An online fundraising campaign has started for two Sterling Crane operators from Edmonton who were seriously injured Thursday in a crash along Highway 22X.
Evan Tyler and Joe Derosa, long-term employees of the company, were airlifted to the Foothills Medical Centre with serious, life-threatening injuries after the six-vehicle crash.
At the time, the workers were returning from a dayshift near Carseland and were coming into Calgary on the highway, said Chris Kosmack, who started a GoFundMe page for them early Friday morning.
“They were rear-ended at highway speeds and thrown into oncoming traffic,” said Kosmack in an interview Friday evening.
Tyler, who was driving, has two broken femurs, a broken knee and a broken vertebra in his neck, while Derosa has a broken femur, said Kosmack.
Both are stable now but have a long road ahead of them to recovery, he said.
“Knowing that they will both be off work for a long period of time, I wanted to do whatever I could for them and their families,” said Kosmack, who considers both Tyer and Derosa friends.
As of Friday evening, more than $30,000 had been raised through the fundraising campaign on GoFundMe. The goal is to raise $50,000.
“I’m absolutely ecstatic with the response I’m getting for them,” said Kosmack.