PONCA CITY, Okla. —
A terrifying video from Ponca City shows two tree trimmers plummeting 45 feet to the ground after a cable snapped on Sunday.
Isaac and Andrew Reyes, who are brothers, were almost finished trimming down a tree when the incident happened. The normal workday turned into a long road to recovery.
“We heard a snap,” Isaac said. “We both knew it was going to happen. He blew right through his bucket on the ground, and my legs absorbed all the force. And yeah, it’s pretty much the last thing we remember.”
Isaac sustained a broken femur, torn ligaments and severely sprained ankles. His brother, Andrew, has a fractured jaw and a broken nose.
“I saw him, and he was pretty much huddled up like this, just bleeding from his head,” Isaac said.
Both of the men were airlifted to Wichita and Oklahoma City hospitals.
“I’ll go do some orthodontic procedures and hopefully fix the rest of whatever’s inside there,” Andrew said.
With both men out of work for the last six weeks, their community is rallying behind them.
“Being a small business together in Ponca City, you really depend on your community to help you,” Andrew said.
Enrique’s Mexican Restaurant is hosting a fundraiser July 23, giving 15% of its sales back to the Reyes family.
“I know Isaac personally, and he has helped my family out a lot and my husband. So, we are just trying to give back any way we can to help,” Selah Ashlock, co-owner of Enrique’s, said.
Friends and family also set up a GoFundMe to help the brothers.
“I figure we’d get some support, but nothing like what we’ve got, and a lot of people since we’ve started this, and he has, too. But what we experience, it makes you feel loved and appreciated, and it makes you proud to be from Ponca,” Isaac said.
Both Isaac and Andrew said they are grateful it wasn’t worse.
“It’s definitely a blessing. Shocking, for sure. Blessing. A lot of good people in the city,” Andrew said. “Just thankful it happened the way it happened. It could have been a lot worse. So, we’re lucky. God was watching us that day, no doubt.”
