Tim and Luci Burns

On Sunday, September 24th my husband Bill and I along with our 6-year-old daughter Rosalie went up in the woods with my in-laws Tim and Luci to help them top off their yearly wood supply, an activity we have all done before, especially Tim who is an experienced woodsman. This trip ended very differently than any of us could have anticipated, when a tree Tim was cutting down ricocheted off of a smaller tree as it fell, hitting him in the right side of his head. The next hour is a blur for all of us, as we were out of cell service range up in the mountains. We were fortunate enough to wave down three good Samaritans who were able to contact emergency services through satellite capability on one of their phones. All of us were a solid team in managing this emergency situation, but Tim was in bad shape and needed medical attention as soon as possible. After roughly an hour, fire and rescue and an ambulance arrived on the scene after an attempt by life flight was made to land where we were, without success due to the narrow mountain roads. The emergency medical personnel were amazing, with the help of my incredible husband, and they were able to get him safely into the ambulance which transported him to an area where the helicopter could safely land and life flight him to a nearby hospital.

Tim was assessed upon arrival at the hospital, and it was determined that he had suffered a skull fracture causing a brain bleed, a traumatic brain injury, as well as a broken clavicle. He spent two days in the ICU and has been in the hospital for the past week, and while he is making progress, it could be a long road to recovery for him and there is no way to know the eventual outcome at this point. We are all shaken by this trauma and holding each other close as we work through it together day by day.

As we all know, an unexpected medical emergency such as this can have lasting effects emotionally, physically, and financially. At the very least, I'm hoping that with some help, Tim and Luci's financial burden caused by this accident can be a little less of a weight to bare. In times like these, money should be the least of anyone's concern.

Tim is one of the warmest, most caring people I have ever known. He has been the world's greatest grandpa to our Rosalie, and it breaks my heart to see him suffer the way he is, as well as seeing the impact it has had on our young daughter as she tries to deal with her own emotions around all of this. We're all doing our best to support one another, please join us in supporting Tim and Luci during this trying time.