24 February 2023
OGDEN (KSNT) – The Ogden Community Center is hosting a fundraiser benefit for Cody Benyshek, 30, who was badly injured after a hit-and-run earlier this month.
According to Coordinator for the Ogden Community Center Kim Romanski, the fundraiser is entirely based on donations. The center will be holding a raffle for select Kansas City Chiefs merchandise and a spaghetti dinner. All proceeds will go to Benyshek and his family.
The fundraiser will be held from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 28 at the Ogden Community Center. Raffle tickets will cost $2 a ticket or $10 for six tickets. People will be served spaghetti, salad, garlic bread, a dessert and drink, according to Romanski.
“The community has come together,” Romanski said. “We’ve had quite a few donations of snacks, food and monetary donations. All the locals pooled together money to buy supplies to do the spaghetti dinner.”
The hit-and-run occurred Feb. 11 at around 9:30 p.m. on the 4700 block of Skyway Drive near the Manhattan Regional Airport, according to the Riley County Police Department. Officers said Benyshek was found on the side of the road with injuries consistent with being hit by a vehicle.
“He said whoever hit and struck him ‘left him to die,’” Teresa Ebel, Benyshek’s mother, said.
According to Ebel, Benyshek is a special needs individual who, after having his driving privileges revoked by the state of Kansas, started walking everywhere. He would walk from Ogden, down K-19 to Manhattan to visit a friend, said Ebel.
“He met someone at the airport. An employee and he spent some time talking to him and stuff, I guess he’d hang out at the airport,” Ebel said.
“We didn’t even know what Cody’s name was,” Romanski said. “But we knew who he was because he would walk everywhere. Everybody from the Manhattan Municipal Airport to, everybody has pitched in.”
According to Ebel, Benyshek was first transported to Ascension Via Christi Hospital in Pittsburg and was later flown to Stormont Vail Hospital in Topeka with multiple injuries. She tells 27 News Benyshek is currently recovering in Stormont Vail’s ICU and is stable.
“They [police] let me know he was conscious and talking,” Ebel said. “And when I got to the hospital, they also let me know sometimes they Life-Flight people to Stormont Vail. When I got to the hospital, he was already on a ventilator. They were getting ready to Life-Flight him to Stormont Vail. The only time he was conscious was from the time they found him and the time they talked to me.”
According to Ebel, Benyshek sustained a fracture in his neck and spine. He has broken ribs and bones in his foot and possibly in his ankles. His kidney, liver and spleen were damaged. He had at least 26 stitches above his right eye and staples on his skull. A chunk of bone on the inside of his knee was shattered. An external metal rod was used to support the bones in his right knee until doctors could perform surgery. His pelvis was fractured and since the incident, about 5-6 screws were used to repair his pelvis.
During his hospitalization, doctors found blood clots in both legs and in his groin area. Doctors conducted an external procedure to prevent the blood clots from reaching his lungs and heart, said Ebel.
“They took him off the ventilator,” Ebel said. “Then they had to put him back on, and then took him off. They took him off not yesterday [Tuesday] but the day before, about 4 o’clock. He had kind of a rough time.”
Ebel said the damage to his organs has been addressed by doctors, but he is still struggling with mucus in the lungs, as doctors are concerned with the possibility of contracting pneumonia.
If you have any knowledge about the incident, have seen anything suspicious that would connect a vehicle or person to the incident, or have any tips please call RCPD at (785) 537-2112 or Crime Stoppers at (785) 539-7777.