A man who was cut in half in a forklift accident has hit back against conspiracy theories claiming his injuries were faked.
Loren Schauers, from Montana in the US, was driving a forklift on a bridge in 2019 when he plummeted 50ft and was crushed after the forklift fell landed on top of him, obliterating his right arm and completely squashing everything below his hips.
Schauers, 20, was rushed to hospital where he made the decision to have a hemicorperectomy surgery – which involves amputating everything below his waist – in order to save his life.
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Following the life-changing accident, Schauers and his wife Sabia have set up a GoFundMe to help cover the cost of prosthetic limbs – and have raised $56,554 (£45,284) so far.
However, while some strangers have generously donated to try and make Schauer’s life easier, others have accused him of editing out his limbs on photos to try and make some quick cash.
Schauers said: "I've seen a couple of comments that have said like this is a pretty elaborate scam."
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While his wife claimed that it wasn’t just the odd one or two nasty comments, but that there was a whole social media thread dedicated to the bizarre conspiracy theory.
She said: "There's people out there that think we're using CGI to make Loren's limbs disappear and that it's all one big scam.
"When we first kind of went viral there was like a subreddit page that was all about how this is a scam and we're lying about it and we're doing editing to make his body disappear and those are just like crazy."
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In an attempt to prove he’s not faking it, Schauers took part in a live-stream during which he hoisted himself up, so he was dangling by just one arm, to show that he has nothing below his torso.
Sabia added: "The conspiracies some people come up with but like obviously we just laughed at it and ignored it because we're not going to let that get to us but like it's just crazy."
Disgustingly, some people have even pretended to be the couple to set up their own fundraising page to scam people out of cash.
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Sabia added: "When TikTokers pretend to be us I just don't understand. Last year we had a fake GoFundMe thing happen but luckily that's the only time that's happened.
"Most of the times we find an account of ourselves they don't have a donation link or anything thankfully."
Topics: US News
Claire Reid