A West Seattle man who was looking forward to his wedding is instead engrossed in helping his fiancée recover from a crash, thousands of miles away, and raising money to cover her medical bills. We received first word of this from several people who said that Matthias Bakken, a South Delridge resident and small-business owner, is one of the best neighbors they’ve ever had, and they wanted to get wider word out to the community. Stephanie, for one, explained, “He is a great guy always willing to help others and is now in a terrible time of need.” Eventually, we connected directly with Matthias. So here’s the summary:

He and his fiancée Goi, who is from Udon Thani in northeastern Thailand, had just spoken by phone to set the date for their wedding when less than an hour later she was in a motorcycle crash that left her with major injuries. He traveled to Thailand, frantic to find out what had happened and where she was being cared for. She had suffered life-threatening injuries and along with being treated for those will require reconstructive surgery for her teeth and face. He says that at first he “was sleeping out in front of the hospital because I didn’t want to waste money that I knew I would need to use” for her bills. She is close to stable, he says, but her surgeries will cost more than her insurance covers, and she is from an impoverished farming family. “I need to make my soon to be wife whole again and I need the kindness of strangers to make this happen,” he told us.

We mentioned that Matthias is an entrepreneur; he says his business, Leaf Natural Products, donates all its profits to charity. Matthias’s medical-costs fundraiser for Goi is on the crowdfunding site GoFundMe.