Family asks for prayers for young children critically injured in farming accident
Briar and Bryce Rudeseal (Credit: Brian Rudeseal, Paulk County Sheriff's Office) (Supplied)
Ga. - A terrible farming accident put two young children from South Georgia in the hospital fighting for their lives in late December. Now in January, family say the two are slowly on the mend.
The tragedy began when three children were playing inside a Cotton Module Builder at a home off of Flat Creek Church Road.
"It appears that somehow they got hung up in the hydraulic press on the inside of the machine." Sheriff Ray Paulk of the Berrien County Sheriff's Office said.
Two of the kids, who the sheriff identified as Briar and Bryce, suffered critical injuries and were first transported to Tift Regional Medical Center, then flown to Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville, Fla. The third child suffered minor injuries.
Cotton is transferred to a cotton module builder while the crop is harvested from a 140 acre field in Ellis County, near Waxahatchie, Texas, on September 19, 2022. - Texas produces almost half of America's cotton, and the United States is the world's (Getty Images)
The family has made frequent updates on the wellbeing of both Bryce and Briar for almost a week.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Bryce was said to be alert and very active.
"Bryce was doing awesome yesterday and is walking almost on his own and in therapy hitting a blown up latex glove back and forth," a family member posted to Facebook. "He is doing awesome, just got to build up his strength and he will be good to go."
The family member said Briar was making small improvements, but he was confident she would pull through as well.
"[Briar] is tougher than most kids her age and [is going to] shake this off and bounce back and be her complete self and be home very soon," he said in a post. "[This is] just a [little] bump in the road."
Sheriff Paulk asked that people pray for the children and their family throughout their recovery.
"We feel the love from everyone, and I’m sure Briar and Bryce do too from being flooded with prayers of healing," the family member said.