SAN ANTONIO — A 17-year-old has connected the hearts of people in New Braunfels, New Orleans and beyond.
Gavin Cristea remains in a coma in a Louisiana hospital's ICU.
The severity of his injuries is still unknown.
July 7, during a family vacation, a tree fell on top of Cristea as he sat on a bench in the historic French Quarter.
Attorneys for the Cristea family say the City of New Orleans failed to act to keep people out of harm's way, even though another limb from the same tree fell 10 days earlier.
In this update, we're learning how the start of school is adding another layer of complications.
"They're in the process now of trying to wake him up from his coma," said New Orleans attorney, Morris Bart, who is representing the Cristea Family.
A new picture sent to us by attorneys shows an excited Gavin Cristea arriving in New Orleans. Monster Jam was about to start in a venue three minutes away from Jackson Square, the place where his family's lives changed forever.
"They know there's extensive brain damage, but they just don't know the total effect of it and how it's going to affect him," said Bart.
Bart says a tree branch snapped July 7, pinning Cristea to the ground. For the first time, we learned exactly how long.
"When the tree limb fell, it hit him directly in the head and then fell on top of him. He was trapped underneath for, we believe, 17 minutes or more," Bart explained.
The incident happened just two days shy of Cristea's 17th birthday.
Bart says, as school is set to begin, Cristea's parents are planning to take turns by his side.
"One parent will be in the San Antonio area with their child getting him into school. The other parent will be here in New Orleans at the bedside of Gavin," said Bart.
Bart says this tragedy cuts to the core of New Orleanians. Tourists who also happened to be in Jackson Square at the time are also keeping a close eye on the teen's recovery.
"It cuts to the core with us that a tourist, a lovely family would come down here to New Orleans being in one of our top tourist attractions, which is Jackson Square, and then experienced this horrific accident," Bart explained.
Now, Bart says there's a heightened awareness about the safety of the city's majestic live oak trees.
"Are they being inspected? Are they being maintained? And if there is some sort of decay going on, will the city warn us?" he asked.
Those questions are at the core of a lawsuit filed against the City of New Orleans and other defendants.
As for how much money the lawsuit is seeking, Bart says that depends on present and future medical expenses.
The mayor of New Orleans said the city did a thorough inspection of the oak tree after the first limb fell and found no threat of an imminent danger of collapsing.
"The family themselves asked for two things," said Bart. "They asked for their privacy and they asked for everyone's prayers."
Loved ones are raising money for the Cristea Family. The crowdfunding initiative has already raised more than $8,000.