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Tim’s Story

Site created on August 3, 2023

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting. On the afternoon of August 1st, 2023 the work day began like any other. Tim and his son Travis were out at a site moving and clearing wood as they have done many times before. Working for Enberg Logging for more than 30 years, Tim is very skilled at his trade. However, on that day tragedy struck. They were on a farmers land attempting to dig up a very large tree per the request from the farmer. They had attempted to remove this tree a few times before with no success. While working together to dig out this very large tree, tragedy struck and the tree landed on the cab of the excavator Tim was operating, pinning him inside for a time. 911 was called out and when fire and rescure arrived to the scene, Tim was extricated from the excavator. Based on the nature of his immediate injuries it was decided by EMS that he be emergently intubated on scene. Loaded into the back of an ambulance he was brought to St. Gabriel's Hospital of Little Falls, MN. The team at St. Gabe's worked hard and fast to stabilize Tim. Once stabilized, he was loaded into another ambulance and rushed to the emergency department of St. Cloud Hospital. Once in St. Cloud ED, the team there worked quickly to perform rapid scans, draw labs and get him attached to the ventilator to assist his breathing. Initial scans of his head showed possible bleeding in the brain; however, this was later ruled out (thankfully). His identified injuries include: R) rib fractures, R) pneumothorax (collapsed lung so he has a chest tube), R) fractured scapula (shoulder blade), L) fibula fracture, a severe concussion and possible TBI. He was then transferred to the ICU on the ventilator and sedated for both comfort and compliance with the ventilator. Per his PCP and due to his presentation on the scene of the accident, there are still some concerns regarding possible brain deficits which will be re-evaluated once he is off the ventilator. A little about Tim: Tim was born and raised in Staples, MN where he and his family had a dairy farm. He is the second eldest of 5 siblings Tammy the oldest, followed by Christopher, Joseph and Daniel. He is the father of 7 children: Amanda, Jessica, Travis, Breanna, Joshua, Christopher and Kelsey. He also is Poppa to 18 grandchildren! He and his wife Joanie have been happily married almost 23 years. His wife, Joanie, works as an RN serving some of the most underserved populations of people working in group homes and with those with mental illness. To add to this tragedy, the work accident insurance policy the couple had been paying on through Joanie's job expired the day before the accident. In addition to this, Joanie is currenlty between jobs. Anyone that knows Tim personally, knows that he has a hard time sitting still. He is always busy working, completing projects or helping those around him. He will offer a hand to anyone in need if he has the means to do so. The path to recovery will be a long one and your support is greatly appreciated from both Tim and Joanie, but his whole family. Thank you for visiting and hearing his story!

Newest Update

Journal entry by Joanie Robben — Dec 9, 2023

Tim has been having physical therapy every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and he actually enjoys going there. His shoulders are still giving him some grief, but he’s shed four more upper body exercises and getting deep tissue manipulation which seems to help. He had his one month follow up with Dr Robertson on Thursday and he can now work full time, even overtime! He will continue to have physical therapy M, W, and F for at least the next month and it will be evaluated again at that time.

Tim has been working very hard to try to get that fit to wake up. He is now able to move it up and down!! This is a huge milestone! Until this point he was unable to lift that foot at all. The big toe is not responsive, yet. He has said that his left foot is more sensitive to the cold now. He will be seeing Chip at Hanger Clinic again to figure out a better cold weather work boot that will accommodate his AFO.

We have the appointments at the Mayo for further evaluation. We will be there for 3 days of appointments and additional evaluations. This is scheduled for Jan 23-25. Once we have met with everyone down there, I will post another update.

Four months after almost losing him, he’s back to doing what he loves with minimal restrictions (50lbs maximum lifting and no climbing things other than to get into his machine. Miracles do happen when you believe in God!

We hope you all have a blessed holiday season!

Tim and Joanie

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