ZELIENOPLE — An all-you-can-eat pancake and sausage breakfast on Sunday will help a Beaver County family cope with the tragedy left in the wake of a February snow-tubing accident.

Brant Cooper, 42, of Ridge Road, Marion Township, was sledding with his son and friends on Feb. 1 when his inner tube slammed into a parked ATV. Cooper was paralyzed from the neck down.

A self-employed contractor, Cooper has no medical insurance. Consequently, the family is struggling with mounting medical bills.

"It's been very, very tough, but they're really sticking together," Brant's father, Jack Cooper of Fombell, said of the victim's wife and three children.

Brant's wife, Janice, has been by her husband's side every day of the ordeal. Since she worked with her husband, the family business has ground to a halt, and so has their income.

"When you have a family construction business, it totally stops," Jack Cooper said. "(Brant) had more work lined up this year than he ever had in his life."

Last week, Brant was able to breathe well enough on his own to be moved from Allegheny General Hospital, where he had been since the accident, to HealthSouth Harmarville Rehabilitation Center in Harmarville. Brant has since regained some movement of his arms. His long-term prognosis remains unclear.

The family's church, Concord United Methodist Church in Beaver Falls, has hosted spaghetti dinners to help raise money for the Coopers.

"The community has been generous, the church and the community," Jack Cooper said.

Tom Zinkham, who is friends with the family and a longtime member of Zelienople Rotary Club, asked his fellow Rotarians to help the Coopers. The club agreed to host the benefit breakfast.

The breakfast will be from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the American Legion Hall on West New Castle Street. Besides pancakes and sausage, the menu will include biscuits with sausage gravy, a variety of fruit, and beverages.

Tickets, available at the door or from any Zelienople Rotarian, cost $6 for adults and $3 for children under 12. A 50/50 raffle also will be held.

For information, call Dan Fazio at 724-766-1316.