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Benefit set for Breck man who broke neck

JANE STEBBINSsummit daily news

BRECKENRIDGE – The staff at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. will put its Southern hospitality on display today in a benefit for an employee who broke his neck in a ski accident Jan. 11.Dan Bombac, a bartender at the restaurant, was skiing at the Breckenridge Ski Resort when his ski dipped into a mogul, forcing him to land on his head. A friend helped him ski down the mountain to the ski patrol office at the base of Peak 8. Ski patrollers then took him to the medical clinic on Peak 9, where X-rays revealed he had a vertebrae that had collapsed and twisted.The injury also damaged a nearby artery, creating a blood clot doctors are trying to dissolve with drugs.Bombac was not wearing a helmet that day, but doctors said that oversight saved his life, he said.”They said if I had worn a helmet that day, I would have died,” he said. “The way I fell, my head didn’t slide. If I had a helmet, it would have broken my neck clean through. It’s a weird story. Not having protection saved my life.”He underwent three hours of surgery at Swedish Medical Center in Denver and returned home to Breckenridge Jan. 17. Doctors say it could be two to three months before he can return to work.His medical bills are likely to reach $70,000. Bombac, who hails from the Czech Republic, has travel insurance, but he is unsure how much it will pay toward his medical bills.Currently, he’s living with a brother and friend. Bombac plans to attend the event sometime during the dinner hour.The company hopes to raise at least $3,000 today by donating 25 percent of the day’s proceeds to Bombac to offset his medical costs.


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