David Minter was living a dream. The 22-year-old Roseville kickboxer just started winning amateur fights and decided to fly to Thailand for a month of martial arts training.

"David realized his true calling was to be a fighter," said his mother, Kathy Dyer. "It was all he ever wanted to be."

Now Minter is facing another fight, not in the octogon arena but in a hospital bed thousands of miles away from home.

Disfigured with broken bones, he awoke from a short coma with an unknown missionary beside his bed. Dyer got the call no mother likes. Her son faced a battle for his life after a moped accident on the streets of Phuket, Thailand.

"Instantly I felt sick to my stomach and started to cry," said Dyer, who has since flown to Thailand to at her son’s side. "I could imagine David severely hurt and all alone thousands of miles away. And worse I had no way to be there for him to give him a mother’s love and to take care of him."

Beside herself in panic and grief, Dyer maxed out her credit cards to pay for the foreign doctors to operate on her son.

"I had to talk to doctors who barely spoke any English," Dyer said via e-mail. "They weren’t going to operate without being paid first. I felt helpless."

She had a big detour before her, flying to Los Angeles to get an expedited passport. Her real estate partner and good friend Christine Sturgis at Keller Williams Realty in Roseville volunteered to take over her work and liquidate some of their staging business so Dyer could be bring her injured son home.

"We were trying to figure out ways to get money for the trip," Sturgis said. "So I said let’s go ahead and sell inventory."

Putting their business at risk for the personal crisis was never questioned. Sturgis, a mother herself, empathized. Her adult son also volunteered to go and help Dyer in Thailand.

"This woman is amazing," Sturgis said. "She’s never been in this position before. She is a giver."

Her coworkers at Keller Williams agreed and through their nonprofit community organization, KW Cares, gave her funds to fly to Thailand Jan. 25.

"It is such an unexpected comfort in my time of crisis," Dyer said. "I was overwhelmed by the immediate response and caring support of my co-workers.”

The missionaries from Muay Thai Missions who spent countless hours filling in for mom and driving four hours one way to be at David’s bedside have made an impression on her family.

"They have had such a profound impact on my son to where he has renewed his faith and wants to serve the Lord," Dyer said. "This experience has strengthened my faith in God and my belief in hope and love."

It’s unclear how many more surgeries he can expect when he returns. Dyer said David has a fractured skull, broken femur and an arm broken in four places. That’s something she said he would never receive in a respectful boxing ring.

Literally on a wing and prayer, Dyer plans to return to Roseville this weekend with David, hopeful he’ll make a full recovery and one day be able to pursue his passion again.

"David in his own words says, ‘I am a broken warrior and need time to heal,’” Dyer said. "He is very strong willed and has learned it from all his fighting experience. He’ll make a full comeback."

How to help

Anyone interested in helping David Minter and Kathy Dyer can make a donation to the KW Cares fund in David Minter’s name located at any Keller Williams Realty office.