OCONOMOWOC, Wis. — In his hospital bed, Adam Yaresh can barely move.
Last week’s crash has left him with minimal feeling in his lower half and for much of the last week, he’s had to lay completely flat to avoid any further damage to his spine.
But Friday Night, miles away at an Oconomowoc Football game, he was moved to tears.
“It means a lot to me,” Yaresh said through a FaceTime call to a team of cooks, firefighters, friends, and family.
For the first time in his life, Yaresh isn’t the one helping, but in need of help. The Brookfield Firefighter was driving his daughter home from a homecoming dance last week when he was involved in a serious crash. Initially, family feared he would be paralyzed from the waist down, though in the last few days, he’s shown small signs of progress.
His wife posts daily updates on her Facebook page, sharing he was able to sit up in his hospital bed with assistance and that he’s starting to feel warmth and touch in certain parts of his legs.
Each one of those posts has hundreds of likes and comments from people who have grown to love Adam, be it his incredible work as a firefighter or loyalty as a friend, father and husband. Those people came out in droves to the Oconomowoc High School football game to help.
“This is the first Yaresh Burger,” Chris Ghobrial said.
Ghobrial runs a food truck and wanted to use his skills on the grill to support the family. He put the Yaresh Burger on the menu Friday Night for his friend, with bison meat from the Yaresh Family Farm.
“I feel like Adam’s right here in the truck with me,” Ghobrial said, flipping one of the bison meat burgers. “Like, yeah. That’s my burger right there.”
For dozens of people who came to support the family, they could get a little piece of the hard work Yaresh puts in on his farm. There was also cash flying into fire boots and stickers and decals with the hashtag, #YareshStrong.
It’s all representative of a community showing out for a modern-day superhero. But for a young woman on crutches, recovering from her own injuries from that same crash, this is all just for Dad.
Bailey Yaresh is still suffering minor injuries in her leg from the crash but otherwise blends in with the other hundreds of high school girls at this football game. But for one night, the power of healing flooded this family with the generosity and kindness of strangers.
“I didn’t know he had this many friends,” Bailey said. “It’s a little shocking. It’s crazy because he’s helped so many people and now it’s the other way around and they’re right behind him. It’s just relieving to see he’s getting better as days go by.”
“Watching him lay in that bed, hurting and unable to move was horrible,” Emilie Yaresh, Adam’s mother said. “We’re not going to give up. Adam’s in a vulnerable position but he’s got a support team like I’ve never seen.”
It’s a support system that brings his dad to tears. He says, this is the first time he’s ever cried, which draws eye rolls and snickers from his wife and granddaughter. They know he’s a softie, but no one can blame him. It’s that same sense of compassion and grace that raised the man in the hospital bed.
“I guess we did something right,” Ed Yaresh said. “I can’t believe the brotherhood in the fire department, the neighbors, church people, people that don’t know him. It’s crazy. The man upstairs is watching over us all and it’s awesome.”
By the time the first quarter wrapped up between Oconomowoc High School and Mukwonago High School, the Yaresh burgers were all but sold out, the fire boots were quickly filling up with dollars of love and support and the stickers and decals with the hashtag #YareshStrong were going out by the dozens.
Ghobrial said to TMJ4 News Thursday, family helps family and Adam is family. It’s a family that went from four to easily four hundred Friday night.
“It’s really unbelievable,” Adam said from his hospital bed. “I want to be the first person to be able to help. To be in a position where I need help has been rpetty difficult. I actually have no words for the gratitude we have for this. It’s a long road. It’s going to be hard. But friends and communities and families like this make it easy to try.”
If you want to help out the Yaresh family and were not able to attend Friday’s event, you can donate money through the 18 Acres Hospitality LLC Venmo (@ChefGhobrial). Just use the #YareshStrong when sending and all of that money will go to the Yaresh family.
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