MARKLEVILLE — Farmer Mike Monday was riding a tractor and trailing a hay baler when he came to the top of a hill at a southeastern Madison County farm.

The engine stalled. The two machines began rolling backward.

Behind Monday was one of his five children, Gage, 9, who was helping with the baling on the afternoon of May 24.

“The brakes wouldn’t hold. It was just a free for all after that,” Monday recalled this week.

Trying to avoid hitting his son, Monday swerved the wheel. The baler jackknifed and his 1958 Minneapolis-Moline tractor smashed into a mulberry tree. He was thrown from the seat. The tractor overturned and pinned him against the tree.

“The tree saved me,” said Monday, recovering in his farm home near Sulphur Springs. “If it hadn’t hit the tree, I would have ended up beneath that tractor and it would have slid on down the hill with me.”

His son was unharmed.

Monday, 46, was flown by helicopter to Methodist Hospital; a hip bone had popped to the rear of his body, nearly piercing through skin. The pain was excruciating. Within a few days, doctors also found a flap hanging from his aorta and he underwent open heart surgery.

He’s home now at the farm where the family also raise horses. He wears a brace on his leg to prevent him from bending his knee and reinjuring his hip. He jokes that it would have been cheaper to have someone else bale the hay.

The story is far from over.

For nearly two years, Monday’s wife, Tia, has been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. Until her illness, she worked as a secretary for Saint John’s Health Center.

She was able to qualify for health insurance for herself and the children which includes Jessica, 15; Gage, 9; Colton, 7; Shelby, 3, and Cale, 10 months.

“I think the accident’s made us a lot closer knit. Of course, we have always been pretty close-knit. We kind of share the chores around here. One goes to feed, one gets the hay, one gets grain, another gets water,” said Monday.

Monday is looking at medical bills nearing $100,000 including $16,000 for the chopper flight. A local church, East Christian in Markleville, is holding a benefit dinner Friday for the family.

Monday has no health insurance. He was forced to quit his job at a pipeline company to stay home with his wife, 39, who suffers from seizures and memory lapses. The tumor has not advanced. When it does, doctors plan intensive treatments.