1 Year After Fatal Rt. 611 Crash, Family Turns Tragedy Into Hope

PLUMSTEAD TOWNSHIP, PA — One year after a traffic crash killed her mother and seriously injured her young son in Plumstead Township, Laura Oswald and her family are working to turn the tragedy into hope for other children.

The Bethlethem resident is collecting donations for "Pajamas for Trauma," an effort that will result in comfort care bags for hospitalized children facing trauma.

Oswald was driving with her mother and three children on July 31, 2018 when they were hit by a dump truck while turning from Old Easton Road onto Rt. 611. The dump truck driver, Thomas Everitt of Kintnersville, was charged in connection with the fatal crash, which killed Oswald's mother, Jeanette Campbell.

In addition to Campbell's death, Oswald's 6-year-old son was severely injured, suffering skull and jaw fractures. He was transferred to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for treatment. The crash also injured Oswald's two other children, who were 3 and 8 at the time.

"While I tended to my severely injured son Graham, my other two small children were sequestered separately, alone and scared in other hospital rooms. While staff did make an effort to keep them comfortable, they had nothing to comfort them with. Additionally, upon departure there was nothing to take them home in but ill-fitting hospital gowns and the traumatic clothing they came in with. All of their personal items were lost to the crash and we even had a struggle securing car seats to transport them home in the midst of this terrible ordeal. This is wrong and we have to do better as a community," Oswald said.

Oswald said "Pajamas for Trauma" honors her mother's memory because she loved to sew, and pajamas were her specialty. She would make her grandchildren pajamas inspired by all of their interests, Oswald said. To this day, her children still wear them as a comforting reminder of their grandmother.

But the pajamas are getting smaller and smaller, Oswald noted, and "they'll never have another pair."

With Pajamas for Trauma, Oswald wants to offer the same comfort to hospitalized children. Once she launched the effort, she realized there were many more items that could be added to the comfort care bags, including books, socks, journals, and more.

Donations are being accepted locally, and the bags will be delivered to Lehigh Valley Children’s Hospital in the near future.

If you'd like to donate, you can drop off your donation at one of two locations. Donations will be accepted through at least August:

• NOVA, 2370 York Road, Suite B1, Jamison (Hours 9 am-5 pm)
• Plumstead Christian School, (Middle School building), 5765 Old Easton Road, Plumsteadville, Monday through Thursday 9 am -3 pm

There is also an Amazon wish list that can be found here.

The items most needed are:

• New pajamas for toddlers through young adult. The biggest size need is 5 and up. PJs can be short of long sleeved.
• New socks and underwear, sizes toddler through teen.
• New children’s books
• Unused coloring books and crayons/colored pencils
• New stuffed animals

More information on the effort can be found on the Facebook page.