He was on his way to Des Moines, he failed to stop at a hyway 3 stop sign, a semi hit driver's side at 60 mph.
Curt survived his surgery to repair heart, has many broken bones, two collapsed lungs, skull fracture.
He's 41, family man , family would have been with him but couldn't go at last minute,
His 2015 ram diesel has side air bags, probably why he is alive!
Guy from emmetsburg witnessed the accident, he got in passenger side and held Curt's hand and told him to hang in there, he was going to make it, till help arrived, an angel for sure!

Prayers sent. Life can deal some lousy cards at any time!

Prayers sent!

Prayers sent. He will have a long recovery.

Wow. I'm glad he's not dead. Sure enough an easy mistake to make.

Prayers sent.


Charlie

Bad deal but glad he is alive a long row ahead of him! The best to him and his family.

Glad he is OK. I sure don't envy the long road to recovery he has in front of him.

It's always the little flubs that get you.

Mike

Thanks everyone! He Will need prayers, he has a contracting company, concrete, construction, a good kid
Looks like pickup was crushed in almost a foot

Glad he lived and glad he didn't kill anyone.

WS

I have a picture of the truck, but don't Know how to put it up

Prayers sent.

Sent

Yep, an angel riding on his shoulder, Those side air bags are a good upgrade for protection, I'm glade their becoming more standard. Sometimes life is measured in seconds and inches...

Praying

How is the truck driver?

He was injured I think, but not like Curt.

He's got a long road ahead of him for sure, but he's lucky to be alive.

I almost got T-boned many years ago, but I was lucky to see that the guy wasn't going to stop for the red light and watched him roll through the intersection at 50 plus. I would have been dead for sure.

Somebody looks over us when we need it.

Good luck to your friend and his family.

prayers sent

I pulled out in front of a guy a few days ago on a bad corner. He was behind the passengee door post and I never saw him. I’m not sure how he missed me, but someone definately was watching over both of us. Hope your friend heals well.

Swift4me, I had same thing happen about 10 years ago and I was lucky I didn't pull out as soon as green light came on for me

Tactical20... that is exactly what happened to me. I still see it in my head at night.

Pete

Very sorry to hear about this and I pray for the accident victims quick recovery.

But, there are way to many people driving that are in a great hurry, not really paying attention to what they are doing and just plain dangerous.

Slow down, be careful out there and some common courtesy to other drivers would not hurt. I see lots of people who just want to be ahead of as many folks as possible. Like its some kind of race...it gets worse every year.

Maybe I never noticed it when I was younger but it seems like a lot more people blow through stop signs from township gravel roads where they intersect with a highway. I know there are people who are just crossing the highway and continuing on the township gravel or a county paved road that don't like having to stop but there's a reason for the sign placement (usually). Another thing I see is people who stop but do so by rapid braking at the end instead of just slowing down. If no one is behind me on the through highway, I'll often slow a bit or at least cover the brake when I see someone approaching a stop sign at a good speed. I don't know why people want to wear on their brakes so much...

Prayers sent!

Hate to hear that.

Had a rear brake line blow out of my truck two years ago going to up the convention coming upto a 4 way stop. Probably one of the sickest feelings I ever had as I went through the stop.

They brought him out of the coma yesterday to see how he's doing, they say he moved arms n legs, be on respirator for a week because of collapsed lungs
It was a county blacktop -hyway intersection, some have rumble strips, some don't

Broken pelvis, skull fracture, man he's gonna be recovering a long time, they will wake him up again on tues

Sent withprayer

Sorry to read that.

One of the best guys I've ever known (and his wife) were killed by running through a stop sign (on a motorcycle). Hit a corn wagon in the intersection! What a lose. He was so safety orientated, USA induro cart (go cart) champion at or near the time!

2nd

30 some years ago, last farmer I worked for he blew a stop sign, killed his wife and a newlywed couple on their way to the honeymoon

I hope your friend recovers quickly and the trucker can recover and accept it wasn't his fault and get back to driving soon and that his employer also realizes it wasn't his fault.


we came very close to getting smoked this last summer. my 15 year old daughter with learners permit had been driving but we had switched when she got tired about 30 minutes earlier , she was crying when it was over it was very real to her that she probably would not have seen the truck before it went behind the building at the corner and to known it was moving far to fast to stop in the distance it had left while towing a goose neck trailer of culvert pipe.

we were on the state highway and the truck was on a county and had a stop sign , he never even slowed down.

lots of bad stuff out there on the roads , everyone needs to do there part your not just driving for you sometimes you have to drive for them also

drivers ed was saying make sure your watching ditch line to ditch line , I say further , try and watch as wide as you can to reasonably see deer still in the field about to bolt , cars not going to stop at intersections , watch for brake lights out in front of you an make sure to keep your following distance generous.

Curt is in surgery right now to fix his ribs and collar bone, man he sure got hit hard

I hope he comes out of this OK. But I still think he should get a ticket or do time for that stupid stunt. That's how people get killed.

Failure to stop I would expect, he's not a football fan packer guy, anybody can screw up

What does being a Packer fan got to do with blowing a stop sign?

I know that but that dosen't lessen the severity of what happened. It could have been some ones loved ones that could have been killed. We all do stupid things but that dosen't give you a free pass.
How many times did he blow a stop sign with out any consequences?
I hope he comes out of this Ok.

Yep they can. But most screwups don't have the potential to cost someone else their life. Glad it was a truck and not an older subcompact car like kids often drive.

Good to hear all involved will recover.

I doubt he runs stop signs on purpose, he was combining a work trip with a trip to state wrestling tournaments, not a drinker.
I could see a drinker getting charged with jail time for blowing a stop sign, if he was on his phone he surely would be charged for that during investigation of accident

My boss in NY ran more red lights than he stopped for, I wouldn't feel bad if an idiot like that got hit, I hated being in his vehicle

They bone grafted and plated his collar bone, flexible titanium plates for the ribs they could get to, now to try to remove old blood n stuff from his lungs, they said his oxygen in blood level came up right away after working on his ribs

I guess plate for rib lessens pain and helps recovery time, had 10 repaired

Ram tough! Hard to believe he's still alive!

Yeah really, dam that's a hit

Disk brake is out in open, rim was blasted past it crazy
Truck cab looks pushed in more than a foot

Nasty looking for sure.

If my '02 got hit like that I'm sure I'd be in heaven by now

God bless him again , in our prayers

God bless him again , in our prayers

Prayers sent.

Prayers for your friend.

Prayers continue.




Charlie

Thanks guys, the family has taken his injury hard, he is well liked in their community, his wife especially has been overwhelmed with what happened

They tried to let him wake up, his eyes started to open, and then his blood pressure shot way high, I bet he felt how bad the pain was and started to react to it, they put him back under for now
As they were waking him up they stopped pain meds to see how he's doing neurology wise, so he probably felt the full pain of the injuries

dang...we all are seconds away at any moment...thanks for lettin us pray for him.

Thank you! Your mom helped us a little when my wife had cancer, she's a good lady

They set up a go fund me thing for Curt, it's up to 2,000$ now

You have a link?

WS

Wife is trying to figure out how to share the link
Thanks for asking, the family would appreciate it!

It is,.
gf.me/u/gwjh28

Yup a Friend of his came up with curtstrong
Thanks for sharing that link! We don't know much about links n stuff

They will try waking him at 7 am tomorrow, hope they give him pain meds this time

They won't be waking him up, maybe for a couple days. They installed a trach , and feeding tube, said it would be more comfortable that way,
Darn , removed a lot of fluid from lung

A local couple n son stopped at the hospital, they said they thought the world of Curt, they teared up seeing him lay there, his ex business partner said he will cover Curt's business expenses for six months, wow, that's more than I make in a year!

Curt has been in induced coma for 15 days now, trying to get his blood pressure down so they can reduce the sedation, I think after 9-11 days it can be bad, brain forgets you need to breath.
I sure hope he can wake up soon

Awe mam. I am sorry to hear he is still induced. Prayers continue

I'm getting worried about him, I hope they can wake him soon.
I think pressure can't go high because of aorta repair by his heart, I think all organs went to one side of body from a blow like that, lucky his heart didn't tear loose, I think that's what kills some people in sudden stops, head on collision

They have reduced the drugs to keep him out, reduced amount of oxygen.
He opened his eyes, his wife said he yawned once,
Hopefully tomorrow he will do even better!

Great news ,I know how hard this is on family.

They still haven't brought him fully awake yet, he is in massive amount of pain, they are trying to adjust pain meds to help, poor guy it is going to be a tough haul

They removed his chest tube, most of his staples, reduced the sleep med some, he has opened his eyes a few times
They said few days ago maybe 6 weeks in the hospital
This is day 19

Hope he continues to get better. Prayers sent.

Prayers sent...

Sounds more and more hopeful. Glad to hear that.

Thanks for the update. Sounds like he's making good progress.
Prayers continue

Thanks for prayers, he needs them, hope he is doing ok

His mom said he gave her the thumbs up today! She said he did it for her but not the dr.lol she said probably wondered why some foreigner wanted him to give him thumbs up, I guess it was hard but he did it, wow he's in tough shape yet
I was really happy to hear this!
I think it's the first movement he made in 20 days

They said he wouldn't have survived if he wasn't so strong, too much muscle to brace 2 of 12 ribs broke,
He was working on getting out of concrete business, on his way to pay for excavation equipment so he could start an excavation business

They had him breathing on his own today, he has moved his arms n legs a little bit, trying to cut back on the powerful sedatives

I had some moron turn right just in front of me as I was turning right also. He gets around the corner and locks them up and stops in the middle of the road. I jammed on the brakes and swerved around him. I got up beside him and his eyes were as big as platters and he had his glowing cell phone in his hands. I think he should have had the phone in something else. WAAAY up in something else.

Curt tried to wave goodbye to his niece, more time breathing on his own. They sent us a video of Curt laying there and responding to his wife talking to him.
My wife and I might go see him Saturday, the witness to the accident, the one who held his hand and told him to hang in there buddy, he wants to come see Curt too he went to school with Curt's sister in-law

His therapist said if he continues doing good he might be moved from icu to a regular hospital room, that sounds good

Thank God for the good people who know what to do when bad things happen and take the time to do it.

I bet the guy will be real glad he should make it now, I still can't believe someone could survive a hit like that,
Yes it sure is nice the guy did that, It probably will affect him for long time

God put the right person there at the right time to help your friend when he needed it the most. Do not underestimate what holding someone's hand and talking to them at a time like that does.

Very glad to hear that the accident victims recovery is going well.

Thanks Marty, I think the same way, Maybe the accident was a test for Curt, or something that changes his life.
He was tired of hard concrete work and was going to pay for some excavation equipment to start an excavation business

There is still the criminal charges to face yet.

Traffic ticket for not yielding?
More important things to deal with than that

He had a rough night last night so they put him back on the sleep drugs and assisted breathing.
Today he's back to breathing on his own, he needed a break to rest they said

Leaving now for Sioux City to see him, hope he's doing good today
Guess he has too many visitors today, we'll go tomorrow maybe

Around these parts, that is the first thing they want to do.

IA laws much different than MN, I grew up in MN. I don't know the law but failure to yield, or failure to stop is all I think he could be charged for. If on the phone it's 125$ fine here

If he were a drunk illegal alien in liberal MN he would probably walk

Did he have insurance?

Everyone has to have insurance or you won't get any work here. Only crackheads don't have car insurance, it's 400$ fine if you don't have proof of insurance, even if you have insurance, if you don't have proof with you they can write you up.
They were able to have him sit up in a chair for a while yesterday! That sounds like good news. He had a lot of company yesterday, they want him to just see close family today, so I guess we can't go see
him,
His wife told mine he pays 10,000 a month on business bills, so his old partner is helping him big time

Curt went into respiratory distress this morning, if they don't find the cause they will have to do a cat scan, darn I hope they can resolve this

Actually all I know is truck was doing sixty on highway and Curt got hit when he pulled out or maybe missed a stop sign, so several things could have happened, I think he pulled out or didn't see stop sign, he probably has no idea how it happened

His wife said part of the damaged lung sloughed off and blocked his bronchial tube, I think they removed it and he is breathing better now

That sounds absolutely awful. I wish your friend the best and speediest recovery possible.

Ya both lungs collapsed from the hit, I'm guessing the broken ribs didn't puncture the lung, not sure though, she said the bruised part sloughed off, sounds tough for sure, he's gonna be there a long time

Curt had a rough night, had to call Dr in to work on lungs again, took a long time, nurse said he could have this trouble for a few days, must be part of lungs healing, hope his lung heals ok

Dang what a long road to recovery this poor guy has. Hope he heals up good.

You got that right

So lucky the family wasn't in his truck, so I guess once in a while getting in trouble is good! His oldest son got caught cutting donuts on school parking lot, boy couldn't go to wrestling tournament, so mom stayed home with the three boys too.
Or possibly one of them would have noticed his mistake and stopped him?

Good news today, he was able to sit in a chair for 2.5 hours, it totally wore him out. Hoping for more good days! Thanks for prayers

Sorry to hear about the accident, glad to hear he's getting better. Same thing happened to my bro in law last year, the night before his daughters wedding. He survived and is doing very well now. Some memory loss and some facial fractures around eye that didn't heal the best. But so thankful we still have him.

How did it happen? Did he get hit on door too? I lost several friends to roll overs years ago, if only w they had their belt on

Curt is doing more sitting in chair, maybe any day they will take him out of ICU, he still can't talk because of trach thing, he gets more supplemental air to help him sometimes, he seemed to perk up a little when someone talked about work, hope he keeps improving, he is still having trouble with his left lung, must have been damaged pretty bad

Sorry I am just seeing this... I'm praying for a continued, speedy and full recovery. Rough deal. Life is like that sometimes. Glad it wasn't worse.

Thanks, every update we get his mom says thanks for lifting Curt up in your prayers, I sure hope he keeps improving, he is well liked by the people he knows and works with

Thanks for the update. Prayers continue

Thanks Adam! Maybe we can get over there to see him now, it's more than 2 hours away from here

Good news, Curt's wife said he waved n smiled at her when she came in the room, she said he even whispered I love you to her
Hope he keeps improving! His brother asked if he was ready to get out of here, he nodded yes

Last night he wrote on board for nurse to call his wife and tell her he loves her and misses her, this was about 12:30, she went to see him at 3:30am, hoping his cervical fracture has healed enough to take the collar off, real uncomfortable

I guess last night was a tough one, today he's back on resperator and they asked for no visitors, having trouble with his left lung

Prayers

Thanks! They appreciate every one, hopefully today is better for him, damaged parts of lung coming loose, and phlem from left lung I think

Today he had help, but walked to door of his room and back to bed! It was all he could do, fell to sleep right away. They moved him from icu to a regular hospital room, they might have him start therapy soon. He got very little sleep last 3-4 nights, not sure what was wrong
35 days, long time already
I think they are close to letting him talk, not sure if trach will be removed, or if there are other reasons

I guess they, Drs thought Curt needed therapy, it was to get used to not having the trach, to wean him off it. I think he removed the trach himself a few days ago, and has been doing ok.
Looks like it won't be long before he can go home, hope he continues improving. They thank you all for the prayers

He walked 250' twice yesterday!!

That's very good!

Planning on 2.5 hour drive tomorrow to go see Curt, hope he's having a good day, he had 7 visitors yesterday, wore him out