 Previous story: Jones awake, condition upgraded to guarded
Graphic: Repairing Jones' heart
State hopes coach to be 'poster boy' for seat belts
Warriors' spring football will kick off on schedule
Diagram of the accident
 Send your best wishes to the coach and read comments sent by others.
By Scott Ishikawa
Advertiser Staff Writer
University of Hawai‘i football coach June Jones remains in guarded condition this afternoon at the Queen’s Medical Center after being involved in a one-car crash Thursday, but his prognosis looks better.
Jones, whose car slammed into a freeway overpass concrete pillar on Thursday, is aware of his hospital surroundings and now breathing on his own without the aid of a ventilator, Queen’s medical officials said this afternoon.
Jones also continues to move his limbs and answer doctors' requests, said Dr. Neil Fergusson, Queen’s trauma surgeon and Jones’ attending physician.
Fergusson said all of the coach's vital signs remain stable, and X-rays of his lung and chest and examination of his abdomen indicate no problems.
An magnetic resonance imaging and initial X-rays of Jones’ spine showed no injuries.
Two operations performed on Thursday has stopped the bleeding in Jones’ abdomen and chest, Fergusson said.
Surgeon Michael Dang, the thoracic cardiovascular surgeon who operated on Jones to repair Jones’ aorta — the blood vessel that supplies blood to the lower half of the body — said the area seems to be healing fine.
Jones was driving his 1999 Lincoln Town Car along the H-1 Freeway near the Nimitz Highway off-ramp at 10:35 a.m. Thursday, when it left the road and travelled 78 feet on a stretch of dirt before crashing into the abutment.
Cause of the accident has yet to be determined.
[back to top] |
