The Good Samaritan
Nearly a year in the hospital with an ill son. A fiery crash. And then, hope.
If there’s one thing Lindsey Oliphant of Ashland has learned in the past year, it’s to always remain hopeful.
At 3 years old, her son Jaxson was diagnosed with nephrotic syndrome. Then, Jaxson suffered from liver and kidney failure, forcing him and Lindsey to spend the past 11 months at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin in Wauwatosa. In that time, Jaxson received two liver transplants and suffered from a stroke and seizures.
“It was terrifying because I didn’t know the outcome. I felt like I was losing him ... and we almost did so many times,” Oliphant said in a phone interview Friday. “When Jaxson was in the hospital at his worst, I felt like giving up. I felt like I had no hope.”
Over Memorial Day weekend, things finally seemed as if they were turning around — Jaxson had been released from the hospital and Lindsey said she, Jaxson and her 15-year-old son Tony Kittrell were thrilled they could finally be reunited with friends and family at home.
Tragedy strikes
On May 27, Lindsey, Jaxson and Tony were driving on Interstate 41 near Germantown when the family’s 1994 GMC Jimmy began acting up. Suddenly, smoke began pouring from the hood.
“I had noticed the truck didn’t want to keep going,” Lindsey recalled. “Tony got out, popped open the hood and that’s when we saw fire.”
Without hesitation, Lindsey said Tony ran to the
trunk to grab as much of Jaxson’s medical equipment as he could — three oxygen tanks, medicine, pumps and other equipment. Meanwhile, Lindsey got Jaxson into his wheelchair and away from the car.
As Jennifer Weston of Richfield and her daughter drove down the interstate, they noticed the commotion on the side of the road.
“At first it was just another car on the side of the road smoking,” Weston recalled. Then, she saw Tony, just a boy, waving his hands frantically on the side of the freeway, and a mother pushing her wheelchairbound son as fast as she could away from the car. “I knew it was more than that.”
Weston pulled over to help, along with people from a couple other vehicles. Less than two minutes later, the car burst into flames.
“I felt helpless,” Oliphant recalled. “All I could do was watch it burn.”
“I was standing there, watching this young mom and her kids, literally watching their stuff burn up, and the thing she cared about most was that her kid needed this stuff to live. I had to help.” Jennifer Weston,
Good Samaritan
‘The goodness of humanity’
Weston stayed with the family, who had all, luckily, escaped without any injuries. However, they were not able to remove all their belongings and Jaxson’s equipment in time.
“I was standing there, watching this young mom and her kids, literally watching their stuff burn up,” Weston said, “and the thing she cared about most was that her kid needed this stuff to live. I had to help.”
Weston said she reassured Lindsey, telling her not to worry about the medicine they lost and the car, which she needed to transport Jaxson across the state monthly for doctor appointments. Weston offered to grab toiletries and clothes for the family, and they exchanged phone numbers.
When Weston dropped off bags for the family later that night at the Ronald McDonald House in Wauwatosa, where Lindsey and Jaxson had been staying that year, staff told her more about the family’s story — that Lindsey had left her job to care for Jaxson six hours away from her other three children, who stayed with her mom. They told Weston that Lindsey did “everything in her power to take care of him,” she recalled.
So Weston decided to start a fundraiser to buy the family a new car. She posted the story on her Facebook page with the goal of raising $10,000.
By the end of that Saturday afternoon, Weston’s friends had offered to donate $1,000. Because she was having so much success and friends told her they wished to share the story with others, Weston decided to start a GoFundMe page.
“I just kept praying,” Weston said. By Tuesday, Weston had raised $3,000. “I wanted her to have something after all of this.”
Then, Oliphant was interviewed by People Magazine. When that story became the top feature on its website, Weston said the GoFundMe page went from $3,000 to $25,000 that day.
“From there, it was its own beast,” Weston said. As of Sunday, the GoFundMe had raised more than $51,000. Because an automobile shop donated an SUV to the family, the remainder of the funds will be used to pay for medical bills, Oliphant said.
“I’m really blessed by Jen; this is amazing,” Oliphant said, noting she’s nervous for Jaxson and the family’s future, but ultimately hopeful. “She’s really helped my family in so many ways. There aren’t enough thank yous I can give her, and everyone who donated.”
Weston said it was a blessing to get to know the family, and is thankful for all the contributions from people neither she nor Oliphant knows.
“This is a testament to the goodness of humanity,” Weston said, “and that’s pretty amazing.”