Fund created to help woman hurt in fatal Causeway accident
A GoFundMe account has been set up for one victim in last month’s Sanibel Causeway crash.
On April 16, the fund “Help Karin Recover From A Traumatic Car Wreck” was created by Mary “Karin” Hitselberger, 31, a passenger in one of the three vehicles involved in the fatal accident. On the fund’s page, Hitselberger reported that she was going out to dinner with her family on March 26.
“On the way there, we got into a significant accident,” she wrote. “Luckily, there were a number of good samaritans on the nearby beach. They helped remove me from my chair and stabilize my mother and grandmother.”
Hitselberger reported that she was in the hospital’s medical progressive care unit with a head injury, broken clavicle and fused neck, and that her mother was coming out of a coma at the same facility and “progressing greatly.” She added that both were headed to rehabilitation in the next few days, and that she is going to need therapy including psychological, nutritional, physical, occupational and cognition.
“Unfortunately, my grandmother passed a few days after the accident,” Hitselberger wrote.
Marjorie Ann Hitselberger, 89, died on March 31 at the Gulf Coast Medical Center in Fort Myers, according to an obituary. She was born on Aug. 25, 1932, in Texas to Col. Charles Albert Deason and Stella Mae (Spahr) Deason, and she graduated from Nuremberg Military Dependents High School.
She graduated summa cum laude in 1955 with a degree in social work from Marquette University. In 1956, she married Thomas Eugene Hitselberger and they had five children. They retired in 1991 to Sarasota. A few years after his death in 2009, she relocated to the Shell Point Retirement Community.
“Although Margie’s priorities shifted early in her career to the rearing of her rapidly growing family, her passion for social work never waned. She served in various paid and volunteer positions as a social worker, including several years at Camden County Hospital in New Jersey, with a focus on the elderly,” the obituary states. “Margie continued to volunteer for Hope Hospice in Fort Myers until just days prior to the tragic crash that took her life.”
She is survived by three of her children and their spouses, 10 grandchildren and four — soon to be five, the obituary notes — great-grandchildren, as well as nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.
Hitselberger reported on the fund’s page that she will try to provide updates, adding that, “Above all else, I feel a tremendous gratitude to God, my family and friends for this next chapter in my life.”
On April 17, she shared that she was headed to Jacksonville for rehabilitation.
Hitselberger’s mother — Luanne Hitselberger, 63, of Fort Lauderdale — remained hospitalized as of last week. She was listed in good condition on April 22 at Gulf Coast, according to Lee Health.
At about 6:30 p.m. March 26, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office and assisting agencies, including the Sanibel Police Department and Sanibel Fire and Rescue District, responded to the multi-vehicle crash on Island A — the island closest to the toll booth — on the Sanibel Causeway, according to reports.
Matthew Allen Collett, 24, of 1616 Cape Coral Parkway W., Cape Coral, was driving a 2005 Chevrolet Silverado eastbound on the causeway when he began to pass a 2021 Jeep Wrangler in the shoulder of the roadway. As Collett was re-entering the outside lane of travel, the left rear tire of the Chevy clipped the right front corner panel of the Jeep. The collision cause Collett to lose control of the Chevy, and it crossed over the center-divided lane marker and stuck head-on at an angle a 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan that was traveling westbound. The Chevy came to a final rest on its roof.
All traffic on the causeway was shut down in both directions as emergency crews responded.
According to reports, the Chevy and Jeep were driving in a reckless manner just before the accident. The LCSO estimated that Collett was traveling 65 mph in a 30 mph zone, while the driver of the Jeep was traveling 55 mph. The Dodge was estimated to be traveling 30 mph when the Chevy ran into it.
Collett and three occupants in the Dodge — Hitselberger, her mother and grandmother — sustained injuries and were transported for treatment. At Gulf Coast, staff advised deputies that Collett had been sedated; he also had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.028 and tested positive for benzodiazepines.
Medial staff added that one patient had sustained an injury that was most likely to be fatal, a second patient had injuries that were life-threatening and a third patient had injuries not serious in nature.
Deputies determined that Collett will be found at fault in the crash for reckless driving.
On April 22, LCSO Sgt. Chris Fine confirmed that the investigation is still active.
To donate to the fund for Hitselberger, visit https://gofund.me/3f9db557.
To reach TIFFANY REPECKI / trepecki@breezenewspapers.com, please email