Halloween nightmare now a blessed Thanksgiving for Fosdick family

Above: Josh with from left daughter Olivia, wife Stephanie and sons Adison and Issac

By Ken MacLeod

As you gather with your loved ones for Thanksgiving, hold them tight. You never know what pitfalls lie ahead.

One day you could be a coach or golfer for the proud Oklahoma City University golf program, the next day find out the program has been canceled. One day you could be recently retired after a long career as a PGA professional, city manager and staunch defender of public golf in Oklahoma, the next day you could be battling brain cancer, as my good friend Warren Lehr is doing right now in Owasso.

And then there is the story that has rocked the Oklahoma golf community but also caused an outpouring of love and support. Oak Tree Country Club professional Josh Fosdick, whose life was changed forever when he plunged into an uncovered drainage tunnel just off the Turner Turnpike on Oct. 31. Fosdick will be thankfully celebrating at home this Thanksgiving with his family, a long road ahead but one he is embracing with a remarkably upbeat attitude buoyed by the support of his family, friends, club members, fellow pros and golfers everywhere.

For anyone who missed reading about the freak accident, Fosdick , 51 and the top assistant pro at Oak Tree CC in Edmond, was returning home with head professional Kevin Wagner. The two had gone to play The Patriot in Owasso, where Fosdick was scheduled to compete in the Yamaha Players Championship on Nov. 3, a competition for PGA professionals from the South Central Section (Oklahoma, Arkansas and southern Kansas).

Traffic on the Turner Turnpike had come to a complete stop outside of Chandler for more than an hour due to an accident up ahead. Fosdick, needing to relieve himself, walked a few yards away from the car to get out of the lights. Next thing he knew he had plunged 20 feet down into a drainage channel, suffering horrific injuries in the fall.

Meanwhile, traffic had begun moving on the turnpike and Wagner was growing concerned when he didn’t return in a few minutes. He pulled off and tried to call him but Fosdick’s phone was in the car. He went looking and fortunately could hear his friend’s cries for help, as Fosdick had somehow retained consciousness.

Wagner called 911, flagged down a truck driver and asked him to send a patrol car back from the wreck up ahead and waited for the first responders. Local first responders came immediately but it was a little before 10 p.m. when Oklahoma City Fire and Rescue arrived with the equipment needed to extricate Fosdick and fly him to Oklahoma Medical Center.

“I was knocked silly, but I don’t believe I lost consciousness,” Fosdick said. “Your brain almost can’t comprehend what happened. I knew my legs were hurt immediately. Everything was like a stinging heat. I knew I was bleeding out of my ear, nose and forehead. I knew my legs and particularly my right ankle didn’t look right. But you know, I was propped on my right elbow and that was almost irritating me more than everything else.”

When the rescue team took over, Wagner drove to the hospital to be there when Josh arrived via mediflight. He and wife Josh’s wife Stephanie arrived at about the same time as Josh did. He was operated on quickly to properly set his broken legs and stabilize the right leg, foot and ankle.

A second surgery on Monday was to repair the tibia and upper bone structure of his left leg, as well as a torn meniscus cartilage in his knee. A massive surgery followed on Wednesday on his right leg that included inserting a rod from the knee to the ankle, an eight-inch screw in his fibula, eight other screws holding the fibula together and to promote hopefully future backward and forward motion of the foot and ankle.

In other words, the ability to walk again one day. Doctors told Josh that 40 years ago they would have amputated his right leg, 20 years ago they would have permanently fused the ankle so he would never have been able to move his foot. The miracle workers of today hope he’ll be able to walk, give golf lessons and someday play again himself.

For now, he’s facing eight weeks of no load bearing and then a long physical therapy road, Doctors estimate it will be a year before he should consider himself healed.

For those wondering if the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority or the State of Oklahoma have contacted Fosdick, the answer is no. But he has legal representation now from a lawyer who is also an Oak Tree CC member and time will tell what happens there.

In the meantime, Oak Tree has already held a fundraising tournament for Fosdick in which 248 golfers spread across both the East and West courses there and raised over $30,000. The South Central Section was going to have a fund raiser at The Battlefield at Shangri-La last Monday but it rained all day. His sister started a Go Fund Me site that has raised nearly $100,000

First responders who helped extricate Fosdick were invited to the Oak Tree tournament. One of them remembered that Fosdick was his chemistry teacher at Edmond Memorial in 2007.

Fosdick was also an assistant golf coach at Oklahoma State from 2009-2011, head coach at Texas Pan-American from 2012-13, at Rogers State in 2014-15 and the University of Central Oklahoma from 2016-21, after which he began work at Oak Tree CC.

Members who are builders came to his home to turn his bathroom into an Americans With Disabilities compliant bathroom that will allow him to shower without standing and make other modifications.

“I’m really blessed to be with this club,” Fosdick said. “The membership has been incredible. The Oklahoma golf community has been amazing with their support and donations. The Oak Tree family has been mind-blowingly supportive, For the first three weeks I cried every day because of all the support.”

Fellow Oak Tree pro Tosh Hays, the director of junior golf there, said he expects Fosdick to make a full recovery.

“Here is what I know about Josh, he’s one of the most loyal guys you’ll ever meet and an amazing family man and I can promise you that’s what’s bothering him the most right now, the time this is stealing from his family,” Hays said. “He’s an incredibly hard worker. I can promise you as soon as the doctors give him the okay, he’ll be working his tail off to get healthy.”

Fortunately the rest of Fosdick’s injuries appear to be healing rapidly. That included orbital and sinus fractures, an initial brain bleed and other injuries. The right leg will be the big question mark in the long term. But Fosdick is strong in both mind and body and will have the support he needs.

For the moment, he’s using his time immobilized to watch plenty of football but also get caught up on completing his PGA certification so he could hopefully be elected to full PGA membership on Dec, 1.

Fosdick and his wife Stephanie have three children at home, sons Adison and Issac and daughter Olivia. From the Halloween nightmare to the blessing of being alive and recovering, it will be a special Thanksgiving, even if he has to give up his role as turkey carver for a year.

Note: The South Central PGA Section sent an email to its members about Lehr, referenced above, noting that he recently had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor on the right side of his brain, of which doctors estimate they removed 95 percent. He faces chemotherapy and radiation in his recovery. A CaringBridge Page has been set up to follow his progress.