Loren Schauers, from Montana, U.S.A., was working as a laborer when his life changed forever in September 2019.
In a horrific accident, while driving a forklift, he plummeted off the side of a bridge and fell over 50 feet to the ground below, resulting in the lower half of his body and one of his arms being severely crushed by the industrial truck.
While Loren managed to avoid death, he was forced to undergo a rare and complex procedure known as a hemicorporectomy.
A hemicorporectomy—also known as a trans-lumbar amputation—is a rare surgical procedure that involves the removal of the lower half of the body, including the pelvis, pelvic organs, lower limbs, and external genitalia, according to the National Library of Medicine.
Loren also underwent an arm amputation after it was severely crushed in the accident.
In an interview with RTL 4, he recalled the moment doctors presented him with a stark choice: “The question was, do you want to live or die? Do you want to live with the situation now or die with the life you had?”
Despite the profound impact of his condition, Loren has refused to let it define him.
Together with his wife, Sabia, he shares their life journey on YouTube, where they’ve built a following of more than 639,000 subscribers.
Through their videos, the couple has spoken candidly about their dreams for the future, which include traveling the world and starting a family.
In one Q&A, Loren was asked: “Do your friends still treat you the same way they used to before the accident? Are you happy, surprised, or disappointed by some of them?”
In response, Loren admitted he was ‘a little disappointed’ by some of them.
“A couple of friends came out of the woodworks and have been really supportive, [others] totally reverted and have been reclusive,” he said. “But it’s whatever to me, you know, I got Sabia, that’s all I need.”
Sabia agreed, adding: “Going through this together has definitely strengthened a lot of the aspects of our relationship.”
As their channel has grown in popularity, it’s led to more intrusive questions about the couple’s personal life following Loren’s procedure – such as their s** life.
In an interview with the Daily Star, Sabia addressed a commonly asked question: “One of the things we get asked all the time is, ‘How do you have sex and how do you become intimate?’”
Responding firmly, she said, “That’s a deeply personal question and one we will never answer or even hint at—it’s extremely disrespectful. You wouldn’t approach a random couple on the street and ask them that, so just because our circumstances are different doesn’t make it acceptable.”
While questions about intimacy are off-limits, Loren has been open about answering another frequent query—how he uses the bathroom.
In a YouTube Q&A, he explained: “I have a colostomy, which means my colon has been brought through my abdomen so I can pass stool outside my body.
“I’ve also had bilateral nephrectomies—these are tubes inserted into my kidneys that drain urine into external bags. So that’s how I poop, pee, and fart.”
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, a colostomy is either an opening in the large intestine or the surgical procedure to create it.
Sabia helps care for Loren by changing his colostomy bag daily and assisting him with showers.
