Few of will forget the big storm that walloped central Ohio one month ago Monday, but one local father will live with a reminder of the storm for the rest of his life.
The morning after the storm, Mike Robison was in his backyard cleaning up debris when a falling tree branch broke his back and severed his spinal cord. He remained hospitalized one month later, and his memories of the ordeal are still fragmented.
"There was a limb that was kind of dangling," Robison said. "It was just kind of hanging there, but it's just barely hanging there."
What remains of the incident are broken recollections, as he awoke in a hospital bed to a bleak prognosis.
"I might not be able to walk again," he said. "Hearing those words, I just lost it."
Robison credited two things for pulling him through the darkest moments; his belief in God and the love of his wife, Tanya.
"She's my rock, it would've been so easy for her to say, 'I can't deal with this, I can walk away,'" Robison said. "She didn't. She stayed right by my side and every night she gives me a hug and a kiss, and I can make it through another night."
Along with the physical and emotional challenges still in front of him, Robison faces more practical issues, like the changes that will need to be made to his home so he can get around. His church family is stepping up to help.
"Mike paid it forward, and people are in return responding," said Rev. Dan McLaughlin. "Not because they have to, but because they genuinely care about this man."
McLaughlin leads the church the Robisons have attended for years and is leading fundraising efforts to help the family through this transition.
Though he is still struggling to accept his new reality, Robison said that he is starting to find cause for hope.
"Knowing that there are people beside me and above me and helping me, all my friends, they're not going to bail on me," Robison said. "When you get that kind of support, you gotta feel that the future is going to be bright."
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July 4, 2012: Man Paralyzed By Falling Branch During Storm Clean-Up
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