Jeff and Sherri Janiksela Jeff And Sherri Janiksela

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting. On Sunday July 11th,2021 Jeff and Sherri decided I was a beautiful day to take a motorcycle ride. The plan was to ride to dinner that evening with his brother and sister in law ( Corey and Jennifer). They wanted to take a more scenic route that night. They were going to Lobo's for dinner. They were about 25 minutes into the ride when disaster happened, Jeff was half way threw navigating the second set of "S" turns on county highway 2 in Clearwater county, MN. The road was not marked and under construction. Jeff got to close to the edge of the road and dropped off the road on to the shoulder.( the difference in hight from the road to the shoulder was about 4"). Once the bike left the road Jeff was unable to get back on the road due to that 4" edge on the road. He then had to miss a sign, in doing so it put the bike further in the ditch. At that point the bike lost control throwing Jeff and Sherri flying crashing into the steep ditch. Jeff was unconscious and struggling for his life with labored breathing. Sherri was in and out of consciousness trying to yell for help. There was a woman (Lois) out her front porch right where the accident happened. She heard the bike leave the road then saw it fly threw the air and land. Lois ran inside and called 911 immediately, she grabbed her husband, jumped in the truck and drove down the driveway and also picked up thier neighbor (Ethen) knowing he was a fire fighter and could help. They got to Jeff and Sherri in minutes, what they saw was a very traumatic scene. At that point Corey and Jennifer pulled onto the scene in complete shock. They all sat down next to Jeff and Sherri and started to pray! They all knew they could not move either Jeff or Sherri in fear of broken back or neck. They continued to pray untill the ambulance show up. ( about 15 minutes time). the EMT started to immediately going to work on Jeff as he was in very bad condition. They called for a life flight right away for both Jeff and Sherri. They strapped Jeff to a body board slid him onto the gurney. By that time the helicopter was there and landed. They loaded Jeff up and got him on his way to Sanford in Fargo, ND. They then went to work on Sherri, she also got strapped to a body board. They slid her on the gurney and into the ambulance, giving her oxygen and medicine to deal with the pain. About 20 minutes went by before the 2nd helicopter landed. They loaded Sherri up and she was on her way to Sanford in Fargo,ND as well. Jennifer call thier son (Kirk) who lives in fargo 5 minutes from Sanford. Thankfully he answered right away, as he was hearing Jennifer tell him what had happened he was in disbelief. Kirk instantly jumped in his truck and headed to Sanford. As he pulled into the parking lot he could see the helicopter approaching. He ran over to the helicopter as they unloaded Jeff (Kirk's father) to let him know he was there with him and that he loved him. They brought Jeff into the ER. Kirk had to wait in the lobby as they ran scans and tests. As he was waiting he knew his mom had to be showing up shortly on the helicopter. A half hour had gone by and he was growing worried and anxious. Finally after 45 minutes they let him back there to see Jeff and Sherri. As he walked into Jeff's ER room, there were doctors and nurses talking about Jeff's injuries. He grabbed his dad's right hand and ask him to squeeze it if he could and Jeff gave the slights squeeze. Kirk knew there was hope at that point. As he held his dad's hand he started to pray for Jeff's health. After the short prayer he ran down to his moms ER room. As he approached Sherri he saw her eyes open and that she was awake. Kirk was thankful to see his mom was awake and was able to talk. He grabbed her hand and told her how much he loved her. As he looked at her, he noticed her left arm was broke. Her right leg looked to be broke as well. At that point he prayed for Sherri's health. Kirk told Sherri he loved her and had to go back and check on Jeff. As Kirk stood by his dad holding his dad's hand, his mind started to race, how bad this is, why is he not awake were the thoughts running threw his head. Jeff's nurse approached Kirk to inform him on Jeff's injuries. As the nurse started down the list of injuries Kirk's eyes grew in fear and sadness. Jeff suffered internal decapitation, broke his back in multiple locations, a bunch of broken ribs on both sides, fractured face, broken jaw, a hole in his hard ballet, and a hematoma of the brain. Jeff was very lucky to be alive. Kirk thanked the nurse for the update, at this point Kirk didn't know what to think as his father layed there fighting for his life and there was nothing he could do to help. Kirk knew the best way he could help was to go back and make sure Sherri was okay, thats what Jeff would want. As he sat next to his mom holding her hand she started to cry and asked him how Jeff was, Kirk didn't know what to tell her. His mind raced he didn't want her to worry and panic about Jeff as she needed to focus on her self. Kirk told Sherri Jeff was alive and was doing okay. She knew Kirk wasn't telling her everything, she asked Kirk again about Jeff. Kirk could tell by the look in her eyes she needed to know. As Kirk explained to her that Jeff was fighting for his life and his extensive injuries, she just looked at Kirk and told him it would be okay. They both knew they needed to be strong for Jeff. As they sat there waiting for the nurse to come let them know about her injuries, Sherri asked Kirk to pray with her for dad they did. at that point it had been an 90 minutes since they had been in the ER. Sherri's nurse finally came in, the nurse started to tell Sherri about her injuries, Kirk sat there listening to the nurse and fear started grow in his mind for Sherri. She suffered a broken arm, dislocated knee, bleeding of the brain, and a fractured C1.