Man Of The Woods : Gary Krueger II

**you guys, please bear with me...this is a long one!
We are calling this “Man Of The Woods” because as you will read, you will see that this is very fitting for him.

On December 1st, my Uncle Gary was plowing his driveway with the ATV during the 31 inch snowfall.
Luckily, my Uncle Gary always wears his helmet when using the ATV, and this early morning was no different. We are all convinced that this decision probably saved his life.
A 50-foot white pine, weighted down with the wet, heavy snow that stuck to the upper boughs, snapped off about 10 feet up from the base and came crashing down on him. He was pinned by the tree and unable to free himself.
By a stroke of luck, he had gone back into the house earlier before going out to plow, to retrieve his cell phone. My Uncle loves to take photos and he wanted to take pictures of the tremendous snowfall and the way it was coating the trees. He sent the pictures to Marnie (his incredible wife), who was stuck in Duluth working overtime shifts in the ER during the blizzard. If he did not have his phone, no one would have found him or even known anything was terribly wrong for several hours.
Uncle Gary was able to reach his phone, and said that he prayed he wouldn't drop it as he dialed 911. Ashland and Bayfield counties then began to work on what would quickly become an extremely challenging extraction and rescue. At the same time, a friend of the neighbor's was listening to the scanner and called to tell her that Gary was trapped under a tree, with the rescue team trying to get to him, but having trouble with the snow.
Courtney (neighbor) came over with blankets and more layers for warmth to support Gary as he dangled from the ATV. Courtney stayed nearby under the safety of the building, talking with Gary and reassuring him help was coming. She is not a medical gal, so this was very hard and scary for her. She is definitely an angel to stay with him.
Eventually, men from the Washburn Fire Department and EMS started arriving. They had to come on foot, fat tire bike, and snowshoe. They carried their packs and chainsaws in through the snow that was drifted waist-deep in places. Tree limbs were still cracking and bending all around them. They risked their safety working to free and save him. We are forever thankful.
Once they had him freed, there was still no ambulance able to get even out to the highway, much less into the house. They secured him to a bifold door segment from their garage. Gary suggested they all go inside the garage to wait and turn on his propane fishing heaters while they waited.
Once the ambulance was out to the highway, they began working with snowmobiles to forge a path to get him out. A paramedic was sent in to start IVs and give Gary pain and sedation medication for the trip out to the ambulance.
4 hours after his initial 911 call, he was loaded into an ambulance and brought to Memorial Medical Center in Ashland for stabilization while they waited and arranged transfer to Duluth because he needed a higher level of care.
It was critical to get him to Duluth as quick as possible to get him into surgery. Due to the weather, that was a few hours later. They had a helicopter on standby for a break in the weather, but that never happened. There was a surgeon at Duluth waiting for him to arrive. He was finally able to be transported by ambulance against all odds. He arrived in Duluth around 4pm that day and was in surgery by 8pm to stabilize the 3 fractured vertebrae in his low back. He got out of the OR at 1:30am. They relieved pressure from his spine and are hopeful that this would help get movement/feeling back into his legs.

My Uncle’s current status is this: 
He's able to detect pressure and touch about down to the ankle on the right. He's able to detect pressure and touch at about the knee level on the left. He is not able to move his legs yet. His spinal cord was mainly damaged very focally at the L1 level. He has three fractures but none of the fragments were displaced. Which basically means there was a single bone fragment pushing into his spinal cord. The neurosurgeon said that this was very unusual, usually there are multiple bone fragments that make it very messy to clean up and stabilize. Gary's was quite simple but it was in a really unfortunate location.

So here we are. Praying, praying and more praying. Being reminded how truly amazing God is each and every day! And thanking God for keeping him here with us.

My Uncle and our families are asking for your help. As of now, he is expected to be in the hospital for 2-3 months and out of work for a year. Between my uncle and his wife, they have 7 kids and are very active in the community. 

Uncle Gary has served as a Wildland Firefighter with the Bureau of Indian Affairs where he has traveled to California to help put out the fires there. He has been an active member of the Chequamagon Archery Club, encouraging both adults and kids to learn archery skills. He has taught Hunter's Safety and served as a volunteer coach. He has also been actively involved in the Boy Scouts of America as a volunteer and Scoutmaster. He is a great dad to their 7 kids, mentoring them in hunting, fishing, and outdoor skills. He has been involved as a volunteer at school with the kids for various field trips and class activities. He’s been involved with Hometown Heroes Outdoors, a group that connects military and law enforcement guys together for outdoor recreation, with a focus on helping those who might be having Mental Health or PTSD type struggles related to their work. The list goes on..

He absolutely loves the work he does, and he encourages others to get involved, even now, sitting in a hospital bed. My uncle is always giving and helping others, and I think it’s time that we pull together for him. I know that once he is out of the hospital, he will be doing whatever he can, when he can to get back to all of the extracurricular activities that he is loves being a part of. ❤️ 

With all of this being said, we know that the holidays can be a tough time for families. But being able to help this incredible man and his family to not stress about the upcoming medical bills is my hope and motivation for this GFM account. He is deserving. And he is going to come back even stronger and better from this accident. 

We love all of you and we are so incredibly thankful for your support and love that he and his family has been showered with. Please, if all you can do is keep him in your thoughts and prayers, please know that is enough. He definitely has a long way to go, but he has the BEST support a man could have.  

With so much love from our entire family, to yours.

XO,
Desiree