Green River family to host fundraiser for injured friends

A Green River family has finally found a way to help their friends who were injured in an accident.

On May 8, Elijah Lowry and Autumn Schwinn of Cheyenne were traveling northbound on Interstate 25 and were just past the Wyoming/Colorado border when the red truck Lowry was driving hydroplaned. Lowry lost control of the vehicle and it struck the median, causing the truck to go airborne. When the vehicle came back down, the tires hit the median’s cable, rolled once and came to rest on its wheels.

Both of Lowry’s feet and legs were broken in numerous places; and Schwinn suffered a severe head injury. Both were rushed to nearby hospitals.

When Green River resident and friend of both families, Kim Branson, heard about the accident, she was upset and couldn’t believe what had happened. She wanted to be there for her friends.

“We were having all that heavy rain,” Branson said.

Branson said she and her children met Lowry and Schwinn about four years ago at a homeschool hands-on leadership program called TeenPact, which took place in Cheyenne.

Lowry remained in a Cheyenne hospital for three months before being transferred to the Craig Rehabilitation Center in Colorado. Schwinn, up until two weeks ago, was in a Denver hospital. Even though Schwinn was released, she still needs to have outpatient cognitive therapy for the next one to two years. At this time, she is unable to see out of one eye, Branson said.

Even though Lowry did not have head trauma at the time of the crash, he was unable to read or speak for a while due to a fat emboli that went to his brain, she said. This problem happens when there is a break in a bone some of the fat tissue passes into the blood stream. Sometimes the fat tissue goes into the lungs, but in this case it went to Lowry’s brain.

“He’s had brain damage as a result,” she said.

Lowry is now in the process of learning how to walk and stand on his own. The prognosis is good that he will eventually recover not only physically, but his brain function as well.

Last week, Lowry was able to stand for the first time unassisted for about 10 minutes. Family and friends rejoiced at his progress. Recently, he was also able to read and speak on his own.

“They have come a long way,” she said.

While family and friends are delighted with Lowry and Schwinn’s progress, they know insurance will only cover so much.

Branson and her family tried to come up with a way to help their friends. After discussing ideas, they settled on hosting a garage sale.

The multi-family fundraising garage sale is scheduled to take place, Saturday, from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 2670 Alamosa Circle. She said numerous friends and family members donated items to the garage sale.

“Folks who don’t want to buy anything at the garage sale can put whatever they are inclined to donation into the donation bucket,” Branson said.

“All the proceeds are going to help with medical expenses insurance doesn’t cover.”