Jonathon Stewart '96 remains in fair condition at the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center after undergoing exploratory surgery earlier this week. Stewart sustained injuries in a fall at Alpha Delta fraternity last Friday.
Stewart underwent surgery to investigate possible damage to his pancreas, spleen and gallbladder, he said in an interview at DHMC yesterday.
Though there was no evident damage to his spleen, Stewart said surgery revealed a swollen pancreas and consisted of the removal of his gallbladder. In addition, he sustained a fracture to his third lumbar vertebra and a punctured right lung.
The fall did not result in any injuries to the nerves in his spinal cord, Didi Sheets, DHMC Nursing Supervisor at Patient Care said. "For the most part people [recover] fine," she said.
Stewart, who will remain at DHMC for at least three weeks, said he "has no idea" how he ended up on the ground outside of AD.
"I remember at some point, probably after an hour or an hour and a half, going up to bed," he said. "Next thing I knew there were flashes of Safety and Security and the ambulance. That's seriously all I can remember."
Julie Bowen '95 and Molly Corrigan '95 were at AD when Stewart was found.
According to Bowen, Kim Duckworth '96 and an unidentified woman found Stewart by the sidewalk near East Wheelock Street, trying to walk.
After helping Stewart to the front stairs of AD, the two women left him with brothers, Bowen said.
Duckworth refused to comment.
Hanover Police Detective Rick Paulson corroborated the information.
According to Bowen, it was not evident that Stewart was seriously injured, but only that he was drunk.
She said Stewart was conscious and insisted he did not need to be taken to the hospital. "He kept saying 'I just want to lay down, I just want to lay down,'" she said.
"At the time [Stewart] was found it was not clear that he needed medical attention, debate went on, and when the conclusion was made that he needed attention, someone present made the call," AD President Chase Arnold '95 said.
Bowen and Corrigan left AD after an hour and returned to Kappa Kappa Gamma, where they called Safety and Security, she said.
Bowen emphasized that the injuries Stewart had sustained were not evident. "I thought he was so drunk that he needed his stomach pumped, which is why I was so forceful," she said.
"It was such a tough decision for those brothers to make," she said. "They didn't know what had happened and they thought they were looking out for his academic interests, but they didn't know he was hurt so much inside."
Arnold said Stewart's fall was an accident, and that the fraternity is in the process of preparing a statement about the incident for the Office of Residential Life.
