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Warren police officer paralyzed after hunting accident
Nick Kott fell from a tree stand while hunting. Unable to move, it took hours before his family found him and called for a helicopter to airlift him to University Hospital in Ann Arbor.
(FOX 2) - While in his tree stand hunting, Nick Kott fell, hitting the ground below and suffering a catastrophic injury.
Now, the Warren police officer is hospitalized in critical condition and on a ventilator. He has no feeling from the neck down.
The injury has placed his family in an unimaginably tough position and his wife is now asking hard questions ahead of the holidays.
"This has been an absolute nightmare that I can’t wake up out of," said Holli. "I'm asking for your prayers most of all because I know that he’s going to be a miracle man and he’s gonna come out of this, but it’s going to be a very very long road."
The tragic hunting accident happened within the last week - around the time that thousands of other hunters take advantage of firearms season in November.
When Nick fell, it took family members hours to find him. Due to his injuries, he was airlifted to University Hospital in Ann Arbor. He was placed in the neurological ICU unit, his precarious condition now the focus of his family's worries.
"We will need a lot of house renovations to get Nick home and my number one thing I want Nick to be able to do is tuck his best friend in at night and we have a two-story house," said Holli.
His best friend - their 7-year-old son named Jack - is now grappling with their sudden new reality.
Along with a gofundme, the Warren police department is also promising support for their injured officer.
"I know that as long as we're here, Nick Kott will be taken care of," said Lt. John Gajewski.
Both the gofundme - which can be found here - and the Warren Police Benevolent Fund will go toward helping Kott, a 13-year veteran of the department.