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Loren Schauers has suffered pain and trauma unimaginable to most people.
He was just 18 when his life-changed forever in a horrific accident that left him literally cut in half.
In September 2019, the teenage construction worker was driving a forklift across a bridge in Great Falls, Montana when he was forced to veer off the road.
He plummeted 50ft and was agonizingly pinned beneath the industrial truck.
Remarkably, he was conscious during the entire incident and remembers looking down to see his right arm had exploded and everything below his hips completely crushed.
But what happened next was even more miraculous. Loren, an incredibly up-beat and resilient young man, survived to tell the tale.
After he was rushed to hospital and put on life support, family and friends feared the worst.
But incredibly, he regained consciouness and told doctors he was determined to fight on – even if he was just ‘a head on a plate’.
He underwent a hemicorperectomy surgery – where everything below the waist is amputated – and survived the extraordinary battle against all odds.
Loren, 24, now lives with his wife and carer Sabia Reiche, with the couple documenting the highs and lows of their life together on their YouTube channel.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, the first he has ever given to a UK publication, Loren discusses the aftermath of his horror crash, his plans for the future with Sabia and tensions with his family.
Loren Schauers in hospital in Montana after having the bottom half of his body amputated following the horror forklift crash in 2019
Loren pictured with a bionic arm attending physiotherapy after the operation in Montana
Loren and Sabia – who tied the knot in 2021 – in a selfie posted in September
Loren, speaking to a UK publication for the first time, has revealed a bitter family feud following his accident
Discussing the rift, he said: ‘It seemed like as soon as my family knew I wasn’t going to just up and die, they all quit showing up and providing any support.
‘Once I got home my friends and family came around but quickly I noticed it was to more see what’s up than caring about me.
‘They just wanted to see the spectacle.’
He also expressed his frustration that his family were ‘not able to understand’ that Sabia and Loren ‘are truly in love’.
Loren added: ‘For the most part it’s honestly my fault I don’t have more better friendships with people or my family cause I don’t really try to go out of my way to try and hang out and have a relationship with them anymore.
‘I just keep to myself and whatever I’m doing.
‘Don’t get me wrong, I hit up my family every so often regardless saying I love and miss them but no one is ever messaging me first, trying to hang out, or willing to do anything so I’ve just over time become more and more of a hermit.’
Despite obstacles most would find insurmountable, Loren remains upbeat and puts this down to the support of his sister, wife and her family.
Loren explained: ‘My half sister is the only one of my immediate family members that has supported Sabia and I since the beginning.
‘Honestly, my sister is to thank for me being alive today, she’s the one who did the research in the hospital that day and found the hemicorperectomy surgery.
‘She got in contact with the surgeon and then fought the doctors to let me be the one to make the decision on going through with the surgery.
‘I thank God my sister was there and that Sabia was also there to help egg me on to fight, sat with me through all the ketamine induced trip outs [and] panicked moments.’
Loren got a bionic arm in 2020 and has mobility thanks to a specially-made wheelchair, but still requires around the clock care due to the complex nature of his injuries.
He said: ‘Life has changed drastically in that my independence, ever since getting the final body prosthetic, has been absolutely 100 per cent dependent on my caregivers helping me get sat up in said prosthetic, allowing me to sit up in my wheelchair and move around.
Sabia provides round-the-clock care for Loren and the pair document their adventures through social media
In a video in 2020, Loren shared that he got a new bionic arm. He said: ‘It’s a prosthetic arm, of course, but it gives you whole function in each individual digit. So I will be able to move each finger on its own’
Schauer, who was a construction worker, underwent hemicorperectomy surgery – where everything below his waist was amputated – to save his life
Pictured: Loren working on the bridge construction job before his accident where he plummeted 50ft and was crushed by a forklift
‘The last few years I’d say I was stuck in a slump of not knowing what to do, what I want to do, and just waiting for things to just happen instead of taking action myself and making things come to fruition; instead of just waiting and hoping someone will come along with an answer to ask my prayers.
‘So now I’m making an active effort to gaining back the absolute most independence I can possibly get in life.’
Loren and Sabia got married in 2021 and purchased their home the following year, where they try to make a living by filming content for their social media platforms.
Early last year, he revealed a desire to start a family with Sabia and their hopes of having children through adopting or using a donor.
However, Loren told the Mail that actually he does not ‘really see it on the cards’.
He said: ‘We would like to have a family of our own but given how much of a problem my care has been, I don’t really see it in the cards for us.
‘Unless we really buckle down, start saving and planning for a future with kids, having a caregiver in place of Sabia for my care and then taking care of kids.
‘With all the extracurricular activities that come with raising children, it really wouldn’t be fair of us to bring a child or adopt a child in life and saddle them with a lifestyle like ours, just not conducive for raising children in my opinion.’
In September, Loren and Sabia spoke out about how trolls were attempting to steal their identity using fake social media profiles.
He hit out at a Facebook account that was purporting to be him and Sabia, and urged followers to report it, writing: ‘Yet another impersonator page y’all, you know the drill’.
The false profile garnered 25,000 followers with pictures and videos taken from Loren’s official page.
He explained to the Mail: ‘Social media has been an absolute blessing.
‘We wouldn’t be nearly as financially stable without all the help we’ve gotten from all the fans online through the years, we really cannot be more thankful for the amount of viewers we’ve had in the past.
‘Our channel isn’t doing too good anymore, we’re struggling with what exactly to post for content cause it’s been six years since the accident.
Sabia was initially told six times after the accident that he would not be able to pull through. However, he insisted to doctors to save him even if he were a ‘head on a plate’
An image posted by Loren prior to the life-threatening accident which the courageous man fought through
‘Giving updates on how life was this month for the dude who got cut in half by a forklift is getting old.
‘That [is] about the only negative is that we’re struggling with what exactly to post anymore, given we’ve provided videos in the past on how we do this or that.
‘The way I look at it is there’s always gunna be trolls, someone with no morals, who doesn’t care who they’re screwing over cause all they care about is themselves.
‘That is what it is, we just report the pages we come across, and let our fans know that said page is in fact not us.
‘So I’d say our followers are kind and great unless you do something where you’re trying to take advantage of our lives.
‘It’s really great to have all the support we do have and have been able to maintain.
‘I doubt we’d be living in our own house if it wasn’t for all the support, probably still be stuck in an apartment.’