A six-year-old boy was crushed to death by a rolling log as his older brother desperately tried to save him.
Chris Bell, 27, and his younger brother Noah were out getting firewood in Pend Oreille County, Washington on October 15 at around 2.30pm.
Mr Bell suddenly noticed a part of a tree trunk rolling towards his 6-year-old brother when he quickly ran over to try and save Noah.
Tragically, it was too late and the younger brother was hit by the tree trunk and Mr Bell ended up stuck under the tree.
Dad Gene had to lift the log of Chris with his truck and quickly took both of them to hospital.
Noah had just celebrated his birthday just two days before the tragic accident.
The brothers arrived at Newport Community Hospital where Noah was sadly pronounced dead and Chris was airlifted to a different hospital and remains in a critical state.
Mr Bell, however, was intubated and is slowly getting better, according to the family.
In a post written on GoFundMe, Carol Jones, a family friend, said: “Chris had a good day. He was awake a lot and communicated through writing.
"He asked a lot of good questions and seemed more himself.”
However as Chris is not breathing on his own he could potentially need another surgery and could remain in hospital for several weeks after.
Doctors have also warned he could spend six weeks at a rehab centre, and 10 weeks in a wheelchair.
Carol Jones, a family friend, has set-up the fundraising page to try and help the grief-stricken family.
So far the page has raised $17,858 (£16k) out of the $50,000 (£43,000) goal.
It aims to help Chris' family as he is the main provider to his wife Allison and their four children.
Due to the lengthy recovery period friends and family have set-up the page to try and help them this winter.
The incident follows just days after a tree trimmer was left stranded at the top of a 60ft palm tree in San Diego after cutting his hand in a freak chainsaw accident.
Firefighters rushed to the scene after his injury left him unable to climb or treat himself on Sunday, 16 October.
Emergency services managed to rescue the man and bring him back down after using a fire engine ladder.
He had injured his left hand when trying to trim the palm trees and had to call for assistance after he was left unable to climb back down.
The operation to get him down took 30 minutes and he was rushed to hospital but, according to the fire service, he is expected to make a full and swift recovery.
