It doesn’t seem life could get much harder than it’s been for the Nave family of rural McLouth.

Their 12-year-old son was killed in a car crash that critically injured his 16-year-old sister. The father had just started a new job, so his health insurance to cover her estimated $500,000 in medical bills hadn’t started yet. Now the father is preparing to be deployed with his Air National Guard unit.

“When it rains,” said the father, Joseph Nave, “it pours.”

But there are glimpses of sunlight. More than 500 people attended 12-year-old Ethan Nave’s funeral Tuesday in Leavenworth, allowing his family to see how much their son had touched the lives of others. And donations are pouring in to help the family offset medical bills for Christina Nave.

“Everybody’s been real supportive,” said Michael Nave, Christina’s adult older brother. “They’re doing what they can for us.”

Christina Nave was taking her brother to school in Oskaloosa the morning of Jan. 23. She was driving westbound on Fairview Road in Jefferson County when the car spun out of control going around a curve. The car struck a bridge and overturned, landing in a ditch, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol.

Ethan Nave died instantly. Christina Nave was taken to KU Med in Kansas City, Kan., where she was initially listed in critical condition. A hospital spokesman said Friday her condition had been upgraded to serious.

Ethan

“She’s improving,” Michael Nave said. “She can talk a little louder now. But she’s still breathing off of oxygen.”

Joseph Nave’s insurance at his new job was expected to start Sunday, but the family received insurance cards before the accident. Now they’re trying to find out if that means insurance will cover the bills.

A family friend, Camie Marceaux, started a fund for the family at Community National Bank of Tonganoxie. Thousands of dollars already has been donated, Michael Nave said, but compared to the medical bills expected over the next few months, “we’re not even close to what it will take.”

Christina

Joseph Nave described his son, Ethan, as an “incredible kid. He said he wanted to be a friend to the kids who didn’t have any other friend.”

“They’re both that way,” Michael Nave said of his siblings.

The family has turned control of finances and bill-paying over to an attorney. They’re too distraught to handle such concerns.

“It just feels like your heart’s going to be empty in that area for the rest of your life,” Michael Nave said. “No matter what I say, no one will understand.”