Once upon a time I was a very VERY active poster here. I was here when Cougarboard was BYUBoard. For the past decade or so life has intervened, and for many years I took a sabbatical from CB. I peruse the board quite often now, but since my hiatus I have lost the impetus to actively post. But there is a story I need to tell . . .

On Easter Sunday, my extended family met for dinner at my parents house. With the main room being crowded, my sister, brother-in-law, and I went downstairs into the living room to eat. We had a nice quiet meal together. My brother-in-law lurks here (we’ve had conversations about things we’d read on CB), but I don’t think he actively posts. He just isn’t the type.
Later that evening, my sister and her family headed off to St.George for spring break. 10 miles north of St. George, a deer ran out in front of them and they collided with it. Their vehicle flew out of control and flipped several times, coming to rest on it’s side on the north-bound half of the freeway. My brother-in-law crawled out of the sunroof and started grabbing his family to move them off the freeway. He was shaken up, but OK. While trying to free his daughter, another car driving northbound failed to notice them. The car swerved at the last second in order to avoid a collision with their overturned vehicle, and ended up hitting my brother-in-law instead. His right leg was immediately severed. Pelvis was crushed, and lung collapsed. He was life-flighted into St. George.

He put up a fight over the next few days, but the wounds were too serious and the internal bleeding could not be stopped. After several surgeries, he passed away late last night. He leaves a wife and 5 kids, the youngest of which is 6. Only the youngest 3 were on the trip. The last thing in this world he said was when he called out for his 14 year old son to come and drag him off the freeway before another car came by. He then lost consciousness, and remained that way until the end.

Here is the news report of what happened:

https://ksltv.com/634302/multiple-people-including-three-children-injured-in-i-15-crash/

I am struggling writing this. He was not just my brother-in-law, he was my friend. He was a give-you-the-shirt-off-his-back kind of a guy. The last few days have been surreal. I am sad for our loss. I am angry that this had to happen. I am worried about my sister who now has to raise a family alone. And I am scared for myself. My own mortality has hit me straight in the gut. I have a testimony of the gospel, and of the eternal nature of families, but there are many, many things I still want to accomplish in this life. I find myself saying “there’s plenty of time to do that later.” Well, maybe there’s not.

The message I need to convey, that’s eating away at me, is . . . don’t wait. If there’s a sibling you need to reconnect with, don’t wait. If you’ve been meaning to take your kids to see the Grand Canyon, don’t wait. If your daughter is on the couch bored, take her out to get an ice cream. Make those connections, and create those memories. Don’t wait for life, because life won’t wait for you.

My sister and her family are not wealthy. They lived paycheck to paycheck. They always found a way to make ends meet, but with that kind of a daily grind things like life insurance were just an afterthought. On the off chance that anybody here knew him, or wants to help out the family of one of the best guys I knew, here is a link to the gofundme page. We are trying to at least raise funds to pay for the funeral, some medical bills, and whatever we can get towards a new car (they only had 1 with just liability insurance). Thanks for listening. Please tell your family that you love them.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/donations-for-the-family-of-reino-jared-kerttula?qid=b1f9cc7cab23fc4fd228223d340d3c0e