BULLITT COUNTY, Ky. — A Bullitt County paramedic is still recovering, but making "phenomenal strides," after suffering severe injuries during an EMS run in June.
It comes as a "large turnout" is expected during a fundraiser for the first responder this weekend. The "Gary Lyons Benefit" takes place Saturday at noon, on the Bullitt County Fairgrounds.
The benefit includes a car show, food trucks, music and a silent auction. You can find more information on the fundraiser here.
Lyons was riding in a Bullitt County ambulance that collided with a semi truck, throwing him from the back of it an onto the pavement.
"He cared about everybody, his patients, the people he worked with and the people that worked underneath him," Angie Estes, a former co-worker of Lyons, said.
Estes helps run Code EMS, a peer-support group for first responders.
"He's very grateful. He, just like the rest of the first responders, don't expect people to do things for us," she said. "And when they do, it means a lot more than just a kind heart."
Estes said Lyons suffered a traumatic brain injury and fractured leg but continues to make strides.
Family said he is expected to come home, after months in the hospital and Frazier Rehab Institute, on Sept. 20.
Jim Caskey, another event organizer who works as a funeral director, didn't know Lyons but saw his service and sacrifice, calling EMT workers "unsung heroes."
"When something happens to someone like that, it is just going to bring the community closer," Caskey said. "[The accident] draws a lot of attention to what they go through every day. They're putting their life on the line every day, when those wheels turn [and] when that ambulance goes out on a run."
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