Good evening. A family in the community is in need of our help. This post will be rather long so I'd like to take a moment upfront and mention a few things. Details will be within the longer portion of this post as well as a GoFund me and other secondary ways to donate to this family. I will try to be as detailed to hopefully answer any questions up front.


**Yesterday morning the father of this family of 4 {soon to be 5 - mom is due in October) was in a terrible accident. After an 8 hour surgery the Doctors confirmed he will be paralyzed. 


**This family will need a wheel chair friendly vehicle. Preferably 4x4 / AWD, reliable is a must



**Mom will be looking for a job starting in December to supplement their income, as Dad will be able to receive disability. Though she has not worked in 5 1/2 years, she is very well educated and I would appreciate any leads you may have. Mariah has a bachelor's degree in criminal justice, an associates in sociology and a minor in Basque cultural studies. She has experience working at preschool in college and has worked with small children daily these last 6 years.


 Ways to donate are listed below


*GoFund me


**{Zelle} account in which people can send $ directly and safely straight into their bank account simply by knowing their phone number {if you would like to donate this way, please PM for their phone number) 


**Through the Nazarene Church here in 
Williston -  Donations go to the Lawrence Peterson family


What we know about their financial situation at this time. They have a medical deductible of $2,700. Tow truck bill is $700. There have been 2-3 ambulance rides + an Air Med (EMT Airplane ride) and their hotel is $75 a night. They will have Bill's to pay for the rest of August, September, October and November before Mariah will be able to get a job in December.


Mariah and Lawrence  got married in Williston in 2014 and bought a home here in 2017. They felt guided to put down roots here and have loved and invested in the community as much as they have been able. Lawrence started in work over oil well servicing back in 2014 but soon returned to his childhood roots in Agricultural. He built a career working with agricultural water wells: drilling them, servicing them, and boring rural pipelines. He just made boring operator in June of 2020. 


Their kiddos are Johanna (6), Roy (5), Magnus (3 1/2), and Leo (2) and a baby boy is due October 19th.


Here is the latest update from Mariah!


{Yesterday Monday August 17th around 6 AM my husband LAWRENCE was in a bad car accident. Something happened and he went off the road near Grenora, North Dakota (30-40 minutes from home) on his commute to the work site up in Scobey MT (2 1/2 hours from home). Lawrence immediately plunged down a 50 foot ravine, was air born for some time, made it back up the far side of the ravine and across a few ditches before stopping quite a ways from the road. He found himself unable to move from pain and unable to reach or see his phone. The Bluetooth on the truck was damaged in a way that it would not let him dial 911 but he was able to say "Call Mariah" and it called me. He was stuck in the situation for at least an hour before figuring this out. As soon as he called me I called 911 but they needed a cross road that I didn't have to figure out where to send EMT. They tried to call Lawrence but the truck was too damaged to allow him to answer. I was able to talk to Lawrence during some of this on the phone. He got his knife out of his pocket, cut out the airbag, and waved it out the window. Luckily a passing driver saw him and got a hold of 911 with the coordinates they desperately needed. Grenora EMT was there and had him on the road to Williston by 8 AM. I was able to update all his insurance info and sign waivers at the Williston ER but thank to Covid was not allowed to see him until around 11:30 when the doctor informed me they would be Flying him in a plane to Fargo to see a specialist. Lawrence has a spinal injury that may leave him permanently paralyzed from the waist down. He has a fractured veribrae and cracked ribs. Lawrence is of sound mind, remembers the accident, and is speaking/acting like his normal self as long as the pain is managed. Fast forward threw a crazy day of phone calls, MRI Scans, plane flights for my in laws, child care arrangements, and a 6 1/2 hour Drive from Williston to Fargo.


I'm able to be at the hospital in Fargo with Lawrence during visiting hours - the director might approve to be there 24/7 later today. We will be speaking with the specialist in approximately 3ish hours when visiting hours open. A team of Surgeons, neurologist and specialists will be doing surgery on his back at some point today. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers today. Our community has really come together just for me to even be here right now. We know that ultimately God will determine the extent of his healing but please pray for divine guidance during the surgery and a remarkable recovery. 


Do not CALL anyone. Do NOT even Text me. I will try to update people and it will be thier responsibility to spread word threw various prayer chains. This is the most up to date information, they can't tell you anything, and we are all anxious and trying to be brave in the face of the unknown. My sister in law Alma and mother in law will be caring for my kids as long as we need them to. I know you will want to help but I have absolutely no direction for your energies beyond PRAYER.


Update #1: surgery started at 7 AM - 1 hour BEFORE visiting hours opened. A doctor has still not spoken with me....a nurse was able to tell me they are fusing some vertebrae together, attempting to repair a more damaged vertebrae, and treating an additional damage that was unclear in the scans as best they can. We are approaching the 5 hours of surgery mark now with no end in sight.


Update 2: After 8 hours in surgery they are finally done. Doctor said it went as well as they could have hoped. Lawrence's spine is now supported by a titanium cage. The broken vertibrae cut into the spinal cord and spinal fluid was leaking into his body. They repaired the spinal cord and supported it with the cage so it is open and functional again. He will never walk again. Any significant recovery of feeling in his lower half would be nothing short of miraculous. I can see him in an hour in a half when anasthesia wears off. He will be in severe pain for the next 3 days so I shouldn't expect much visit wise. He will need additional check ups at 3, 6, and 12 months post op. Any smoking will destroy any chance the spinal cord has of healing. They are weaning him with a nicotine patch during his stay here. I can NOT stay in the room overnight because of Covid 19 restrictions. I am processing and praying and trying to plan so I can be positive when he comes out. God will heal to the extent He wants him healed and will have to guide me in our next steps.


Update 4 - Final update for August 18: The floor manager said I can spend the night with Lawrence. I will post ideas for ways people could help on my page tomorrow. We have actually been extremely blessed with helpers and organizers so far. If we set up a go-fund me the # will be hypothetical because we don't really know if the EMT (3 ambulance & a plane flight) will be covered by insurance. It is also hard to gauge how much $ we will need to make it month to month without knowing what disability will provide us. I intend to return to work 2 months post partum when we have a better idea of what we will need me to make wage wise. Hopefully a position I can take the newborn with me to will present itself. Lawrence will be 4 months post operation at that point and we will also be better able to gage his capabilities and possible options (stay home or start different job).}