Bonnet walked back up to the house and found Lyng lying in a pool of blood. He had fallen backward due to an unknown cause and struck the back of his head on the pebbled concrete. Bushes conceal the front of the house and nobody saw the fall.
“It was an accident,” Sherie Lyng said, adding her husband had slowed down his practice in recent years due to health issues but German doctors don’t know if those issues contributed to the fall.

“His practice was not in full force as it had been,” Sherie said, adding she had been laid off and was helping him with his practice before the accident. “He had become a little slow and weak.”

The night of the fall, Lyng had brain surgery and was placed on a respirator. He then had a second surgery to replace portions of his skull that had been removed due to his brain swelling. Sherie thought he was out of the woods.

Lyng then developed pneumonia and an infection, requiring him to be readmitted to the Intensive Care Unit.

“We thought he was going to die,” Sherie said, adding that although Lyng’s condition has since improved, “he’ll require medical care for the rest of his life.”

The Lyng’s private insurance is willing to pay for the emergency services Bill incurred in Germany but refused to foot the more than $25,000 bill required to transport him back to Florida nor his long-term care overseas.

“I’m not sure what else they’re going to pay for. It’s in their legal department for review,” Sherie said, adding Lyng was transported to a nursing home two weeks ago with medical personnel who speak limited English.

Lyng cannot sit up or walk by himself and needs several medical professionals to make the flight back with him.

“I know Germany has excellent medical care,” Sherie said. “I’m only interested in getting him home.”

His entire family has since relocated back to Kissimmee after Bonnet’s deployment to Germany ended.

A member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, his fellow members and local attorneys helped set up a trust in Lyng’s name to help raise money for his medical transport and expenses.

A charity barbecue fundraiser is on-going as the Jacob Summerlin Camp, SVC #1516, is pre-selling its “famous” smoked pork Boston butts ($30) and smoked pork spare ribs ($20/slab).

Pre-orders for the barbecue event are currently being taken at Gator Pool, 1325 Tennessee Ave. in St. Cloud and Mikell Plumbing, 722 N. Central Ave. in Kissimmee, through Sept. 7.

The food will be available for pick-up Sept. 8 from 4:30-6:30 p.m. at the Law Offices of Ernie Mullins, 519 Patrick St. in Kissimmee.

Donations also can be made at any Chase Bank with the checks made out to “Reginald Wm. Lyng Trust.” The trust was set up for the family by Kissimmee attorney Al Torres, who has known Lyng for more than 15 years.

“It’s a shame what’s going on. We’re doing all we can to get him back. It’s a very frustrating process,” Torres said, adding he knows the community is rallying around Lyng because of the man he is. “Money-making wasn’t an overriding concern for him. Helping people was.”

Sherie is hoping more than just the local judicial system will rise to help bring her husband home.

“If we raise more money than we need to bring him home, it will go toward his care,” Sherie said.

Sherie, who had only flown domestically twice before her first trip overseas to Germany in April, didn’t think to check with her medical insurance before the trip and research coverage for herself and her husband.

“I’m not a world traveler,” Sherie said. “Yes, I was ignorant of what should have been done. It’s not that I didn’t investigate this but obviously this never occurred to me. I did do something stupid and I regret it.”

For more information on the barbecue fundraiser, call Gator Pool at 407-892-9292 or Mikell Plumbing at 407-847-4421.