I woke up on Friday, Feb. 13 not wanting to get out of bed. My girlfriend got up first, and checked the answering machine. My mom had left a rather urgent-sounding message. My first thought was "oh, they probably just need someone to watch the animals for the weekend..." I tried calling my mom back. No answer, and the answering machine didn't pick up, which meant mom was probably on the line, but ignoring the call-waiting.

I checked my email. My sister sent me something about 20 minutes prior, telling me to call her husband.

And when I did, my whole world shattered. He told me some very bad news.

My parents were walking their dog through a middle school a short distance from their home. It's a route they've taken thousands of times. That day was announced a Snow day by the district, but even if it were a school day, they were there hours before the morning bells.

However, on this day, as they were walking past the outdoor eating area, they heard a large crack come from one of the oak trees nearby.

It had been raining recently. The oak trees had soaked up a good deal of water from the ground. One of the oak tree trunks had broken under it's own weight.

My mom heard the crack and ran to safety.

My dad, however, had been pinned to the asphalt by two tons of heavy oak. It hit him on the back of the head, knocking him out, and pushing him to the the ground.

Neither of my parents own a cell phone. My mom ran to the nearest domicile, and used their phone to call 911. Within minutes, the first responders arrived. Unable to lift two tons of oak off of him with 3 people, they called for backup. Eventually, enough people showed up to lift the log 6 inches up off my dad's body.

My dad was life-flighted down to a hospital - a 45-minute drive became a 15-minute helicopter flight to one of the better trauma wards in the area. Luckily, my girlfriends place was only about 10 minutes away.

He suffered 26 broken or fractured bones, including a shattered right femur and pelvis, 4 cracked vertebrae, and 14 fractured ribs. The broken ribs caused his sternum to become flayed - unsupported, his sternum was causing pressure on his lungs, requiring him to be on a ventilator for about a week. He now has a titanium plate in his thigh, and the doctors fused some of his vertebrae to some undamaged ones with the hope that it would help retain his rotational movement about his chest. He was made a body brace, a plastic and foam shell that wraps around his torso to relieve pressure off his spine as it heals.

Thankfully, that was the extent of his injuries. There was no organ, brain, or spinal cord trauma. Any nerve damage he may have suffered seems minimal.

He spent about 2 weeks in the Trauma/ICU ward, and then was discharged into the care of the Rehabilitation Institute at the same hospital. He spent a couple weeks there, doing about 3-4 hours of physical therapy and occupational rehab almost every day for another couple of weeks. Since being released there, he's been staying with his mother-in-law, as her place is a bit bigger, and easier to maneuver a wheelchair around.

I've been spending the last few weeks back at my parent's place, helping to take care of the animals and whatever else I can do.

The last 6 weeks have been difficult, but my dad is making progress every day. He still cannot put any weight on his bad leg, and uses either a walker or wheelchair to get about.

Thankfully, his health insurance will cover a good deal of his bills and lost wages, and it's likely that the school's insurance will cover the rest.

My brother-in-law set my mom up with a blogspot - you can visit http://jonmackhurst.blogspot.com to get the latest news on his road to recovery.