ROBBINSDALE, Minn. -- More than two weeks after a medical helicopter crashed in Alexandria, a Nisswa man remains in the hospital. He was supposed to get married this week.
Miles Weske, 34, was one of three crew members critically injured when a North Memorial Air Care helicopter went down in Alexandria. The helicopter was on its way to pick up a patient from the Douglas County Hospital when it crashed near Lake Winona on Sept. 17.
According to Lesa Bader, a spokesperson for North Memorial Medical Center, pilot Joshua Jones, 47, and flight nurse Scott Scepaniak, 44, have left the hospital.
Weske remains at the hospital but his fiancée, Brook Weber, told KARE 11 he is making progress. Earlier this week, he opened his eyes for the first time since the crash.
"All of a sudden he decided that he wanted to open his eyes and start communicating with us and he's been intermittently awake ever since," Weber said.
Weske has spent the past five years as a flight paramedic. That's how he met Weber, a flight nurse.
"That morning I kind of had that feeling when he didn't text me back and I was right," Weber said. "It's always a possibility but then again you think it's never going to happen to you."
When Weber arrived at the hospital, the trauma surgeons told the family Weske's chances of survival were very slim. He suffered from a long list of injuries including a fractured neck, broken ribs and sternum, a liver laceration and bleeding in the brain.
Despite several setbacks, he's recovering. Weske still cannot talk but he has been mouthing phrases like "I love you." Weber is hopeful he can leave the hospital before the end of the year.
"I don't know if I will go home until he goes home," Weber said.
The couple, who have six children between the two of them, were supposed to get married in Carlton this Wednesday. Weber has been using her fiancé's name on social media, a decision she made when she thought Weske might not make it.
"This morning I woke up and told him he had three days to get his trach out and be able to say, 'I do' on Wednesday and he laughed and thought that was pretty funny. We'll see what happens. It might still happen on Wednesday but it might be in the hospital instead," she said.
If you would like to follow Weske's recovery, you can visit his CaringBridge website. Friends have also set up a GoFundMe account to help the family with expenses.