GoFundMe Started for Paralyzed Utility Worker

Family Asks for Prayers After Storm Accident

OnFocus (Marshfield) – Last weekend brought severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, and power outages for most of Central WI, and for one family, it brought changes that will affect them forever.

Brian Ortner, from Vesper, was a lineman for a local telephone company and was out clearing debris from telephone lines last weekend when the unthinkable happened: a tree limb swung and hit him in the back. Instantly, he lost feeling of his legs, and was rushed to Marshfield Medical Center, where he and his family learned that he suffered a fracture that severed his spinal cord.

“My husband Brian Ortner is a lineman for the local telephone  company and was called out to work,” wife Amy wrote on GoFundMe. “As I understand it, he was clearing debris off of telephone lines when the limb swung and hit him in the back. Luckily the line he was trying to cut it off of kept the tree from completely pinning him to the ground or we most likely would have lost him.”

Along with losing all feeling below his chest, Brian will likely never be able to walk again. Him and his wife Amy, along with their two young children, have been affected forever by the recent storms that went through.

“Please pray for Brian today for him to make it out of this risky surgery safely, and pray for us all in the future as we learn to deal with this tragedy,” Amy added. “Thank you for all of the thoughts, prayers, and offers to help. I don’t like to ask for it, but we will need it.”

If you wish to help, Amy has set up a GoFundMe page, which has raised more than $10,000 of their $50,000 goal. The page can be found here.