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鈥淚t was a hard thing to see because I couldn鈥檛 help her,鈥� Brian, 60, told the Star on Wednesday. 鈥淏ut I saw that others were.鈥�

Brian and Debbie Haynes, who hail from the small town of MacTier, in Muskoka, had taken their motorcycle out for a ride in the Kawartha Lakes on a late July afternoon when they collided with an oncoming vehicle in a town聽50 kilometres away in Ramara Township, near Orillia. The initial impact caused Brian to lose consciousness.

Once he鈥檇 awoken, and set eyes on Debbie, Brian began to take stock of his own wounds.

鈥淚 looked down and basically, my left foot was just gone,鈥� he said.

He didn鈥檛 know it yet, but Debbie鈥檚 left foot had also been severely injured in the crash. Both would need to be amputated. First responders loaded Brian into an Ornge helicopter set out for Sunnybrook hospital.

It isn鈥檛 the first time the couple has had to lean on one another for strength.

During the pandemic, they lost their home in a fire, were fleeced during the rebuild, and were seriously injured in a separate car accident within a few years. Debbie also lives with multiple sclerosis, which makes recovering from any kind of traumatic injury much more challenging.

Through thick and thin, the couple says, they have only ever had to look to one another for strength.聽

Now, they’re facing one of their biggest hurdles yet.

Hours after the incident of July 26,聽when Brian woke up following surgery, again, his mind went straight to Debbie.

鈥淚 called her name out in the recovery area,鈥� Brian said. 鈥淎nd she called back.鈥�

鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 see her, but I heard her voice, letting me know she was OK as she could be, that she was alive.鈥�

Within days of being admitted to hospital, Brian and Debbie both underwent a second surgery to shape the remainder of their legs for future prosthetics.

鈥淲e basically got the exact same surgery on the same leg,鈥� Brian said.

In addition to their amputations, Debbie suffered a broken finger and deep lacerations all over her body. Brian鈥檚 ribs, spine, and neck were also fractured.

Brian and Debbie spent 10 days at Sunnybrook, before being transferred to St. John鈥檚 Rehabilitation Hospital in North York, where they continue to recover.

Their days are spent being attended to by a circuit of doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, and occupational therapists. They wake up, have breakfast, and immediately launch into the rehabilitation process.

鈥淩ight now, we鈥檙e working out different portions of our body, building up the strength to move, even in little, teeny, tiny directions,鈥� Brian said.

In what’s left of their down time, they’re able to move around using wheelchairs.

“It’s a bit exhausting in all honesty, but at least we have each other.”

It will be weeks before Brian and Debbie can be outfitted with prosthetics, they said, and even longer until they鈥檙e cleared to go home. Then begins the work of relearning to navigate their day-to-day lives.

鈥淭here are countless things we won鈥檛 be able to do on our own,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e’re gonna need supports 鈥� in the shower, to help us stand up, to go up stairs, all the standard equipment.鈥�

Both Debbie and Brian are self-employed, and neither know when they will be able to return to work. To help with their recovery, has been set up on behalf of the couple.

So far, it鈥檚 raised nearly $80,000 of its $90,000 goal.

鈥淲e鈥檙e speechless,鈥� said Debbie. “It really reaffirms your faith in humanity when you see so much bad going on and then, boom, there鈥檚 an outpouring of good.鈥�

But it鈥檚 not just the generosity of strangers keeping Brian and Debbie afloat. The secret to a positive outlook, they say, will always be each other.

“If you’re maintaining an optimistic outlook on life, no matter what it throws at you, you can get through almost anything,” Brian said. 鈥淓very morning, I wake up and I see Debbie’s face smiling at me, and I give her a smile, and that does it. We鈥檙e absolutely in love with each other.”

“We know it鈥檚 going to get better,” he added. “It鈥檚 just going to take time.鈥�