Advertisement Sheets was on his way to his friend Danny “Biggs” McAlear’s house on April 26 to get together with a group of friends. But he never made it.
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Danny McAlear holds a picture of his friend, Chad Sheets, who has been in a coma since an April 26 car crash. He stands next to a quilt that was raffled at Holmen High School to support the family.
Photo by Jo Anne Killeen |
“When he didn’t show up, we looked for him,” McAlear said. When they didn’t find him, they figured he must have made other plans.
But Sheets crashed his truck while driving to McAlear’s house, suffering a severe head injury in the crash. His parents believe he fell asleep at the wheel. Sheets has been in an coma since then.
Sheets’ many friends could visit him while he was at Gundersen Lutheran, but since being transferred last week to a hospital in Minneapolis, the friends have a harder time visiting him.
That doesn’t mean McAlear and others are forgetting about him. They’ve organized fundraising efforts to help the family with medical and transportation bills.
“A bunch of us sat around brainstorming what we could do to help out with all the bills and we decided to sell bracelets,” McAlear said.
Tyler Schliep’s mother, Jennifer, ordered 300 bracelets with the saying “There’s one in every crowd: That’s Chad.” Tyler accepted Sheets’ diploma for him at the HHS graduation ceremonies.
McAlear said he brought the bracelets to school to sell for $5 each and was gratified by how many students and staff members purchased them.
“It felt good to see all the people buying the bracelets and watch all the money come in for Sheets,” McAlear said. He sold 150 bracelets at the school. McAlear also took them to Farm and Fleet, Sheets’ place of employment, the BP station on Highway OT and Hardware Hank.
McAlear wears an orange and black bracelet and an orange and black ribbon on his baseball cap in honor of Sheets.
“Chad is big into Harleys,” McAlear explained.
Jennifer Schliep’s sisters went on a quilting binge for about two weeks to create a quilt to raffle off. The quilt raffle raised $700. Michelle Wuensch, a biology and chemistry teacher at the high school, won the quilt.
McAlear said it was very hard for him and his friends to learn of Sheets’ injuries. “It’s way different now,” McAlear said. “The first few days, to keep going, I stayed close to a lot of friends. Friends helped out a lot.” His parents also helped to comfort him.
Holmen High School counselor Laurie Kessler wasn’t surprised by the outporing of support for Chad. “He had a strong core group of friends,” she said.
Most anyone who knew Chad knew he loved his truck. “That was his main thing, fixing it up,” Kessler said. “He spent a lot of time in shop classes, he probably took every shop class we offered.
“He was a kid who didn’t love academics, but always here and did the right things,” Kessler continued. “He was a good guy to have around.”
McAlear knows he has received at least one blessing from Sheets’ accident. “I’ve become more close to Chad’s parents,” McAlear said. “We would talk a while during visits.”
His first reaction when he learned of the accident was to give Sheets’ mother a big hug.
McAlear and his friends have also learned a valuable lesson. “We hear a lot about driving,” McAlear said. “But it never really meant anything. It really woke us up. Don’t drive when you’re tired. Call someone if you need a ride.”
McAlear remains hopeful Chad will make a full recovery. “Keep Chad in your prayers,” he urged. “Wish for the best.”
holmen123 wrote on Jul 18, 2009 5:42 PM: