Princeton senior Jordan Reinhardt and the Easter Sunday miracle

Jordan Reinhardt is a thriving senior athlete for Princeton High School, a shooting star for the Tigers’ sectional finalist basketball team, a standout pitcher/hitter for the Tigers baseball team and a receiver/punter in football.

Thirteen years ago, at age 5, Reinhardt survived a scary accident that he still feels the effects of and left a cousin with a gruesome injury.

It was a typical Easter Sunday for the Reinhardt and Alter families April 8, 2012.

After Easter dinner, family members went off to do their own thing.

The eight Reinhardt (Jake, Josh, Jamie, Jordan), Alter (Conner, Caleb, Olivia) and Brooks (Caden) cousins went out to play just like they do at all family gatherings.

John and Tina Reinhardt left to go wash their car.

Jay Alter retreated to watch the Masters Tournament on TV.

Then disaster struck.

The Kawasaki Mule four-wheeler the kids were riding rolled, throwing them all off and landing on 5-year-old Jordan. It also rolled over and crushed the right ankle of his cousin, 12-year-old Conner Alter.

“I remember like it happened yesterday,” said Jay Alter, Jordan’s uncle. “I was watching the Masters in the shed and Caleb came beating on the window. I’m like, ‘He’s getting picked on by Jake (13), Josh (11), Jamie (8), Conner, something.’ I get up and he says, ‘Conner’s hurt.’

“I got down there and it was bad.”

It was a day that Conner Alter will never forget.

“We got back from church, had dinner and I guess ready to get some energy out. I remember getting on [the Mule] just like any other day. In probably less than two minutes it turned into tragedy,” he said. “I do remember some parts of the moment and probably blacked out for others. The whole scene will live with all of us forever. I just remember from what was such a great day to the worse nightmare really.”

Jay Alter said everyone was looking at Conner’s foot and how bad it was and initially didn’t realize that the vehicle was on top of Jordan.

“Conner, Jake and Josh, and I don’t think Conner, realized how messed up he was, but they realized Jordan was under it and the three of them picked up the Mule enough for Jamie to pull him out,” said Jay Alter, who two days later would lose his father, Tim, unexpectedly.

“I looked down and realized my leg was pretty much gone and hanging by a thread and freaking out,” Conner said. “We saw Jordan was underneath it. I don’t remember how he was acting, but probably very scared for his life. That’s just horrible to remember really.

“As bad as it was, I try to remind myself it could have been a lot worse.”

“I really just remember we were having a ton of fun and took a sharp turn then the Mule flipped and I hit the ground hard then the Mule came and landed right on my chest,” Jordan said. “I’m not sure who but someone was yelling to make sure I was still alive and the others are lifting the Mule off of me.”

Jordan didn’t show any visible injuries, but things turned much worse at the hospital.

“It was very scary,” said Tina, who had received a call from her son, Jake, that they needed to get back quickly. “We didn’t realize how bad he was hurt when we got to Perry [Hospital]. Then, the doctor figured out he had a collapsed lung and it was like watching ‘Grey’s Anatomy.’ He stabbed a tube in him and called the helicopter.”

Jordan said he remembers just waking up in a hospital, but not the ambulance or the life flight rides.

“Just hearing that I was about 10 seconds away from passing before the doctor shoved a tubed in my chest is just pretty unreal for me to think about and sometimes makes me take a moment and realize how lucky I am to even be alive still,” Jordan said.

Conner’s right ankle was hanging by a thread, a dangled, dirty mess that the trauma surgeon called one of the worst he’d ever seen. He also was life-flighted to Peoria.

Jay and Jen Alter had to sign papers to give their consent to amputate Conner’s leg if necessary when they took him in for surgery. By the grace of God and the skilled hands of surgeons his foot was saved, although he would endure life-lasting effects.

Tina Reinhardt considers it a true Easter miracle.

“As bad as Conner and Jordan were and it landed on Jordan, yeah [it was a miracle],” she said.

She also said the older boys were all heroes.

“I don’t know how [they did it]. They say Jake lifted it off of him, by adrenaline, I guess, to pull it off,” she said.

Jordan was in the hospital for more than a week. Tina said her son became unusually quiet and didn’t say much during his recovery. A visit by Jake’s travel baseball teammates, who all came dressed in uniform to visit Jordan at the hospital, picked up his spirits.

“They brought him a baseball and tossed it to him and he was like a new kid. He was like, ‘This is going to be OK.’ It was the strangest thing,” she said.

As bad as the outcome could have been that day, the boys have faced lingering effects of their injuries.

Jordan, who will play baseball for Aurora University next year, still feels the effects as a result of the accident, enduring colds, pneumonia and lung issues. He’s had two sinus surgeries and is taking shots to help his sinuses, but they have caused his lung to collapse, his mother said.

“For him to persevere and be as good of an athlete as he is, especially being the youngest and having those expectations of his three older brothers – who we all know were amazing athletes as well – and live up to that and exceed expectations with a life incident like that is just amazing,” Conner said.

Conner, now 25, amazingly recovered well enough to play golf and catch for the PHS varsity baseball team, withstanding the ups and downs of every pitch behind the plate. He had his most recent surgery in 2020, and although he endures pain each day, he says he doesn’t stretch his limits.

He’s glad it happened to him and not to any of his younger cousins, who had bright futures ahead.

“I think it was truly meant to happen to me. I would not have it any other way,” he said. “If I got to pick 100 times if it had to be me or any one of my cousins or siblings, I’d pick me all 100 times. I’m happy it didn’t inhibit any of my cousins or brother or sister from performing in sports.”