A unique injury leads to a full recovery and a TV commercial

On September 6th, 2009, Justin Kiesow was shooting his bow in the backyard at a handmade target as he had done so many times in the past. He was using all aluminum arrows that day. As he notched and pulled back another arrow, taking aim at the target, he then released. That is when the arrow in the bow snapped in the center and the shaft part of the arrow went into Justin’s left forearm. Because his mom is a nurse, she wanted to see the wound that was already wrapped with a towel. When Justin opened it, blood spurted straight up and he fainted. Justin was then rushed to the Altru Clinic in Roseau; his mom didn’t know you could get to Roseau in 23 minutes! He was seen in the ER and the doctor there called Altru for advice as this was a very unique wound.  

The following day Justin and parents, Ron & Coleen, went to Altru in Grand Forks. It was Labor Day, but they met with the orthopedic doctor on call and he basically rebandaged the wound and said to make an appointment in a week. 

At the next appointment, the ortho doctor really wasn’t sure how to proceed; they had never seen an injury of this kind, but he told them about a new neurosurgeon that had just relocated to Altru from Mayo Clinic. That is how they came to meet Dr. Brad Meland, and upon seeing Justin’s wound and doing some nerve tests, he walked out of the room cursing under his breath. When he returned, he said, “I’m sorry, but I just feel so bad for your kid. With one injury you have damaged both the nerves in your forearm going to your hand.” This was a Monday and he said no one should have told you to wait, you need surgery and he cleared his Thursday morning surgery schedule.  

On Thursday morning, Justin had 6 hours of microscopic neurosurgery. Surgery went well according to Dr. Meland but at that point Justin could not straighten his fingers. Recheck appointments were made and attended, Dr. Meland was happy with the progress. Justin had very little strength in his left hand and his fingers were curled. Dr. Meland could not make any promises that his hand would not be permanently disabled and that was hard news for everyone to hear.  

Dr. Meland was wonderful and took a personal interest in Justin’s recovery, he had reconnected the nerves as much as he could during surgery but nerve growth and regeneration just takes time. Dr. Meland said Justin had his youth to his advantage but said it could take up to 2 years for the nerves to grow together and full function of his hand to return. All sports had to be given up for his freshmen year as he recovered. The wound healed and his two long surgery scars healed but he still was not able to fully extend his fingers.  

Many prayers were said for a full healing and full function of his hand. Special prayers were said by his Grandpa and Grandma Kiesow at a Cathedral in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. 

A one year checkup continued to show nerve regeneration and better function and mobility of his fingers. At his two year checkup, Dr. Melland couldn’t believe the progress that had been made, Justin had full function and extension of all his fingers and improved strength and ability to make a fist, it seemed healed. Dr. Meland said, “Either I am one great doctor or this is a miracle.” My parents told him it was both!

Fast forward to June of 2015.  

Justin received a call from Altru inquiring if he would be willing to do a promotional video for the Altru Orthopedic department and his mom got invited to join him to give a parental perspective on the whole experience. They arrived at Altru Rehab and were treated to a full buffet and then did the interview together. It was edited and posted on Altru’s website. They especially wanted Justin’s story since it was so unique and none of the doctors had dealt with an injury of that nature. 

When Justin and Coleen were done with the video, they stopped at Dr. Meland’s office and asked if they could just see him for a minute. When Dr. Meland came out, he had a big smile on his face. Even after 5 years he remembered Justin and said, “Hello young man, you are looking good.” He had him extend his fingers and make a fist and squeeze his hand. He was so happy with the results. 

This spring Altru called again and was wondering if Justin would be willing to be in a TV commercial for Altru Orthopedics. They wanted to show him shooting his bow and that he was able to do that again after surgery. The shoot was set up for his last day of finals of his junior year at NDSU and so after finals he drove to Grand Forks. The director was from Los Angeles. He didn’t like any of Justin’s shirts so they went to Target and bought a shirt the director liked, we all laughed about that! 

The shoot was about 2 hours for about 10 seconds of airtime, but as a surprise they paid him $1000 to be a part of the commercial. It has been running mostly on channel 8 (ABC). He received a DVD of it prior to it being on TV so we got to preview and it turned out great! But the greatest part was the complete healing of his arm and hand and the excellent care he received from Dr.Meland. 

When asked what he had learned from this whole experience, Justin said, “Don’t ever buy cheap aluminum arrows!”