Between John Orne and his wife Cathy, he said he’s the fortunate one.

The Edgecomb couple, married nearly 15 years, were in a two-vehicle accident in Warren on Sept. 29 that injured both of them and killed a Belfast woman. John Orne, Boothbay Region Water District’s chief treatment plant operator, got a right leg fracture and cracks to his ribs.

Cathy Orne, who works at Hannaford in Boothbay Harbor and is active with the Edgecomb Historical Society, suffered a collapsed lung and breaks to her pelvis, hip, hand and both feet, John Orne, 51, said on Oct. 17.

He didn’t know when she would be able to return home. It could be months, he said.

She’s had three major surgeries at Maine Medical Center, and is now in rehabilitation at Coves Edge in Damariscotta. Doctors are not predicting whether or not Orne, 56, will make a complete recovery. She can’t try walking yet, because, with all the broken bones and which ones they are, she could worsen the injuries by bearing weight on them.

Her husband got materials to build her a wheelchair ramp at their home. Then his co-workers at the water district showed up on a Friday afternoon and built most of it. His nephews, Danny Murphy of Edgecomb and Mark Murphy of Boothbay, finished it.

Also since the accident, the couple has been getting well wishes from people around the Boothbay peninsula, including John Orne’s fellow Boothbay Region High School alumni.

“I’m glad I live in a small town,” he said. All the community support has helped in the accident’s aftermath. So have the good spirits he said his wife is in. “She’s a trooper,” he said. “She is one strong lady.”

The crash trapped her in the 2005 Chevy truck her husband was driving. Rescue workers freed her with equipment. The truck was totaled, but airbags and other safety features in it all did their jobs, John Orne said.

Last month’s accident killed Blanche Foss, 72, of Belfast. Witnesses told Knox County sheriff’s deputies the 2008 Jeep that Foss was driving north on Route 1 in Warren crossed the center line and collided head-on with the truck John Orne was driving south.

“I feel for her family. I truly do,” John Orne said. “This was a tragic thing.”