SHELLEY — Michael Carlson wasn’t planning to spend more than an hour at a fundraiser held in his honor on Saturday. After all, he’s only been out of the hospital for a few weeks and is still recovering after breaking a slew of bones during a 70-foot-fall while rock climbing in Blackfoot Canyon on Father’s Day weekend.

But seeing the thousand-plus people who attended the fundraiser, Rock On, Climb On, which took place at Freeman Park in Idaho Falls, was just the medicine that the 31-year-old needed.

“I was there half the day,” he said, adding that he couldn’t believe the excitement in the air, and the number of activities — music, bake sales, raffles, silent auctions, bounce houses and Zumba — taking place on his behalf. “It done me good.”

Although he’s just barely getting to the point that he can stand for a few minutes, he said he was grateful to be well enough to attend the event in a wheelchair.

“It was the most humbling experience of my life,” he said, adding that he’s grateful to all those who helped with the event that was much more than he expected. “I got to see firsthand the love and care of the community.”

Farrah Corbett, Carlson’s sister, was one of many family members and friends — including Peak Theory band members Tony Perez and Eric Liester — who worked together to organize the event. Although they haven’t yet tallied how much it raised, she said they did “very well.”

“We felt so good about it,” she said, adding that many people turned out to support Carlson and his wife, Jessica, who are facing an expensive and uncertain future following his accident.

Carlson said he has been rock climbing at the Playground in Blackfoot Canyon since he was 17, so he had no premonition of what was to come when he travelled to the area with friends and family in June.

The accident occurred as he was repelling down the rock in order to get to the base of the climb.

“I went through the same process that I did the last 10,000 times, but I tied (the rope) incorrectly,” he said, adding that he didn’t make it far before he realized his mistake. “It was very apparent that something was wrong and then I just fell.”

Carlson dropped roughly 70 feet, and managed to break numerous bones in his feet, left leg, pelvis, sacrum, and right wrist and arm.

“I have a vague memory of looking down and seeing the earth coming towards me, but I don’t remember hitting,” he said.

When he came to, he could hear the panicked voices of his friends, who called 9-1-1.

Carlson said he didn’t realize how badly he was hurt until he saw a helicopter waiting to take him to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center.

He had to spend a couple of months in the hospital — including his 10-year-wedding anniversary with his wife who stayed faithfully by his side through the ordeal — undergoing numerous surgeries to repair the broken bones and damaged nerves in his body. And even now he’s not sure of the fell extent of his injuries. He knows he’ll be able to walk again, but he doesn’t know if he’ll be able to run.

“I will not be the same, but to the extent, who knows?,” he said.

He’s still trying to manage his business, Carlson’s Custom Concrete, from the hospital bed stationed in his living room, and said he is grateful for good employees who are helping him through the process.

“I am the provider for my family and there’s a big question mark about what happens to us in the next year,” said Carlson, the father of three: Hayley, 8, Riley, 5, and Colter, 1.

He has no doubt that the fundraiser will help his family with medical and living expenses, but he said seeing the community rallying around him did him just as much good as the financial support.

“It’s neat to feel people are helping my family carry this burden,” he said.

Donations to help Michael Carlson and his family are still being accepted at the Bank of Idaho, under the account “Rock On, Climb On.”