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“It was a hard thing to see because I couldn’t help her,� Brian, 60, told the Star on Wednesday. “But I saw that others were.�

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 50 kilometres away in Ramara Township, near Orillia. The initial impact caused Brian to lose consciousness.

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

“I looked down and basically, my left foot was just gone,� he said.

He didn’t know it yet, but Debbie’s 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’t 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. 

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

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

“I called her name out in the recovery area,� Brian said. “And she called back.�

“I couldn’t see her, but I heard her voice, letting me know she was OK as she could be, that she was alive.�

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.

“We basically got the exact same surgery on the same leg,� Brian said.

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

Brian and Debbie spent 10 days at Sunnybrook, before being transferred to St. John’s 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.

“Right now, we’re working out different portions of our body, building up the strength to move, even in little, teeny, tiny directions,� 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’re cleared to go home. Then begins the work of relearning to navigate their day-to-day lives.

“There are countless things we won’t be able to do on our own,â€� he said. “We’re gonna need supports — in the shower, to help us stand up, to go up stairs, all the standard equipment.â€�

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’s raised nearly $80,000 of its $90,000 goal.

“We’re speechless,â€� said Debbie. “It really reaffirms your faith in humanity when you see so much bad going on and then, boom, there’s an outpouring of good.â€�

But it’s 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. “Every morning, I wake up and I see Debbie’s face smiling at me, and I give her a smile, and that does it. We’re absolutely in love with each other.”

“We know it’s going to get better,” he added. “It’s just going to take time.â€�