in the fire.
Justin has lost at least 6-12 months of work on his dissertation, but he is committed to graduating as close to on schedule as possible. Instead of December of 2015, he will be unable to finish until at least May or August of 2016. He is currently unable to do any work on the dissertation because of his medical condition. As things stand, even when doctors clear him to return to work, he will be unable to work on his dissertation because all of his data collection equipment and computers were destroyed.
Justin is looking forward to finding a new place to live where he can have Roosevelt with him while rebuilding their lives. In order to resume work on his dissertation he needs to purchase a new digitizer/drawing pad, digital camera, monitor(s), and a laptop capable of processing 3D renderings and large datasets. He also needs to buy new clothes (it seems socially unacceptable to show up places in only a pair of underwear and cargo shorts that smell like smoke). He also needs new shoes (no shirt, no shoes, no service). Additionally, Justin needs to purchase a couple of new suits. He had an interview for a full-time faculty position scheduled for July 8th, 2015 that he had to cancel. Justin is hoping to reschedule the interview for a later date. While he is a finalist for the position, he is pretty sure he won’t get it if he shows up in said underwear and cargo shorts for the interview. Justin is grateful for all of the love and support that he has received from his friends, family, and the USC, UT, and paleontology communities.
To donate now, click here
Just like his dog, Roosevelt, Justin has had a rough year. In the fall of 2014 he fell, breaking his nose in multiple places and sustaining a major concussion. In October he had major reconstructive surgery for his nose, nasal septum, and sinuses. The surgery was really unpleasant, but after the pain and swelling finally went away, Justin was enjoying being able to breathe freely, not snoring, or sounding like a dinosaur whenever he blew his nose. The injury, surgery, and pursuing recovery took most of the autumn. After recovering, Justin was finally getting back to full speed on his research and dissertation, and was on pace to graduate in December of 2015.
When Justin woke up early in the morning on July 4th, 2015 to find that the house was on fire, he immediately got his girlfriend and Roosevelt out of the house to safety. As Justin was running out of house, flaming falling debris from the kitchen ceiling hit him in the head and back and knocked him to ground. Fortunately Justin was near the back door and was able to leap through the door, making it out of the house. His body, hair and beard were on fire, but luckily he remembered his elementary school training to “stop, drop and roll”. After putting out the fire on his own body, he ushered his girlfriend, Roosevelt, and two others who escaped the house up the driveway to the gate, which he unlocked to let everyone out. Once paramedics arrived, Justin was rushed to a nearby emergency room where he was treated for smoke inhalation. When he had been stabilized, Justin was transferred to the burn unit at LA County-USC Hospital. After removing his burnt hair and cleaning the soot and ash off of his skin, doctors determined that Justin had sustained 2nd and 3rd degree burns on 20% of his body. Justin spent nearly a week in the hospital, with several days in the intensive care unit before being transferred to the regular burn ward. While in the hospital, Justin had the burnt skin debrided (a process where burned skin is scraped and cleaned) several times. This is an extremely painful process, but is necessary to promote healing and prevent infection as new skin begins to form.
Since being released from the hospital, Justin has continued to receive outpatient treatment. Given the extent of his injuries, he has to rely on others to clean and bandage his wounds every day. As you can imagine, this is a very time consuming process, which takes more than an hour to complete each time. Justin has to return to the hospital periodically to be re-evaluated and have his burned skin debrided.
Justin is very grateful that he, his girlfriend, and Roosevelt survived the fire, but he lost everything he owned, aside from the pair of underwear he was sleeping in and a pair of shorts he managed to throw on. Some of the things he lost include photographs, his book collection (many of which are irreplaceable), clothes, shoes/boots, shirts, suits, camping/field equipment, a digitizer, TV, computer and monitors, and even his laptop (which had his dissertation saved on it). Justin had his dissertation backed up on 3 external hard drives, stored in different parts of the house, but all were destroyed in the fire.
Justin has lost at least 6-12 months of work on his dissertation, but he is committed to graduating as close to on schedule as possible. Instead of December of 2015, he will be unable to finish until at least May or August of 2016. He is currently unable to do any work on the dissertation because of his medical condition. As things stand, even when doctors clear him to return to work, he will be unable to work on his dissertation because all of his data collection equipment and computers were destroyed.
Justin is looking forward to finding a new place to live where he can have Roosevelt with him while rebuilding their lives. In order to resume work on his dissertation he needs to purchase a new digitizer/drawing pad, digital camera, monitor(s), and a laptop capable of processing 3D renderings and large datasets. He also needs to buy new clothes (it seems socially unacceptable to show up places in only a pair of underwear and cargo shorts that smell like smoke). He also needs new shoes (no shirt, no shoes, no service). Additionally, Justin needs to purchase a couple of new suits. He had an interview for a full-time faculty position scheduled for July 8th, 2015 that he had to cancel. Justin is hoping to reschedule the interview for a later date. While he is a finalist for the position, he is pretty sure he won’t get it if he shows up in said underwear and cargo shorts for the interview. Justin is grateful for all of the love and support that he has received from his friends, family, and the USC, UT, and paleontology communities.
To donate now, click here