THOMASVILLE — Four teenagers paired up on Friday afternoon to raise money for a local family following a devastating car accident.

A single snack stand started by Neil Wise in the driveway several years ago has expanded into something no one could have ever predicted.

After one hot summer, Neil realized the money was more than he ever needed, and he decided to give back to a family friend who was undergoing treatment for breast cancer. Since then, he and his brother, JC, along with their friends, have teamed up for a noble cause.

JC and Neil Wise, along with Thomas and William Casper, hosted a Lemonade stand for the Landstroms, selling barbecue, chips, cookies, and, of course, lemonade to raise money for the medical expenses the Landstroms have incurred following their accident.

The Landstrom children, along with their mother, Christie, were involved in a terrible accident while traveling home following Hurricane Helene on September 27th. All three of the children were life-flighted to Wolfson Children’s Hospital in Jacksonville for treatment due to the severity of their injuries.

The middle daughter, Elin, suffered a complete dislocation of her spine and spinal cord at L2-L3. She had surgery to fuse her spine with pins and rods and was sent to Brooks Rehabilitation Hospital in Jacksonville for rehab after spending three weeks in the ICU. She was later discharged from inpatient therapy and continued her outpatient therapy at Brooks until early February, when she was able to return home and start school back at Jerger Elementary.

Elin is now thriving and is currently attending a research program at the University of Louisville that specializes in pediatric spinal cord injuries. The program will last for eleven weeks, possibly longer, depending on how things progress.

Wise and Capser hope the money raised from Friday’s stand will help with travel and accommodations for family members while she is away.

The youngest daughter, Liv, suffered a traumatic brain injury, resulting in a loss of blood to the majority of the left hemisphere. Upon arrival at Wolfson, Liv immediately went to surgery to remove the upper left portion of her skull to allow her brain to swell. She was subsequently moved to the ICU and placed in a medically induced coma. In mid-October, Liv was awakened, but she was unable to communicate or move the right side of her body. She went on to have a Cranioplasty, where they re-attached her skull the week of Thanksgiving. Following this surgery, Liv first mentioned she was starting to have light sensitivity in her eyes. She can currently communicate about the same as she did before the accident, and can walk and run. She is excited to begin Jerger’s pre-kindergarten in the fall.

However, the real miracle is the oldest son, Wyatt.

Wyatt was the one known to the boys and suffered the worst initial injuries.

“We knew Wyatt and had PE with him, so we would hang out at school,” Neil and Thomas said.

Doctors believed he would not survive, as his internal injuries were life-threatening.

He underwent a Cranioplasty to remove the upper left portion of his skull, before undergoing multiple operations over the following days.

He had drain tubes on both sides of his chest and another in his abdomen due to a bile leak from his kidney. During this time, doctors discovered Wyatt’s right ureter was not functioning properly and also put a drain in his right kidney.

At the end of October, doctors decided Wyatt needed his spine fused due to torn ligaments between L1 and L2. He also developed a severe blood clot. This proved to be difficult for the medical team, as they had a hard time deciding if they should treat it due to his brain injury. However, they decided it was worth the risk, and it was successful.

Wyatt returned to the hospital numerous times due to infections, and later had a stent placed in his kidney.

However, after a surgery on April 29, Wyatt has returned home to complete summer school and, most recently, attended summer camp.

On top of the children’s injuries, Christie passed away on March 6, 2025.

Despite everything the family has endured, the father, Chris Landstrom, has seen a light at the end of the tunnel in the support from the community.

“The outreach, support, and continued prayers from the community, including people I don’t even know, has been truly extraordinary and more than I could have ever imagined,” he said in a statement. “It’s been unbelievable.”

The Wise and Casper brothers saw that support on Friday, when people who had heard of their lemonade stand on the news started sending donations through Venmo.

“We wanted to wait and do something so those who personally knew them could help them out, but a lot of people forget,” William said. “But, there’s still a lot of bills to pay and screenings and therapy.”

“People from the state of Washington who had never met the Landstroms sent donations,” JC said. “We hope people just keep donating and buying, so we can give them a lot of money, so they don’t have to stress.”

Others put money in an envelope and gave it to the young men, or refused change throughout the day.

That generosity led to raising $13,000 for the family on Friday.

“We will keep doing this every year because the community is so involved in it,” William said. “We always want to give more to the next family than we did the last, so next year will be even better.”