COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa. (KMTV) — On Feb. 11th, Owen Hansen was your typical teenager: snowboarding down his favorite hill during a break from school.
"The board went up and I was like upside down, and then I landed right on my forehead and thankfully...I rolled over to my back," Hansen said.
Owen then realized he could not move.
"I was freaking out a little bit, tried yelling for help...my words couldn't come out, like I was whispering. I was yelling but nobody could hear me," Hansen said.
After calling out for help — he said a guardian angel answered his plea.
"I heard footsteps coming towards me and then finally saw her, Missy, Missy Murphy. She's my angel and God sent her to help me that day," Hansen said.
Owen was taken by ambulance to the Trauma Center at Nebraska Medicine. Now, he's recovering at a rehabilitation hospital in Lincoln.
"I can shrug my shoulders, I can get my shoulder to move my arm hanging over the side of the bed," Owen said. "As of right now, therapy is going good."
Thousands of people follow his progress on Facebook.
"His sister started it, and you know, there was all of a sudden, there was a thousand people on there and everybody kept sharing," his mother, Jolene said.
Macy Kephart, his sister said she started the Facebook group, "Owen Strong" since so many people wanted to know how he was doing.
"I was getting so many messages right after the accident. Everybody was asking for updates. I decided, 'Let's make a Facebook group, something we could call it was Owen Strong because he is a really strong kid,'" Kephart said.
That "strong kid" now faces a long road to recovery. He doesn't know if he'll ever walk again but he clings onto his faith.
"I know that you are bigger than my problem, because nothing was bigger than you, no one is stronger. When I call on you to replace me as my problem solver, you take over," Owen said in prayer.
That prayer was written in his mother's prayer book, meant for the day, Feb. 11.
Owen's mother said her son is coming home on May 21 and the family is working on building a new house that can accommodate Owen in his current condition.
