By Jeanne Sager
OBERNBURG — May 2, 2003 – Sue Krofecheck firmly believes God has a plan for her son.
When she arrived at Syracuse Upstate Medical Center on Halloween last year, her only son, Tim, was for all intents and purposes, dead to the world.
A major car accident left him with no pulse, so many fractures in his pelvis doctors couldn’t count that high, a severed aorta, collapsed lungs and a plethora of other medical maladies.
But after two weeks of unconsciousness, the youngest member of the Krofecheck family, 22-year-old Tim, started to come around.
“God has something he wants him to do,” Sue said, “maybe something with computers . . .”
It was the help of family and friends, Tim said, which kept him going.
“When I woke up, there had to be over 100 cards all over the walls,” he recalled. “It was amazing.”
Now the town that passed a single card around last fall to make sure everyone in town (and even teachers at the Delaware Valley school in Callicoon where Tim graduated in 1998) signed a note, is going to throw a party to welcome home a native boy.
Set to be held May 10 at the Little Texas Ranch in Obernburg, the spaghetti dinner and dance will be a fundraiser for the family to help defray medical costs, and a time for everyone to get together and enjoy each other’s company.
Tim doesn’t know quite what to say about people rallying around his family.
“I’ve never had anything thrown in my honor,” he said with a laugh, “unless it’s my birthday!”
When he finally had the strength to go back to church at St. Mary’s, hobbling like an old man, he said, he was applauded by the entire congregation.
“That was a little weird,” he said.
But the Krofecheck family has been an integral part of the church community for many years.
Both Tim and sister Christa were members of the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) that will be putting together the Saturday benefit. Even after graduating from high school, Tim has stayed on as an advisor and chaperone on CYO trips.
Sue is a member of the Rosary Society and church choir, and her husband, Terry, is on the church council. Because the family’s home is right next door to the church, they’re often right in the middle of projects.
Both are active in the Sullivan Renaissance projects that go on in Obernburg.
“I’ve been involved in a lot of benefits, but you never expect – you hope you’ll never be on – the receiving end,” Sue said. “It’s kind of an odd feeling, but it’s a good feeling.
“It’s very heartwarming to think someone thinks that much about him to do something for our family – that outreach of support,” she continued.
CYO, Sue added, has been a positive group for every child in the community.
“We want our children to grow up with good values,” she explained. “It was a good kind of touchstone for [Tim].
“I think there are too few organizations for youth today.”
Still, the Krofechecks weren’t expecting CYO to go all out for their son.
Tim has been attending SUNY Morrisville, pursuing an information systems technology degree, and visiting home and church on occasion.
He doesn’t remember much about the day of his accident. Neither does the driver.
From the memories they’ve pieced together and notes in the police report, Tim says they weren’t driving that fast, perhaps 30 or 35, when the car hit some gravel on the shoulder.
“He thinks because it was a standard shift car that the brakes locked up,” Tim recalled.
They were on their way to Wal-Mart to buy food for a holiday party. But instead, the Hyundai Tiburon went flying across the roadway, ending up right in the middle of two lanes with the passenger’s side – Tim – facing oncoming traffic.
A Chevy Trailblazer, unaware of the situation, rounded the corner and landed directly on top of the car – and on top of Tim.
Since then, he’s had countless surgeries to “put my body back together.”
He has amazed doctors, Sue said – they told the family these kinds of injuries don’t even make it to the hospital.
Tim is now walking with the help of a cane, but he still has one more major surgery to reconnect his urethra – a procedure that will require him to remain immobile for at least two days in post-op.
The kid who graduated from high school with 10 years of perfect attendance and not one doctor’s visit since he was a small child is now constantly on new medications and visiting doctors.
But things are slowly improving.
Tim will be walking with his graduating class at college in May, but he’ll have to spend another semester interning with a Webpage company to obtain his degree.
Because of the situation, SUNY Morrisville allowed him to complete his classes online once he got out of the hospital (around Christmastime).
This benefit may be what means the most to him at this point, however. With one more surgery to go, Tim has a lot on his mind. But the support of everyone in the community has been “very uplifting,” he said.
So why has the CYO decided to do this?
“Because of all he gave when he was a member and a chaperone,” said Megan Kitson, one of the CYO advisors and a childhood friend of Tim.
The day of his accident, she said, was terrifying.
“Father Gus [Richardson] called me that night to tell me to start praying,” she recalled. “But we didn’t know what was happening.”
Seeing Tim doing well is what counts, she said.
The benefit will be held May 10 with a spaghetti dinner from 4 p.m. to around 9 p.m. and a dance from 9 p.m. on. Guests are asked to make a donation of their choice, and those eating dinner should bring their own beverage.
The Little Texas Ranch, owned by Tim’s aunt and uncle, is located on the main thoroughfare through Obernburg, a few buildings down from the church.
For more information, call 482-5541.