OSHKOSH (NBC 26) — A crash in Oshkosh killed one person and changed a teenager’s life forever. As the 14-year-old survivor recovers in Milwaukee, his community back home is rallying to support him.
- A crash on Sept. 7 at the intersection of Wisconsin Street and High Avenue killed one person and severely injured a 14-year-old.
- Cattails Supper Club in Larsen has organized a fundraiser on behalf of the Schmidt family.
- Carter has a gofundme to pay for his medical bills.
Tanya Schmidt's son, Carter, looks like a typical 14-year-old kid.
“He’s super good at math, science, he excels in them, so those are like passions for him,” Carter’s mom, Tonya, said. “He has the biggest heart. I call him my Heaven and my Hell, like he will go to the ends of the earth for me, but he has the softest heart.”
On Sept. 7, Carter’s life changed forever.
His dad was driving him and two of his siblings to Tonya’s house, when they were struck by a motorcycle at the intersection of Wisconsin Street and High Ave.
The motorcycle hit the passenger side door, where Carter was sitting. The motorcyclist, a 27-year-old man from Appleton, died at the scene.
Tanya’s 17-year-old son was the one to call her with the news.
“He said, ‘mom, we got in an accident,’ and I said, ‘okay, well where’s your dad?” Tanya says. “I said, ‘how bad is it?’ and he said, ‘it’s bad Tonya.”
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While his siblings sustained minor injuries, Carter was unresponsive, and he was driven to ThedaCare before being airlifted to Milwaukee.
“You could not recognize him at Theda, his whole face was covered in blood,” Tanya says. “Looking at him, it was the worst feeling, just to know that, like, you don’t know if he’s going to make it the next thirty minutes.”
Among other injuries, Carter had broken the bone around his eyes, had three broken ribs, a collapsed lung, a shattered spleen and a fractured pelvis.
“The one thing I've been grateful for is every time he made it the next hour I'm like he's still here,” Tanya says. “Just being grateful for that moment that he still is here with us.”
Carter is still fighting for his recovery in Milwaukee, and Tanya says it’s still unclear what the lasting impacts from his injuries will be. She also says they’re not sure when he’ll be able to come home.
“Will he ever be able to go down a water slide again? Is that portion of his life going to change?” Tanya says. “And we won't know answers until we’re further out from the injuries on how much impact, how they heal together, what he can and can't do.”
Soon after the accident, Carter’s community stepped up in support.
“I just think that’s normal, Wisconsin people,” Cathy Davey, owner of Cattails Supper Club in Larsen, says.
Carter had just started working at Cattails, but Davey didn’t hesitate to help after his injury.
“Even though he was only here two days, once you’re here, you’re a part of our work family,” she says.
Davey has been sharing information on her Facebook page throughout Carter’s recovery process, promoting the family’s gofundme.
Cattail’s is donating 20% of their gift card sales this month to the Schmidt family and they’re collecting cash donations.
“We know Carter has a very long road to recovery, and Tanya is going to have to be off work indefinitely, so I just don’t know what I would do in that situation,” Davey says.
It wasn’t long before other businesses followed suit. Schmalz Custom Landscaping in Appleton is one of nine businesses matching donations up to $500.
“We've always worked with the Schmidt family for years and years and years,” Jeff Morris, senior landscape architect at Schmalz Landscaping, says. “Just taking care of somebody within our own… Anything that we can do to help, we will do.”
Tanya says the overwhelming support was unexpected.
“It's just, it's been huge,” she says. “It's been helping keep that positive mindset too, knowing so many people are rooting for him, and I've shown him the comments and stuff, and I think that has helped him too, just seeing that he’s got so many people in his corner.”
The cause of the accident is still under investigation.
Tanya says she doesn’t blame anyone for the accident, but that she hopes Carter’s story will encourage people to consider their actions and always choose kindness.
“All of our choices have an outcome, so just choose wisely,” she says.
Cattails is looking for four more businesses to take part in their matching donation campaign. You can reach out to them through their Facebook page.
