Scrappy vs. a Semi - We need your help

To our family and friends who have already shown an unbelievable amount of love and support, all I can do is thank you. I will be thanking you for the rest of the life I get to spend with this amazing man. Now, if I can, I need to lean on you again.

For those of you who do not know, on Wednesday, January 22nd, Tim was involved in a high speed collision with a Freightliner semi truck. He was transported to UW Hospital in downtown Madison.

He was driving home after purchasing a used Envoy in Cascade. The roads were very slippery, and while most people may not have made the drive, he was so determined to bring the vehicle home before someone else snatched it up. At some point, he pulled over to assess an issue with the vehicle. When he got back onto the highway, he lost control of the vehicle, sending him over the median and directly in front of the semi.

His front passenger side was struck, sending him into the console and breaking his leg, as well as the glass on the rear tailgate. The vehicle then spun, sending him flying backwards. He somehow managed to clear the rear seating and fly out of the tailgate and onto the road before the vehicle collided again with the trailer portion of the semi.

He sustained a fractured clavicle, two fractures on his scapula, three fractured ribs, three spinal fractures, a fractured forearm and a shattered tibia near his knee joint. He had two small brain bleeds which are now stable. As well as deep gashes on his forearm which required stitches, and a very large hematoma on the side of his abdomen. A large portion of his body is covered in road rash and deep scrapes.

He drifts in and out of consciousness, usually to make a smart remark, tell people around them he loves them, or relinquish his dignity by asking for help for even the simplest tasks. He knows who he is, where he is, and why. But nothing changes how he must feel knowing how broken his body is.

If you know Tim, you know he is unstoppable. He is always going, always moving, and always up for the next adventure. If he isn’t using his endless supply of antics and animation to make you laugh, he is ferociously fighting by your side. To know him is to love him, you just can’t help it. And they don’t make them like him anymore, evidenced by the fact that he was walking on the side of the road when the paramedics found him!

It’s just so sad. He recently started a contracting company called “True Grit Builders” so he could work as a framing subcontractor and help save money for a home for us, maybe a car one day that won’t fall apart on him, and simply because he loves the feeling of “a day of good honest hard work”. Now I sit here and watch him helpless, knowing that it’s going to take a long time before I see that man again. A lot of pain and putting our dreams on hold.

While on this healing journey, I want him to know he is covered and doesn’t have to rush back to work right away. I want to make sure I can stay by his side and not have to go back to work right away too. I want to make sure we can still stay on track with our goals and that he doesn’t feel guilty about not being able to help us get where we need to be. I want to make sure any debts from this incident are clear and that we can put it out of our mind like the nightmare that it is.

If you are in a situation to be able to help us, I now humbly ask you if you will make this second chance at life for Tim begin the best way possible. Thank you again for all you have done and all I know you will continue to do moving forward. With so much love, Tim & Kate.