Mother rushes to Arizona son's side after he was pinned between 2 school buses

APACHE JUNCTION, Ariz. - On April 11, we heard from the mother of a bus mechanic who is still recovering in the hospital, after he was pinned between two school buses.

The backstory:

Jared Nickola has been at the Banner Desert Hospital for the better part of two weeks.

Nickola, a bus mechanic for the Apache Junction Unified School District, was rushed to the hospital after school district officials said a mechanical issue caused him to be pinned between two buses in the pickup area between Apache Junction High School and Cactus Canyon Junior High.

In all, Nickola suffered 15 broken ribs, a broken sternum, a broken clavicle, and two collapsed lungs as a result of the incident.

Victim's mother by her son's side

When Ronni Dockstader got the call on March 31 that Nickola was in the emergency room after a work incident, she quickly made plans to make the six-hour drive from California to be at his bedside.

The sight that greeted Dockstader was nothing a mother wants to ever see.

What Dockstader Said:

"He's on a ventilator, he's heavily sedated, he's got wires everywhere," said Dockstader.

Since she arrived in Arizona, Dockstader has been dedicating her time to assisting Nickola, as he slowly but surely makes progress.

"I've been with him about 15 hours a day, 16 hours a day. Then I go home because he has a dog," said Dockstader. "I go home and take care of his dog, take a shower, try to take a little nap. And then I go back."

What's next:

Dockstader said her son is very self-reliant, but that he also faces a long journey back to full health.

Nickola will be heading to a rehab facility after he's released from the hospital.

"When he gets to standing - he takes a few minutes just to get his breath, and my son's active. He's a mechanic. It's just gonna take time," Dockstader said. "They don't say how long, we don't know."