Friends and family are rallying to support a Williams Lake man who survived a harrowing single vehicle crash by crawling more than 100 feet back up to the road for help.
Tyler Fehr, 30, suffered a severe cut across his forehead, broken nose, broken ribs, a compression fracture to his lower back, disc herniation, cardiac and pulmonary contusions and torn muscles after his truck hit a soft shoulder on the Soda Creek Road just north of Williams Lake.
“The police, tow truck driver etc. all say he should be dead,” his sister Kayla Fehr told Black Press Media.
Before the accident, Tyler had ordered takeout from a local restaurant.
“He went and paid for it and they said it would be about 25 minutes, so he went for a little drive with his dog up Soda Creek Road and hit a soft shoulder and ended up going over the bank,” Kayla said of the area above the river valley, which has steep embankments several hundred feet down.
His dog was thrown out of the truck, but walked away with a limp, she added.
In a GoFundMe Kayla started, she noted Tyler was knocked out for an hour. When he regained consciousness he climbed out of the truck and headed up the bank, which took him about five hours.
“When he finally made it to the road he tried to wave for help and two vehicles just drove past him without stopping. He ended up crawling to the yellow line and passed out, when he woke he crawled back to the side of the road,” she said. “Finally two girls stopped and I’m assuming they were the ones who called 9-1-1 but they drove off instead of waiting with him.”
Kayla said her brother was so badly injured, he looked like a burn victim.
“He could see the flap of tissue hanging in his periphery. His forehead was basically split right across almost ear-to-ear. The blood and dirt made his face black and unrecognizable … it’s truly a miracle he’s alive.”
Upon arriving at Cariboo Memorial Hospital in Williams Lake, Tyler was diagnosed with hypothermia and then flown to Kamloops where he underwent plastic surgery to his face.
Tyler lives in the South Lakeside area and works at Cariboo Steel, but for now he is staying with his parents on Eleventh Avenue while he recovers. Ironically, in the days before his own accident, Tyler was part of a search to help find a neighbour lost in the woods and has been described as a thoughtful, helpful person.
READ MORE: VIDEO: Williams Lake couple grateful for outpouring of support during 3-day search
His sister said in the first few days after the accident, Tyler needed help getting out of bed and walking with a walker but he’s up and walking now without assistance.
The GoFundMe had almost reached its $5,000-goal within 24 hours of being created.
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