Local student suffers serious injuries in crash

By Jennifer Eisenbart

Editor

By Mike Ramczyk

Sports Editor

In the space of time it took to turn a vehicle around Friday, Austin Neuhaus almost lost his life.

The Genoa City resident and Catholic Central High School junior was on the way to a friend’s house at about noon on New Year’s Day to pick up what was needed for a trip to an area YMCA with Austin’s parents.

Halfway there, the three teenagers – Austin’s CCHS basketball teammate Sam McKinney and Badger High School student Logan Parker – realized they’d left something at Neuhaus’ home and turned around.

On the way back, Neuhaus hit a patch of ice, and his pickup truck went off the road and into a tree.

All three teenagers suffered injuries, and Neuhaus remains in the intensive care unit at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin with a broken C-2 vertebra, a broken leg and a broken jaw, as well as bleeding in his brain.

Lisa Neuhaus, his mother, said Monday her son was stable and doctors are optimistic he will have a full recovery. There is no paralysis from the neck injury.

“He’s moving very well, actually,” Lisa said Monday night. “He says, ‘Let me get up, I want to go home.’”

According to Catholic Central High School Principal David Wieters, McKinney was released from a Janesville hospital Sunday after suffering blood loss in the accident. He had heard Parker had also been transported to Children’s Hospital with a broken collarbone, but no further information was available.

According to Lisa Neuhaus, all three boys were wearing their seatbelts when the accident occurred.

Added Wieters, “I think all three boys are lucky.”

With Catholic Central being a small, private high school, Lisa Neuhaus said it felt like there was a second family helping her and her husband, Jim.

“It’s been really hard to express in words the amount of support and love we’ve gotten from everyone,” Lisa explained.

Several prayer chains had been held, and St. Charles Church, Burlington, held a special service and rosary session for Austin Sunday evening. Austin is a member of LifeTeen, which hosted with Sunday night’s activities.

The support didn’t stop with the church, however. The St. Charles Class of 2013 is now selling wristbands as a fundraiser for Austin, which read “Austin Power.”

Wieters also confirmed Monday afternoon that Friday’s basketball doubleheader at home against Racine Lutheran will be “Team Peanut” night.

Peanut, Lisa explained, is Austin’s nickname. The school will be selling “Team Peanut” T-shirts to help raise money for the family.

With students just returning from the Christmas break Monday, Wieters said the school held an assembly in order to get the facts of the story to students.

“Unfortunately, in a situation like this,” he said, “there are a lot of stories floating around. It’s been hard on some of the kids.”

He added that counselors and social workers are available at the school for students – many of whom got the information shortly after the accident happened.

“Social media being what it is…” said Wieters. “Being the small school we are, everyone knows the two boys.”

Many of the students have traveled to Milwaukee to visit Austin – something else that prompted Lisa Neuhaus to express gratitude.

“It’s been really wonderful for our family,” she said.

She also thanked the various emergency medical responders and paramedic staff that got her son out of the wrecked vehicle, as well as the staff at Children’s Hospital.

“We just appreciate everyone’s love and support,” she said.

In addition to the two fundraisers currently ongoing, there is a GoFundMe webpage for Austin, which can be found by going to gofundme.com and searching for Austin Neuhaus. The page is called “Austin Power – Stay Strong,” and had raised about $10,000 as of Wednesday morning.

A Caring Bridge page has also been established, and Lisa Neuhaus said the family would be updating it.

McKinneys ‘incredibly blessed’

Dan McKinney is a Walworth County Sheriff’s deputy, and he patrols the area of Daisy Road in Bloomfield Township where the accident occurred, a few minutes away from both Genoa City and Pell Lake.

McKinney said he would’ve began his work shift that afternoon by responding to his son’s accident, but it was about a half hour before Dan left for work.

He received the chilling news no parent wants to hear from his friend and colleague Brad Polterman, who was patrolling the scene on Jan. 1.

“Sam’s very lucky,” McKinney said Tuesday night. “He took a pretty good shot to the head and lost a ton of blood. Doctors described a shark-bite sized wound to the back of his tricep. But there wasn’t ligament or nerve damage, just flesh.”

“We’re incredibly blessed.”

Sam McKinney, 16, said he and his friends were heading to a YMCA in Illinois when Parker forgot something.

On the way back, Sam said, the truck lost control on patch of ice while maneuvering a “45-50 degree” turn.

“We accelerated into the turn, hit a patch of ice and lost a little control,” Sam detailed. “As Austin regained control, we hit a second patch of ice. The tail end slipped out. A tree came out of nowhere, and we hit it.”

McKinney said he hit his head on the back window and was knocked unconscious.

His recollection from that point until he reached the hospital is foggy.

“After I woke up, what I saw was surreal,” Sam said. “It was clear that Austin was in some trouble as he was pinned underneath the steering wheel.”

“Logan was getting out of the car, and some guy said he already called 911. I remember screaming at him over and over to call 911.”

Sam said the next thing he remembered was being transported in ambulance. After 30 minutes at Mercy Walworth Medical Center in Williams Bay, McKinney was taken to Janesville.

“Logan told me I crawled out through the back window,” Sam added. “I saw how bad my arm was, but I still had movement.”

Cold, sore and disoriented in a hospital bed in Janesville, Sam said he was clutching his St. Michael’s Medallion when his parents arrived.

Sam said he’s still sore and this was a “life-changing” event, and it’s something he can learn from.

“It’s a little scary,” he added.

Despite what Dan McKinney described as a “huge cut” on the back of his son’s head and soreness from the deep tear in his triceps muscle, Sam said his focus is on his friend and Catholic Central varsity basketball teammate, Austin.

Sam and teammates, along with Catholic Central students, staff and coaches, visited Austin at the hospital Sunday.

Sam plans to return to his friend’s bedside Wednesday.

“He was heavily sedated,” Sam said about the first time he saw Austin after the accident Sunday. “I was concerned. I told him to stay strong and keep fighting and said, ‘You’ll get better.’” I didn’t know if he could hear me.”

“The biggest thing is that Austin’s surgery goes well on Thursday.”

Dan McKinney said his family members are “very close friends” with Lisa and Jim Neuhaus, and they’ve respected the Neuhaus’ privacy during this critical time.

Overall, he’s relieved everyone is OK, and he is very proud of his son for helping his friends after the accident, though Sam doesn’t recall most of his actions.

“God has something very special planned for these boys, and it’s going to be revealed.”

School community rallies around families

Cole Pankau, a teammate of McKinney and Neuhaus said Tuesday evening he found out about the accident an hour after it occurred.

But all the text said was “car crash,” so Pankau wasn’t sure of the severity. After several more texts and phone calls from friends, he began to realize it was something more.

“We had no details at all,” Pankau said. “When his mom texted us that he was on a breathing tube, I knew this was serious.”

Pankau said the atmosphere at school is filled with emotion, and most students are acting “a little different.”

Catholic Central varsity head basketball coach Kyle Scott said he received a call Jan. 1 at noon.

“Right away, I had a terrible feeling,” he said. “When you hear he’s going up to Children’s (hospital), it was, ‘Oh boy.’ It was the ultimate worry. When you’re a varsity basketball coach, you feel like you have 30 kids. I look at these guys like my sons, and any time something happens to them, I worry a lot.”

On Jan. 1, members of the coaching staff, teachers, administrators and others traveled to visit both boys, Austin in Milwaukee and Sam in Janesville.

“The family atmosphere is tremendous, and everyone rallies when someone’s hurt,” Scott added.

When he first saw Austin in the hospital, Scott said it was tough.

“Complete shock,” he said. “Any time you see a young man banged up like he was, it was tough. You know you have to be strong for Jim and Lisa Neuhaus.”

On Friday, Catholic Central will take on Racine Lutheran in a doubleheader.

The girls game starts at 5:45 p.m., followed by the boys game at 7:30 p.m.

Scott said practice has been different without Neuhaus and McKinney, as the varsity squad is down to eight players.

He said there were some players visiting Austin Tuesday, and he is going to see Austin again Wednesday.

“It’s important that Jim and Lisa know that our basketball family and the Catholic Central family is behind them.”

Scott said it will be a packed house Friday, and it’s going to be “awesome.” Everything is for Austin.

“Even though he’s not with us, there’s no doubt he’ll be with us,” Scott said. “We’ll be ready to play for him. We must come in with the right mind set, so we have something good to report to Austin Saturday morning.”

Pankau said Austin and Sam both bring spirit and energy off the bench. He said they get good minutes, and they’re good players.

Pankau said Austin is a great guy and someone that’s fun to be around.

“He always talks about his truck,” Pankau joked. “He loves his truck, his Ford truck. He puts a lot of time into it.”