Flat Inspection Mishap!

**Trigger Warning**

Unsettling photos ahead!

Proceed with caution!

Elder Nelson fell down some steep stairs on June 28, 2025! It was a Saturday morning and we had five flat inspections to do for our young missionaries. We were out early to visit the first flat of Sister Tauiliili and Sister Connelly. They are our awesome STL’s and their flat was perfect.

We had a nice quick visit with them, had said our goodbyes and as we were leaving, Elder Nelson was walking down the rounded steep stairs and his foot slipped off a stair and he pitched forward, falling into the wall in front of him, hitting his head really hard and bending his neck at an weird awkward angle. He then kept falling down the curve of the stairs, hitting his head a 2nd time on the next wall.

In the process of falling down the stairs headfirst, he bent his left pinkie finger out to an awkward 90-degree angle. When he finally stopped falling, his head was pointing downward and his feet up in the air. Elder Nelson immediately saw that his pinkie was bent outward/sideways and grabbed it. He tried to move / push his pinkie back into place…and moved it by about on inch…but stopped because he suddenly had the thought, “what if I have broken it? By trying to move it on my own, I could end up causing a lot of problems.”

I made my way down the stairs to try to help Elder Nelson sit up. The stairs were narrow and so it was quite the process to get his head up, his legs turned going back down and him sitting up! Our sweet young sister missionaries wanted to help in any way they could, but because the stairs were narrow, there wasn’t enough room for them on the stairs.

We all stared at Elder Nelson’s awkwardly bent pinkie and he said he needed to have it seen. Once we were in our car, we called Sister Hancock, our Mission Health Adviser, to ask if she knew of a nearby clinic open on a Saturday. Sister Hancock said there were no clinic’s open on Saturday and to just go the nearest ER.

The nearest hospital was in Ipswich and so off we went. I felt really bad because I can’t drive in Australia yet, so Elder Nelson had to drive himself. At one point while driving, he bumped his bent pinkie and clenched his teeth in pain. (My first thought was, “oh please don’t pass out!”)

The first hospital we went to was Ipswich General Hospital. I think it is a government run hospital. While Duane was checking in at the window of the very crowded waiting room, he handed the attendant his Aetna Insurance card. As soon as the clerk saw his private insurance card, he leaned forward and in a very nice, encouraging way said, “With your insurance, you would be better off and would wait a lot less time if you went to the private hospital two blocks away from us.” We thanked him and off we walked the two blocks to St. Andrews Private Hospital.

St. Andrews waiting room was basically empty. We were welcomed right in, and they were awesome with us! All the staff…those that checked us in plus the nurses and doctors, treated us with wonderful care! They loved talking with us just so they could listen to our “accent”, haha.

After X-rays and a head CT, we found that Elder Nelson’s pinkie was not broken, just dislocated. Other than bruising and being really sore and tender, his neck and head were fine as well! Yay!

After some laughing gas, the doctor popped Elder Nelson’s pinkie back into place and then taped the pinkie to his ring finger for support. (Elder Nelson actually kept his pinkie taped to his ring finger for the next five to six weeks.) We thanked everyone for all their great care and kindness to us, and we walked back to our car, still parked at the other hospital.

What was the first thing Elder Nelson wanted to do as we got back to our car? He wanted to finish the four flat inspections, which we hadn’t gotten to yet. As we drove to the closest flat, our brand-new mission president, President Gomez, called. He had heard that Elder Nelson had fallen down some stairs and had gone to the hospital. Pres. Gomez just wanted to call and see if he was O.K. and if there was anything he could do to help. Isn’t that thoughtful and sweet? President Gomez is amazing! So is Sister Gomez!

Elder Nelson has since mentioned that this fall down the stairs was all part of an intentional plan to get a “first hand” patient’s perspective of the Australian emergency medical system, all part of doing his job and not at all related to being clumsy! He also mentioned he would never have fallen if the young sisters hadn’t polished their wood stairs so well! Haha!