21-Year-Old Texas Dad Survives 45-to-50-Foot Tree Fall — Now Fighting to Walk Again

Justus Bulkley, 21, survived a fall of about 45 to 50 feet from a tree while working as an arborist in Texas.

The accident left him with severe spinal injuries, including burst fractures in his lower back, and a badly shattered heel that required six screws. Doctors have told him he will never climb again. That ends the tree work that supported his family and closes the path he had hoped to take toward becoming a lineman.

For the past four years, Justus was the primary provider. His wife, Kaitlynn, is now carrying the household while caring for their young child and helping him through a recovery that could keep him off work for months.

The family’s goal is simple: stand, walk, heal, and find a new dream.

Tree climbing is among the most dangerous jobs in the United States. Falls from height, falling limbs, and equipment failures regularly cause spinal fractures, crush injuries, and career-ending trauma among arborists and line workers. Survival after a drop of that distance is uncommon; walking again after burst fractures and a reconstructed heel is a long, uncertain process.

Justus’s case has not been widely reported in major Texas news outlets under that name. The account above follows the details shared by his family: the height of the fall, the spinal and heel injuries, the medical warning that climbing is over, and the sudden shift of responsibility onto Kaitlynn.

What is public and consistent is the human part of the story. A young father who worked in the trees to support his wife and child is now learning how to stand again. The work that defined him is gone. The next chapter, his family says, is not about going back into the canopy. It is about getting on his feet, staying together, and building a different future from the ground up.