T-shirt sales benefit Fair Grove man after serious accident
SPRINGFIELD, Mo.-Last week, a young man from Fair Grove was critically injured in a wrong-way crash on Highway 65.
Now, a local business making T-shirts to support 20-year-old Cooper Roy, and his family has been overrun with orders from the community.
On Tuesday night, life for the Roy family changed after they received a call that their son, Cooper, had been involved in a serious accident
"When people come together like that and support someone, we are going to understand the other side of it," Mickie Roy, Cooper's mother said.
According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, 79-year-old Harold Williams was driving southbound on Highway 65 in the northbound lanes, just five miles north of Springfield, when he hit Roy head on.
Mickie also said there were a few women who stopped at the scene of the accident that night and she felt as they were an instrumental part in keeping Cooper alive.
Brian Roy is Cooper's father. He said Cooper was returning home from a Church conference in Kansas City.
"I was kind of watching my Life360, excited to see him. Then 30 minutes went by, and 45 minutes went by," Brian said. "And I looked at [Life360] again, and his car had stopped. So, there was just an eerie feeling about it and about that time the phone call came in."
Williams later died from his injuries, but the 20-year-old remains hospitalized and has already undergone multiple corrective surgeries.
"We weren't sure at the time there was a chance, that they were going to amputate his leg," Brian said. "We didn't know if he was going to survive, and so we were just planning for the worst but hoping for the best."
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Cooper has two brothers, Carter and Trevor Roy. Carter said he had to call his older brother to let him know what happened.
"I was gone 25 days before he called me in the middle of the night," Trevor said. "I woke up, and I could tell something was wrong."
Carter and Trevor said their brother is someone who is always looking to give and live life with a purpose.
"Cooper's love is genuine. It's genuine because it's the love of Christ. And because of that, it's just contagious and infectious, and people just love him because of it."
Two days later, community members approached a local printing business with an idea to help support the family in their time of need.
"I have a close friend named Mariah, and she's a teacher at the Fair Grove Elementary school," Megan Terrill said. "She asked me if I could make about 15 shirts for this lady. And I said, 'of course, I'd love to'."
Terrill is one of two local moms who runs Down Home Designs out of Fair Grove. She said they had to temporarily pause orders Friday so they could catch up.
"We were expecting maybe 20 or 30 people to comment, you know, something we could still handle, and it just blew up," Terrill said. "And like, we just learned how amazing Cooper was and how he's impacted so many people."
Part of the money from the Cooper Strong shirt sales will go directly to the Roy family. They said that without the community's help, they would be at a loss.
"It's like a hug from the whole community," Mickie said. "There's just no words to describe. It's a surreal experience."
Anyone who wants to support the Roy family can buy a T-shirt by going to the Down Home Designs Facebook page.
