By Associated Press - Friday, March 30, 2018

FARGO, N.D. (AP) - Plans for a surprise Easter gathering in northwest Minnesota were cut short by an interstate crash that has left one family mourning the deaths of two young children and dealing with serious injuries to their mother and 3-year-old sibling.

Amber Eisele, 34, was en route to her mother’s house in Stephen, Minnesota with her three children Sunday when she got a call that her sister, Trista Curry, of Fargo, had been in a crash on Interstate 29 near Grand Forks. Curry and her three children were also headed to Stephen for the Easter break.

“It was supposed to be a surprise for all of us to show up at her house for the Easter weekend,” Eisele said Friday.

Eisele, 34, and her children, from Belmont, Wisconsin, had just stopped in Hudson for something to eat when the call came from her aunt and uncle.

“They said my sister had been in an accident and that things didn’t look good,” she said.

Curry’s SUV had slid out of control on an icy, snow-covered interstate and into the path of a semi. Camden Dean, 9, and one-year-old Maxwell Dean died in the crash that left their mother and 3-year-old sister, Avalon, seriously injured.

Curry, 30, sustained a fractured upper arm, several broken ribs, a lower back injury and liver laceration, according to her sister.

“The biggest issue is the humerus break. Once we can get that operated on, her recovery will go a lot faster,” Eisele said. “Because of the broken ribs and the liver and the status of all that stuff, the position they have to put her in is not conducive to surgery.”

A tube that was draining fluid in her chest was expected to be removed Friday, she said. Avalon, who suffered multiple facial fractures, a skull fracture and a concussion, was doing much better and was expected to be released from Sanford Medical Center in Fargo Friday, her aunt said.

For now the family, including the children’s father, Bryan Dean, is just trying to take it day by day.

“That’s all we can really do, live for the moments we have now,” Eisele said. When Curry is released from the hospital a funeral will be held in Stephen for the boys, whom Eisele says were full of life.

“They were kind, loving and just full of joy and happiness all the time,” she said. “They were just perfect.”

While Avalon’s medical expenses will be covered by her father’s insurance, Curry does not have medical coverage, according to family. A fundraising site, YouCaring.com/Trista, has generated nearly $80,000 in donations so far.

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