On Monday, February 16, the Gibbon Volunteer Fire Department was providing mutual aid to a neighboring department. Ryan was injured while assisting when a steel, bifold door collapsed on him. He was flown to North Memorial Medical Center. Ryan is in great hands here as the staff is top-notch.

Due to the quick actions of his fellow firemen, Ryan suffered no burns and no smoke inhalation. He has a compression fracture in his lower back (T12), his left femur is broken in 3 places just below the hip, his pelvis is broken on both sides, in 5 places, has a bruised kidney and a fractured tailbone. Surgery on his femur took place Monday and hes been in recovery mode since. Ryan's recovery will be a long one filled with physical and occupational therapy - in and outside of the hospital.

As a volunteer, fire fighting is not Ryan's full-time job. Outside of the department, Ryan is an active husband and father to two young children, Rylee, 11, and Carter, 9, and an auto mechanic at Jensen Motors in New Ulm, Minn.

At this time, the trauma team is not providing an estimated recovery time as they need to let his body heal before rehab can even begin. As someone who normally stands on his feet all day repairing vehciles, his return to work full time is undetermined.

Creating this donation site was suggested as a convenient way for others to help Ryan and his family with costs above and beyond what insurance will cover. Unfortunately, we have no idea what those costs will be, therefore set no real monetary goal.