Seven year old Benjamin Dufour was waiting for the school bus with his siblings one morning in June – when the unthinkable happened.

A 47 year old man behind the wheel of a pickup truck, under some form of impairment hit little Ben, and changed his life forever.

Left critically injured the young man underwent a series of surgeries and was then airlifted to the Jim Pattison Children’s hospital in Saskatoon.

Today – in a statement from the family issued via Tamara Cherry of Pickup Communications we learn that Ben is making significant progress, notably breathing on his own, and communicating with family and doctors.

“He has started regaining his memory and is showing signs of his old personality. His body is starting to heal, and his physiotherapy indicates he has feeling and movement in his entire body,” the statement from family read – which considering the scope of Ben’s injuries is incredible.

Ben’s resilience has been aided by the generosity of the community.

A GoFundMe campaign was launched on June 26th, and in just 10 short days brought in  over 1300 donations, and $85,000 for little Ben’s fight. A number that far exceeded the original goal of $75,000.

Ben’s road to recovery is long – and the family hopes to be able to bring him home to Regina soon to continue his physiotherapy and rehabilitation.

The GoFundMe campaign is continuing and is available here.