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The 26-year-old was rushed to a Los Angeles hospital for 12 hours of surgery earlier this month after a car hit him while he rode his bike on Sierra Highway earlier this month. The crash left Mather's legs paralyzed, and doctors put metal bars and screws into his back to support his injured spine, said his father, Mark Mather.
And it left the 53-year-old wondering what he alone could do for his son.
"The worst thing that can happen is one of your kids gets hurt, and you can't do anything about it and feel so helpless," he said.
But soon he realized he wasn't alone.
Dozens of family and friends of Copperhill Community Church have rallied around the injured Kevin Mather and his wife, Tiffany Mather.
They created a support Web site for Mather, raised donations for his care, helped his family cope with other problems and, of course, provided plenty of prayers.
"It's definitely helping his spirit," Mark Mather said. "He's so thankful to God, his family and friends and community at the church to give (Tiffany) support."
Gabriel Astorga, a fellow church member and cyclist, said the inspiration to help comes from the Bible and a love for Kevin and Tiffany.
"The Bible talks about bearing one another's burdens," he said. "Obviously this is a big burden and we want to help them carry through this time."
Bearing another's burdens
On July 4, the day after the crash, the burden grew heavier.
While Kevin and Tiffany remained at a hospital miles away from Santa Clarita, relatives discovered the couple's Saugus condominium was filling with water from a plumbing problem.
The church sprang into action.
"Basically the call went out and about 30 guys showed up to kind of move furniture and get the water sucked up before the cleaning company came in after," Astorga said.
And their support didn't end there. Within a day of the accident, church members put up a blog titled "Kevin's Recovery," giving friends and family place to check on Mather's status and coordinate their help.
The site had received 16,000 hits within a week and dozens of people showed their support for Mather, said Mark Montoya, a member of Copperhill Community who helped create the site.
"People's first response is to do what they can immediately and that is to pray for him," Montoya said. "And we got a lot of offers through our contact forum, people offering material goods and money and offering to bring them things."
The Web site is a way for friends and family - or people who have never even met Mather - to stay involved and show support.
"In a situation like this, you obviously still have to go to work, but you want to be there all the time and see what's happening all the time," Montoya said. "You don't want to call the family all the time because you know they're busy, so the Web site just answered that for people."
The site, www.kevinsrecovery.com, provides a way for anyone to join Kevin's Recovery Team and get involved through prayer, meals, visits, donations or fixing up the couple's condo.
Donors get a "Kevin's Recovery Team" wristband. The blog describes the intention of the wristband:
"Upon arriving at the hospital, we were issued a green disposable wristband. A few people decided to keep their wristbands on as a reminder to pray for Kevin in the days and weeks to come. We have decided to design green silicone wristbands with the phrase ‘Kevin's Recovery Team' embossed on them," the blog reads.
Copperhill serious about community
The church's response has been remarkably organized.
Copperhill Community Pastor Brian Howard said the church put together six different teams, each focusing on a specific task.
One team makes him meals, another handles the blog. Others make sure he has a steady stream of visitors or repair his condo.
"We have tried to put together a holistic, comprehensive process that involves multiple teams where we can just surround the family totally and completely," he said.
And Howard said the effort stems from their desire to love and support the Mather family, who have been members of the Valencia church for several years.
"We basically want to say, if there's somebody among us that's going through a difficult time, then we want to surround that person," Howard said.
This is far from the first time the Copperhill Community has come alongside struggling church members.
"I would say we've done this kind of thing for 10 or 12 people (over) the years," he said.
One of their missionaries was shot in the neck in El Salvador. Church members raised $25,000 for his family and flew them out to him that same day, Howard said.
It's challenges like those which have given the Copperhill Community the training it needs to cover families like the Mathers with needed support.
"This comes with - hopefully for us - with a community of faith," Howard said.
Hopelessness to hopefulness
Mark Mather said the support the church has bestowed upon Kevin and Tiffany is "unbelievable."
From the prayers to a Nintendo system for Mather to play in his hospital bed to a constant flow of meals - Mark Mather said it is this kind of support that has blown him away.
No longer did he feel that overwhelming sense of helplessness.
"These people at Copperhill and friends have just taken a lot of that away," he said.
Mather is in the process of beginning acute in-patient rehabilitation at a Northridge hospital.
Mark Mather said it will be a long road to recovery for his son, but it's a road that he will not travel alone.
And as of Friday, the Web site became a way for Kevin and Tiffany themselves to communicate thanks and updates for their blog community.
"We have truly been blown away and absolutely overwhelmed by everyone's willingness to go above and beyond to help in any possible way," Tiffany wrote in an afternoon blog post.
"Whether it be our church, friends, family, employers, co-workers or even people we don't even know, God has used all of you in extraordinary ways!"
