Utah man was doing a routine tree-removal before he tragically fell 40 feet to his death.
Dayde Collins, owner of Blade’s Tree Removal, fell 40 feet from a tree when his anchor branch broke, hit a shed, and then fell to the ground, according to the family’s GoFundMe page.
“The branch that he was using as an anchor just broke under him,” Karly, Dayde’s wife, told Fox 13.
“An old tree, just disintegrated, and on the way down, he hit another branch and took a lot of trauma to his shoulder, ribcage.”
According to GoFundMe, Dayde is currently suffering from five broken bones, a fractured right shoulder, and a punctured lungs.
Fox 13’s Karly stated that Dayde has been trimming trees since nearly two years. He has done hundreds of jobs and has never had an accident.
“He’s the most safe person that you can think of,” she told the outlet. “He’s always told me he wears his harness when he’s climbing. He has spiked shoes. He always wears long sleeve shirts just to protect his arms.”
Fox 11 reported Dayde had a successful back operation, but he is still unable to feel his chest.
Fox 13 reports that Dayde competed in the DEKA FIT global contest while representing the National Guard.
“The boy can run 18 miles at the drop of a hat,”Karly spoke to the outlet. “The hallmark of Dayde is adventure, and it’ll be really hard to transition out of that.”
According to Fox 13, the Collins family wants to raise $100,000 for a van with ramps, and other accessibility features to send Dayde to Colorado’s spinal center.
Dayde’s brain did not suffer any damage, which his family is grateful for.
“The best news about Dayde’s accident is that miraculously he doesn’t have any brain damage, which means he is still my Dayde. Resilient, wildly optimistic Dayde,”Karly stated this in an update to the GoFundMe site.