By the time the Olson family got back from Hawaii, where their 9-year-old daughter Ava is currently fulfilling her Make-A-Wish dream, the crew at the chiropractic clinic owned by Dr. Kenneth Olson in Aurora wanted to have completed repairs from a December incident that saw a car drive into the facility.
On Dec. 8, a 79-year-old woman driving a 2013 Mercedes pulled into a front parking spot but did not stop, instead crashing into the Pure Health building on the 2100 block of West Galena Boulevard.
Just shy of two months later, on Monday, the employees’ good efforts to fix up the clinic were overwhelmed when another car – this time a 2002 Toyota Camry driven by an 82-year-old woman who had just finished an appointment at the clinic — came smashing through the glass wall. The woman had mistakenly put her car in drive and her foot on the gas pedal, sending it over the curb, across the sidewalk and through the wall at about 1:44 p.m., said Aurora police spokesman Dan Ferrelli.
Erica Bartelmey said she was in the break room, about to enjoy an after-lunch coffee, when chaos broke out.
“That’s when I hear a very similar crash to what we heard a couple months ago,” Bartelmey said. “And one of my coworkers screaming – and ran up front and realized it had happened again.”
The timing couldn’t be much worse: The clinic was in the final phases of the rehab from the December wreck, Bartelmey said. Flooring work was going to start Wednesday and they’d just finished painting over the weekend, she said.
“We have a team of troopers that are so adaptable at getting the job done,” Bartelmey said.
The clinic reopened just a few days after the last crash and they’re hoping for a similarly quick turnaround this time too, she said.
Olson himself was in Hawaii when he got the call from Bartelmey, who bore the news that the clinic, once again, had been struck by a car.
“I was in shock,” Olson said. “It’s surreal.”
No tickets or citations were issued in either crash, police said.
Once through the wall Monday, the Camry struck a 42-year-old employee who had been sitting in an office on the other side of the wall, Ferrelli said.
Co-workers said it was the same woman who was pinned against the back wall of her office and trapped inside the room during the last crash.
“The first time she was trapped in the office the paramedics had to get her out,” Bartelmey said.
This time, she was in between a chair and a cabinet, and one of the clinic’s doctors was able to pull her out safely, Bartelmey said.
“It’s been a lot here,” Bartelmey said.
Paramedics took the employee to an Aurora hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Ferrelli said. The driver refused treatment, he said.
When Olson heard what happened his first concern was that everyone was OK, he said.
“I’m thankful again there’s not serious injuries,” Olson said, adding he was sure it would still be very emotional for the woman “who has now been trapped twice.”
“The rest is just stuff,” Olson said. “It can get rebuilt. What’s important is family and love, and that’s where we are going to try to put our attention.”
Along with the crashes at his office, Olson has been dealing with a much worse situation at home. On Nov. 3 – the day after the Cubs won the World Series, Olson pointed out – he learned his daughter Ava had a Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma brain tumor, a rare cancer with a low survival rate, he said.
A family member quickly created a GoFundMe online fundraiser, “Ava’s Warriors,” writing that as Kenneth Olson and his wife Jodi scrambled to find ways to deal with the tragic news, they would have to take significant time away from work as they sought the best care for their daughter.
The next month, the first car crashed through Pure Health, an insurance claim Olson said will be more than $100,000, not including a separate lost revenue claim. And then came Monday’s crash.
“I just keep going, why, you know, why is this happening?” Olson said. “And I don’t know that there’s ever going to be an answer to that.”
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Pure Health has been in practice for 17 years and in its current location since 2008, Olson said.
Brea Eden, who works at the clinic, said while Olson hasn’t sought out publicity, people have rallied around the family, with hundreds braving the cold to run a 5K fundraiser on a recent weekend.
“They have so much love and support from the community,” Eden said.
For now, the Olson family – Kenneth, Jodi, Ava and 11-year-old Max – are trying to make good memories in Hawaii, Kenneth Olson said.
Ava is doing well clinically right now, so she’s been able to do all the activities she wanted, Olson said.
Monday afternoon, the family was getting ready for an ATV tour into the foot hills on one of the islands, he said.
The family has been on a trip to Hawaii through Make-A-Wish of Illinois, confirmed Marketing Director Ryan Blackburn.
“It’s been an interesting course and I guess that’s kind of where we’re at,” Olson said. “How you get through it is refocusing on what’s significant in your life. For us that’s faith, family and love. As long as everybody is safe and OK we are just going to do what we have always done, which is be committed to helping people.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, the GoFundMe effort had raised $45,661 of its $50,000 goal. To donate: https://www.gofundme.com/avas-warriors
Twitter @hannahmleone