KEMPNER, Texas — Five children were playing on the Lampasas river bank on Saturday, March 18 when the unexpected happened.
In a matter of minutes, the river bank collapsed on two brothers, 9-year-old Luke and 15-year-old Hunter Sappenfield.
"The fortunate thing is, it was five boys and only two got trapped," relative of the Sappenfield family Bruce Hansen said.
"The other ones were able to respond very quickly dialing their parents who were just up the road, then dialing 911 and digging those boys out immediately," Hansen added.
A third brother and two friends were still at the scene when emergency crews arrived. They had managed to pull Luke to safety, but Hunter was stuck and had lost feeling below his waist.
"I felt helpless," Bruce's wife Megan Hansen said. "There was nothing that I could personally do, but Bruce was able to go down and actually be on site."
Along with Bruce, Luke and Hunter's sister with the Kempner Volunteer Fire Department responded as well. Alexis Hansen says she always listens to tone out alerts from the department. She happened to be listening and when she heard it, her husband realized it was near her parent's house.
Alexis quickly called her mother. The panic quickly sunk in once her mom confirmed the incident dealt with her brothers.
"Being a firefighter, I've always had it in the back of my mind," Hansen said. "It's a fear I've always had and then it just hit me like a ton of bricks. Like okay, your worst nightmare just came true. I honestly screamed, I was hysterical the entire way there."
Some parents raised concern about how something like this could happen and what their children can look out for. The family says it was all an accident and completely unexpected.
"The first five or six feet of the top of that riverbank is all brown soil," Bruce said. "They were kind of digging in it and being kids, you know playing in it. Unfortunately it fell on top of them."
The road to recovery is going to be long. Luke is expected to make a full recovery, but has several broken bones. His mother Brandie Sappenfield says Luke has three fractures in his pelvis area, a couple of fractured disks in his sacral section, along with one on his spine and lumbar. He has several fractured ribs and bruised lungs, but is currently in physical therapy.
It's a quite different story for Hunter who goes into surgery to stabilize his spine on Wednesday, March 22.
"Our goals from there are going to be learning how to make the best of a new life," Brandie said. "There's little chance that he will walk again. We're clinging to a miracle."
The family says they know what it's like to overcome the longest odds.
"Chad and Brandie are both United States Army veterans," Bruce said. "Chad has actually been blown up and put back together, like he's made out of puzzle pieces. He has been through a lot. He's broken his back, so this is not something they're unfamiliar with. They know exactly what the outcome could be. They fought for our country. It's our turn to fight for them."
They also say they are leaving this in God's hands.
"God works," Brandie said. "God works through everything and I know he has a plan here."
The family is grateful for the support from the community and say they are blown away. Now, they are just asking for prayers with the ongoing road to recovery.
There are two ways to donate. Click here for the family's GoFundMe. There is also a meal train at McLane's Children Hospital to provide warms meals for the family.