Spinal injury won't take his independency

Many don't realize the danger that line workers and arborist encounter everyday. I know I didn't until July 31st 2018. It started as a normal day I was preparing my classroom for the first day of school when I received one of the scariest calls from my sister-in-law Lacey. She was hysterical, she could barely get the words out " Your brother was in an accident, they are transporting him to Akron". It was a normal day for Richard too, he arrived at his job site to trim some trees with his work partner Conner. Conner was on the ground putting brush in the mulcher while Richard was in the bucket trimming. When the tree behind Richard decided to break and crushed him and  pinned him in the bucket. His partner Connor reacted, the tree was too large to push off Richard so Connor undercut the tree to be able to free Richard. Connor pulled Richard back into the bucket and called 911. The tree was so large they had to call a tow truck to pull it the rest of the way off so they could lower the bucket and safely get Richard. Richard sat in the bucket for 45 minutes with a broken neck and lower back before first responders could get to him. During the investigation they put the tree back together and calculated that 1,200 pounds hit Richard. He was taken to Wooster hospital and after x-rays he was quickly transported to Akron General where he had his first neck surgery, but he couldn't feel his legs the doctors told us they didn't know if he would ever regain function again. Richard was in and out of it for a few days when he was in the elevator to get a MRI scan and his lung collapsed. They had to sedate him and put him on a ventilator for few days. They slowly woke him up and took out the ventilator. It only lasted a few hours and his lung collapsed again. The doctors said it was in his best interest to perform a tracheotomy. Once he was out of the ICU he was then transported to a long term hospital in Columbus. Lacey  would drive from Wooster to Columbus to be with him and then drive back late at night to go back to work in the morning. About a month later Richard was able to be transported to Good Shepherd in Ashland on their ventilator wing. In February 2019 Richard was taken to OSU hospital in Columbus where he had to consult a CDC doctor because his pressure wounds had formed a strong infection and needed strong antibiotics only the CDC can approve. Lacey stayed with Richard in Columbus and watch as he slowly drifted into a week long coma. I arrived Friday to Richard not able to wake up but was thrashing so much they had to restrain his arms. The doctors worked quickly to make sure his brain was still functioning and his blood pressure stayed normal. But that was only the start of the day. Richards blood pressure kept dripping and because of they type of medicine he needed to bring it back up he needed a central line put in. The doctor assured us he has done hundreds of these but there was still a 1% chance things could go wrong. Well it's Richards and Lacey's luck it went into the 1%. The central line went the wrong way and punctured his lung. I still remember the feeling of fear when a group of doctors ran in and Richards doctor kneeled down in front of Lacey. I remember just feeling numb. He explained the procedure went wrong  and now they need to put in a chest tube because of the punctured lung and put in a new central line. Lacey and I waited for hours in the waiting room expecting the worst. The chest tube and central line procedure was successful. A few days later Richard was weaned off all of the antibiotics and started to wake up. He was diagnosed with chronic bone infections in his pressure wounds. About a week later he was transported back to Ashland. A year after his accident Richard finally got to come home when he got his trach out. The first few weeks were hard having breathing issues and being transported to the emergency room multiple times. He's still fighting everyday battles. Lacey has been by his side the whole time she has been his rock, taking off work, barley sleeping to be with him, to doing his health care and dealing with all the agency's. Richard still hasn't regained function in his legs leaving him in a wheelchair. Lacey worked hard to arrange for them to buy a van for Richard to be able to go to the doctors and not be stranded in the house. She had to trade in her car and get an older one to help finance the van. Richard is also still having breathing issues where every few weeks he has to go in and have a bronchoscopy to clear his lungs. Richard and Lacey's house is old and two friends of ours, Tyler and Hider worked hard to dig the basement up to waterproof and get rid of some of the mold but who knows how much mold is in the walls that is affecting Richards breathing. He sometimes goes hours coughing non stop. Richard understands he might be confined to a wheelchair the rest of his life but he still wants to get to independency in his life. Richard would love to build an all wheelchair accessible house with pocket doors and a kitchen he could use independently. I wanted to make this to help Lacey and Richard out with any more expenses they might have from the van and help them with getting their new dream home where Richard can be independent. Richard is a fighter and he won't let this injury stop him from being independent the rest of his life. This house will have a bathroom, kitchen and laundry room built so Richard can be independent in his everyday life.