TOLEDO, Ohio — Matt Thieman and his brother, both professional tree trimmers, were trimming a tree at their mother's west Toledo home Saturday morning when tragedy struck.
"It was just a freak accident," said Thieman's sister, Heidi Franz. "The tree broke in a spot that nobody could have predicted and it fell. When it fell my brother was running away from it struck him in the back."
Thieman suffered broken ribs, a punctured lung and severe injuries to his neck and back, leaving him paralyzed.
"We're thankful that we still have him here, but we're also crushed and heartbroken that he's going through so much pain and he has such a long painful road ahead of him," Franz said. "He is talking. I think he's not having a very good day ... I think it's all starting to sink in."
Thieman is a father of three and a brother to six, and the family is coming together to face a new normal.
They set up a GoFundMe to purchase a wheelchair-accessible car and have already raised over $12,000. On Wednesday, the family received a wheelchair from a donor.
"To feel the support of the community really is a little bit of joy in this," Franz said. "To know that he's going to have a little bit more than us supporting him, he's going to have a whole bunch of people supporting him."
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