Ways to help the Paffels
• A silent auction and fundraiser is set for Saturday, Dec. 14, at Sir Buk's Dance Club, W5222 County KK, Monroe. The auction is 7 p.m. to 2 a.m., with an all-you-can-drink special starting at 10 p.m. for a $10 donation. For more information or to donate to the silent auction, call Kathy Isely Spring at 608-426-4470.
• Donations can be mailed directly to the Bridget Paffel Benefit Account, Sugar River Bank, W2903 Main St., Juda, WI 53550, or dropped off at any Sugar River Bank location in the area. Donations can also be dropped off in boxes set up at various businesses in Juda and Brodhead.
• A Pampered Chef fundraiser, with sales of kitchen tools, food products and cookbooks, is ongoing. For more information, call April Isely Tiedeman at 907-231-1592 or email her at aprilscookingshow@gmail.com.
• Woodworking skills and supplies are also needed to make the Paffel home accessible. To get involved, call Connie and Steve Isely at 608-934-5230.
"Before, I was very independent," said the 35-year-old Brodhead mother of three.
She lost that independence Sept. 19, in a freak accident in her neighborhood. A windy storm was brewing that evening as she walked her kids Austin, 12, Alyssa, 11, and Ashtyn, 7, home from a friend's house. She remembers hearing the warning.
"Some guy yells out, 'Watch out, the tree branch is falling,'" she said. Her first instinct was to look up, just as the branch came down on her and trapped her. It took two men to lift off the branch, estimated to weigh about 300 pounds. An ambulance arrived within five minutes.
Before she went under for a ten-hour surgery to have a rod and cage implanted in her lower back, the last thing she remembers is the nurses cutting off her wedding and engagement rings.
In an instant, her life had changed. Before the accident Bridget's daily routine involved waking up at 4 a.m., getting the kids ready for school and dropping them off at her parents' place in Juda - where the kids attend school - before heading to the Emmi Rothkase cheese factory to start her 5:30 a.m. shift as a lineworker.
Now Bridget is paralyzed from her mid-thigh down and reliant on her husband Kurt for help with the most basic needs. He had to quit his job as a truck driver to stay home, where his duties include cathertizing her and assisting in what they delicately describe as her "bowel program."
Quick to crack jokes, the Paffels are able to discuss this aspect of the otherwise tragic situation with a sense of humor. They often bust up laughing. Helping his wife relieve herself "brings being a husband to a whole new level," Kurt, 35, jokes.
Bathroom jokes aside, the accident has had a devastating effect on the family. It's crippled them financially and put their lives in upheaval.
Bridget describes her time in the hospital as "the longest six weeks of my life."
Her chance of ever walking again is at two percent. Her spine will take two years to fully heal, and for the next three months she has to wear a "turtle shell," a hard plastic brace over her torso.
Fortunately, Bridget's family has rallied for her. Her husband and his uncle spent several days installing a donated wheelchair ramp over the front steps of the Paffels' aging home. The bathroom still needs to be modified to accommodate Bridget.
Her parents, Connie and Steve Isely, watched after the kids while she was in the hospital and continue to rack up mileage driving between Brodhead, Juda and Bridget's doctors' appointments.
Her former employer, Emmi Rothkase, sent food home to her kids and gave the family gas cards. "They've been really wonderful," Bridget said.
It's been particularly hard for the Paffel children.
"Now, Alyssa, she took it pretty hard," Bridget said. The first few days after the accident, the 11-year-old cried a lot and her teachers "let her go off in her corner."
Staying strong for the kids motivates Bridget and Kurt.
"Everybody asks, 'How are you taking it?' Well, you can't sit back," Kurt said. "If you sit there, you think, 'Why wasn't it me?'"