"I lost my leg while farming."

What happens when a routine farm chore becomes a sudden battle for survival? In this episode of This One Time in Kankakee, we sit down with local farmer and volunteer firefighter Willy VanWassenhove to hear his extraordinary story of resilience. On September 20, 2024, while adjusting a load of hay on the side of the road, Willy was struck by a vehicle at highway speed, pinning him and crushing his legs. 

Drawing on his first-responder training, Willy stayed calm, called 911, and survived a horrific accident that ultimately cost him his right leg. Today, he shares the incredible details of his 100-hour surgical battle, the miraculous timing of his rescue, and how the Kankakee community rallied behind him with the "Willy Strong" movement. 

Now back to work full-time and back in the tractor using a retrofitted mechanical lift, Willy is turning his pain into purpose by launching a foundation to support other injured farmers. He joins us to deliver a vital message that every driver needs to hear: Slow down, pay attention to Slow Moving Vehicle (SMV) signs, and protect our farmers. Because saving ten seconds is never worth a lifetime of regret. 

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• The Critical Moment: The sudden roadside impact and how first-responder instincts saved Willy's life. 
• A Community Miraculously Prepared: How a local firefighter's funeral inadvertently placed rescue teams exactly where they needed to be. 
• The Long Road Back: Navigating 15+ surgeries, severe agricultural infections, and an unforgettable community homecoming parade. 
• Farming Without Limits: How neighbors retrofitted a John Deere 4440 tractor with a mechanical lift so Willy could keep baling hay. 
• The Willy Strong Foundation: Willy’s mission to provide "no questions asked" financial support to injured agricultural workers. 

Want more from the WVLI Podcast Network? Listen to the WVLI News Update with Rob West every weekday morning! Get the days local news from the greater Kankakee County, IL area in 10 minutes or less. 

Subscribe now on your preferred podcast platform: https://wvlinewsupdate.buzzsprout.com

The Voices You Trust, Beyond The Dial.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Support for this one time in Kankiki comes from the Kinkiki area YMCA. The Kankiki area YMCA is more than just a gym. It's a movement of thousands of people making positive changes in their lives and their community. The YMCA is Kankiki's premier provider of family health and wellness. Become a Y member today at their location on Kennedy Drive in Kankiki or at K3YMCA.org. For youth development, for healthy living, for social responsibility. The Kankiki area YMCA. Support for this one time in Kankiki comes from Ravenspring Media, where method, media, and mindfulness create impact. From video production, photography, animation, and team building, Ravenspring Media creates compelling content that captures your brand's unique story in a strategic way. With over twenty years of visual storytelling experience, Ravenspring Media brings together creative expertise and a fresh perspective to every project they undertake. Begin your story today at ravenspringmedia.com.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

This one time in Kankakee. I lost my leg while farming.

SPEAKER_01 1:35

Welcome to this one time in Kankakee from the W VLI Podcast Network. I'm Jake Lamore. If you drive through the southern edges of Kankakee County, you'll see fields stretching out like an ocean of green and gold. It's a place where communities are bound tightly by the soil, where neighbors aren't just faces down the road, they're family. And around here, almost everyone knows a man named Willie Van Wassenhoef. To the local kids, the 4-H club members, and the folks at the county fair, he's simply known as Uncle Willie. But on a late September afternoon, a routine farm chore turned into a sudden battle for survival that would test the limits of his body, his mind, and the rural community that loves him. It was September 20th, 2024. Willie was pulling double duty, balancing his job as a plant and pesticide specialist for the Illinois Department of Agriculture with his deep-rooted passion for farming. He'd taken the afternoon off to deliver a rack of freshly baled hay down to Custer Park. He was driving down the road, carefully checking his load in the mirrors.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Like I just I never even saw the vehicle that struck me. It was behind the hayrack. The hay that didn't fall off the hayrack obstructed the view of it. I didn't even know what kind of vehicle or anything. I didn't hear anything like a screech or anything. I just all of a sudden there was hay in my face.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

A vehicle had slammed directly into the back of the hay rack at highway speed. The massive force shoved the heavy agricultural equipment forward, pinning Willie instantly against his own truck bumper. His legs were completely crushed beneath the weight of the metal I-beam. But Willie wasn't just a farmer, he was also a volunteer firefighter and first responder. As the dust and hay settled, his survival instincts completely overrode the sheer shock of his injuries.

SPEAKER_00 5:13

And at that point, the gentleman who was involved in the accident with me was he asked me if he if I wanted him to move my truck so I could get out. Well, from the training I've had on the fire department as a first responder, I knew that if I got out, I would bleed to death. So I'm like, no, just I'm fine here. Please get my phone.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

Willie calmly stayed in place, holding out for a professional extraction team. He stayed on the line with the 911 dispatcher, accurately assessing his own horrific injuries while waiting for help to arrive.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

And I looked underneath the hayrack, and I could see that my left leg was going in a different direction, so it was clearly broken, and actually my right leg, I could see bone sticking out of through my jeans, above and below the knee.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

What happened next was an incredible combination of rapid response and what Willie considers a miracle from above. That very afternoon, the local firefighting community had gathered for the funeral of a fellow volunteer fireman.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

And many of them were already like in their fire stations right after his funeral and program. So I mean, I guess he's probably looking out for me. Um but yeah, I mean that made the response time faster.

SPEAKER_01 6:58

A retired state cop was the first one on the scene, immediately applying a military-grade tourniquet to Willie's leg to slow the catastrophic blood loss. Crews from Bonfield, Hersher, and other local fire departments arrived moments later. Using the jaws of life, they carefully pushed the truck and hayrack apart to safely extract him. Over the next few weeks, he underwent more than 15 surgeries, spending over 100 grueling hours in the operating room. But agricultural accidents carry a hidden and visible danger. Dirt, bacteria, and organic matter embedded deep in the wounds, creating a breeding ground for severe infections. By early October, a devastating fungal infection had taken hold of his right bone tissue.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

And then the doctor came in and said, Okay, we found this infection in your right leg. It's a half inch from your bone. If it gets in your bone, then we can't stop it and it'll kill you. So at that point, I took about three minutes to digest that in my head. So I decided about five, ten minutes later, just yeah, if you gotta save my life, that's the most important thing. So you're gonna have to take my leg off to get rid of the infection.

SPEAKER_01 8:49

On October 8th, 2024, less than six months after marrying his wife Lisa, Willie's right leg was amputated above the knee. Yet, as news of the tragedy rippled through Kankiki County, a massive community movement was born. Letters and get well cards from local 4-H clubs and absolute strangers flooded his hospital room, providing a powerful reason to keep pushing forward. Willie spent months moving between intensive rehabilitation at the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab and a specializing nursing home, learning how to navigate the world all over again. And on March 26, 2025, six full months after the accident, it was finally time to come home.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

We got off at Exeter and met a county sheriff. I'm like, why are we meeting a county sheriff? The county sheriff puts on lights and stuff, and we go over the one or over auto road, and then we go back to 115, and we there's people like by Irwin on the side of the road or the end of the roads along 115. Then when we got to Hersher, there were lots of people like in the Dollar General parking lot, the Casey's parking lot, and all the way down to CVS and everything. It was really nice. I I did not know that there was gonna be people like in Hersher and along the side of every intersection and things, you know, and along Main Street. I just thought it was just like gonna be a little open house at the fire department in Cavery where you can come say hi if you want. So it was very overwhelming. I cried a lot, but it was really nice to see all the people.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

But a short residual limb and lingering nerve damage in his left foot meant that physical farming would require serious adaption. That's when his community stepped in once again. Friends took a specialized mechanical lift from the tractor of a late friend, retrofitted it, and attached it directly to Willie's tractor.

SPEAKER_00 11:31

So even before I had my prosthetic, I could get out of my wheelchair onto the lift. It would get me into the tractor, that one tractor. So I was able to run the baler with the tractor, the cutter, the rake, everything. Obviously, I need help. I have to have more help than before. I mean, I used to just climb out of the tractor, hook something up. Now I call a friend, they come over and they will help me get hooked up, and then I can do what I need to do after that, you know, on my own. I can still do everything, so it's good. It makes me feel like I'm still useful, helpful.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

Fast forward to today, it is now June of 2026. Just last month on May 1st, Willie reached a monumental milestone. He officially returned to his full-time position as a plant and pesticide specialist with the Illinois Department of Agriculture. He's also busy turning his pain into purpose. Willie is currently working alongside the Community Foundation of Kankakee River Valley to establish the Willie Strong Foundation to provide immediate financial relief to other farmers injured in the line of duty.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

If a farmer's hurt in the Kankakee River Valley area, so like Livingston, Iroquois, Kankakee, kind of like my territory that I work in for the Department of Ag, then we can offer them assistance with, you know, like no questions asked, like, you know. Most farmers, farming is their only source of income. So if they are not able to do things, you know, they're no income. And I have great friends that combined my crops and did everything while I was in the hospital, so I didn't lose that income. But some people don't have that wonderful friends and family like I do. So I wanted to help.

SPEAKER_01 13:32

Willie's story is a profound testament to human resilience and small town solidarity. But it's also a stark warning. Every autumn and spring, heavy farm equipment rolls down rural two-lane roads. Drivers rushing to their destinations often lose patience. Willie wants everyone to understand that those few seconds of impatience can alter a family's trajectory forever.

SPEAKER_00 14:02

That's why people should be very careful in the farming season and whenever they're on the road, that when they see a slow-moving vehicle sign, they should pay attention because it only takes a second, and someone can be, their life can be changed forever. Like 10 seconds can affect someone else for the rest of their life. It's not really worth someone being hurt forever. Just to save 10 seconds or whatever time you're gonna save. Just slow down, be calm. And they farmers see you, they'll get they'll get over when they can.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

To learn more about farm road safety or to support the upcoming Willie Strong Foundation, you can contact the Community Foundation of Kankiki River Valley. And if you have a story to share, shoot me an email at Jake at Milner MediaPartners.com and finish this sentence for me. This one time in Kankiki.