Posted: 10/20/04
By Evelyn Puffer
Isanti County News
It started out as a simple shopping trip to Target for Luke and Alisha Schoeberl of Cambridge about 7:30 p.m. Sept. 23.
They buckled their four-month-old daughter Hailey Ann into her rear safety seat and pulled away from their home in mid-block on 2nd Ave. N.W. They never made it past the corner.
Just as they crossed the intersection of 2nd Ave. & Birch, so did a vehicle driven by Nickolas Martin Fuhol, 23, of rural Cambridge, slamming into the Schoeberl car on the passenger side.
Nothing has been the same for the Schoeberls or their extended families ever since.
With Luke comatose from a serious brain injury, complicated by pneumonia, and Alisha recovering from a staph infection and awaiting surgery for multiple pelvic injuries, life became a series of vigils in the Level One Trauma ICU at Hennepin County Medical Center.
Lukeís fever has since dropped and he was moved to Bethesda Rehabilitation Center Oct. 11 where treatment is expected to take up to one year.
Alisha, who recently had surgery for pelvic fractures, and bladder, pancreas and spleen injuries, was moved Oct. 11 to a nursing care facility for four to six weeks and will then return to HCMC for lumbar surgery. At this time she has no feeling in her left leg. Best estimates are for her to be hospitalized up to six months altogether.
Their daughter, Hailey, sustained only a bump on the head in the Sept. 23 crash and did not require hospitalization.
While Luke and Alisha work on recovery from their physical injuries, family members Tuesday morning, Oct. 12, met at the Isanti County Government Center in Cambridge to take care of another reality, emergency guardianship for Luke while he remains unable to make his own decisions, for Alisha and for Hailey Ann, now without the physical care of her parents.
Lukeís parents, Mark and Terrie Schoeberl of Rush City have assumed legal guardianship over their son while Alishaís parents, Burnell and Lori Olson of Shafer petitioned the court for emergency guardianship of Alisha and Hailey Ann.
While both sets of parents and other relatives are usually found in the hospital waiting room, Alishaís grandmother, Thelma James of St. Paul, keeps informed on the legal issues surrounding the crash that injured the couple.
She attended the Oct. 7 Rule 8 hearing for Nickolas Fuhol armed with typed Victim Impact Statements to be inserted into the file and that of his co-defendant, Josh Werlein, for when the case comes to trial.
ìItís all I can do now,î James told the Isanti County News following the Oct. 7 hearing, ìeveryone else is in the waiting room at the hospital. People have no idea how this just takes over everyoneís life.î Besides, she said, she had wanted to see for herself the young man responsible.
A 1999 graduate of Chisago Lakes High School Alisha (nee Olson) is a pre-school teacher at ToddlerTown in Wyoming, Minn., where they eagerly await her return.
ìSheís a fabulous teacher,î said ToddlerTown director Brandy Grell of Alisha who has been employed there for 1 1/2 years. ìWe miss her greatly.î
Said Grell, ìShe is the most thoughtful, caring person to everyone ... to parents, to kids.
ìItís devastating for all of us,î said Grell of the Sept. 23 accident, ìWeíre just looking forward to her return.î
Luke Schoeberl is a 1998 graduate of Rush City High School and is employed at Integrity Electric in Pine City
He had been scheduled to take the test for journeyman electrician on the same day Alishaís grandmother was attending the court hearing for the other driver and his co-defendant.
Friends and supporters of both families have planned a benefit for the couple on Friday, Oct. 22 in the upper level of the Rush City VFW Hall starting at 7 p.m. and running until midnight.
The band ìPipelineî will be playing starting at 8 p.m. and there will be door prizes all evening long.
While both families are hopeful of a full recovery for the couple, the reality is that medical bills are mounting fast.
You can help by attending the benefit which has a $5 cover charge at the door or by sending cash donations in Luke and Alishaís name to ìNorthwoods Bank, P.O. Box 109, Rush City, MN 55069.
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