A friend of Keith Keller, the TV crewman who plunged at least 50 feet from Acrisure Stadium’s main scoreboard last weekend while prepping the Pittsburgh venue for a prime-time Sunday Night Football audience, said the Chicago-area man has a long road — and a lot of medical bills — ahead of him.

Keller, who is in his 50s, fell from the North Shore stadium’s scoreboard to “a mid-level catwalk” around 10 p.m. Saturday while mounting a remote camera as a contractor for NBC, police and one of Keller’s work colleagues told TribLive.

NBC was in town to broadcast the NFL’s match-up between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers.

Keller remained hospitalized Thursday. Surgeons have worked to repair his lower legs, which were “shattered,” the bones broken in multiple places, according to longtime friend Bill Brennan, 63, of Plantation, Fla., a Fort Lauderdale suburb.

Keller also lacerated his liver and spleen in the fall, Brennan said. A ventilator continues to help him breathe.

It’s unclear if Keller will suffer more permanent injuries but the prognosis — all things considered — appears positive, Brennan said.

“I am in disbelief that he’s still with us. You don’t fall 60 feet and survive,” Brennan, who started working with Keller in sports broadcasting more than 25 years ago, told TribLive Thursday.

“But, as of now, he’s going to survive this,” he added. “I’m not a real religious guy or anything. But when you see something like this, you’ve got to scratch your head and think about things.”

Pittsburgh police have said the distance of the fall was about 50 feet; Brennan said he believes it was closer to 60 feet.

Brennan said he and Keller’s wife, Stephenie , launched a GoFundMe campaign Tuesday to help the Illinois couple pay medical bills and their mortgage while Keller is out of work.

Within the fundraiser’s first 24 hours, more than $110,000 poured in. The total from nearly 500 donors topped $140,000 Thursday afternoon.

Brennan feels the fundraiser’s success illustrates what friends and work colleagues think of Keller’s warmth and infectious sense of humor, as well as his knack for connecting with people.

“I know what a good guy he is,” Brennan said. “Look at the GoFundMe. You tell me what kind of man he is.”

Brennan and Keller are part of a loosely linked network of TV sports pros, including dozens of contractors and crew members, peppered throughout the nation. The group has frequently texted with one another since Saturday.

These workers’ days setting up cameras and other broadcasting gear at stadiums often exceed 10 hours and can run as long as 17, Brennan said.

That hard work breeds a kind of intensity — Brennan said Keller’s work ethic “will put 80% of this country to shame” — but also a strong, even familial, bond among those who do it.

Brennan didn’t know a lot of details of Keller’s fall. He called his colleague safety-conscious. But he said Thursday he didn’t know if Keller was wearing a helmet or other protection at the time of the fall — or what conditions were like on the field.

Pittsburgh police and the Pittsburgh Steelers provided no updates Thursday on Keller’s fall.

The next emotional hurdle for Keller’s peers will be waiting at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Md., home turf of the Washington Commanders. Crew members will travel there to prep for a Sunday Night Football broadcast featuring the visiting Seattle Seahawks.

“That game’s going to be a tough one, an emotional one — I know if I was on it, I’d be emotional,” Brennan said. “But, the fact that we’re talking about this four, five days out, the fact that he’s not on life support, that’s amazing.”

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