‘He’s still fighting’: Family, community rally around Steinbach highway crash victim

Michael Bueckert and his son, Asher, in an undated photo. (Submitted by Ryan Fast)

Michael Bueckert has always been known to lend a helping hand. That’s why it was no surprise when the 26-year-old single dad stopped on the side of a Manitoba highway early Wednesday morning to assist a stranded motorist.

However, what came next was something completely unexpected.

“I was going to work like any other day about 7:30 a.m., and I drove past this accident, and I didn’t think anything of it,” said Bueckert’s brother, Ryan Fast. “I just thought someone had a bad day.”

Fast said he eventually got a call that his older brother was in critical condition.

According to Fast, Bueckert had dropped off his five-year-old son at a babysitter in Mitchell, Man. On his way back, he came across a driver with a broken axle on Highway 52, so he pulled over onto the shoulder to help push the car out of the way.

What Bueckert didn’t see was another car speeding towards him.

“(The stranded motorist) saw the car coming at them, and he yelled at (Bueckert) to get out of the way,” Fast recalled after speaking to the motorist. “He jumped, or at least tried to jump out of the way. He was about halfway to the boulevard when he slipped and got pinned by the car.”

Fast said the driver was travelling around 80 km/hr when their car struck Bueckert.

“The car was going fast enough to total the Mustang and also hit my brother’s car and total that one too, or at least we’re believing it’s gonna be totalled.”

Bueckert was transported to a local hospital before being airlifted by STARS to the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg, where he’s expected to remain for the next few months.

“They had no idea how someone in that condition could have survived this,” Fast said. “And they still have no idea, and it’s just been a miracle since, and he’s still fighting.

“It’s a few steps forward, few steps back.”

Fast said his family had a scare on Saturday, when Bueckert suddenly had no brain activity and became unresponsive.

“And then Sunday, it fired back up,” Fast said. “He was moving again, sort of.”

While Bueckert is unable to speak, Fast said his brother’s pain is relayed through everyone, including Bueckert’s rambunctious five-year-old son.

“He’s young, but he’s quite smart,” Fast said. “You could feel the pain in the way that he was reacting to it.”

Fast also noted the hospital visits don’t get any easier.

“Every single time, it doesn’t feel any different. It always hurts just as bad as the last time,” he said. “It also feels like maybe it’s not real, maybe it didn’t happen, maybe it was just a bad dream.

“It’s real. It hurts.”

To support Bueckert and his family, his childcare provider launched a GoFundMe page that has raised more than $26,000 as of Monday afternoon.

“We didn’t think Mikey was going to have this kind of response,” Fast said. “He doesn’t have a lot of connections with friends, and the fact that this massive community has stepped up and everyone’s doing even a small part, is greatly appreciated.”