The local community is rallying around a Cabarita dad and his family after he was critically injured in a car accident last week.
Ben Rohleder was driving home from a work event in Brisbane on July 13 when his car ran off the road just two kilometres from home.
The father of two, whose partner is pregnant with their third child, was rushed into surgery on arrival at hospital for a brain injury, multiple punctured organs, and a shattered pelvis.
Courtney and Ben Rohleder with their children. Image: provided by the family via GoFundMe
‘It was a miracle he was alive – emergency services said that too,’ family friend Alicia Hipwood said on a GoFundMe page that has been set up to support Ben and his family.
‘But our Ben is a fighter, fit and healthy and has far too much to live for.’
‘His wife Courtney who received that dreaded knock at the door (no one ever wants to receive) in the middle of the night has been by his side (7 months pregnant) since, whilst family and friends are supporting their two young children at home.’
‘We want to help this beautiful local Cabarita family by raising some much needed funds to help them through what will be a very challenging and rigorous rehabilitation with their newborn baby due very soon.’
The GoFundMe campaign has already raised over $50,000 for the family [as of Tuesday morning] and other offers of in-kind support have been pouring in.
‘We are lucky in our community that when someone is in trouble we all come running to help,’ Ms Hipwood said.
‘Ben and Courtney would give you their own shirts off their backs if you needed it and we saw that first hand in the recent Caba floods with Courtney at home making food packs for people and Ben out there helping people with the mess and the delivery of food.
‘We want to help this beautiful local Cabarita family by raising some much needed funds to help them through what will be a very challenging and rigorous rehabilitation with their newborn baby due very soon.
‘Both Mum and Dad will be unable to work for some time and the financial burden of the accident, a growing family and today’s current financial climate is a lot to handle when we want this family’s focus to be on Ben and their newborn baby bubble.’
Ben was due to have major surgery yesterday.
