They Support the ThedaCare Family of Foundations in Memory of Their Son
The Schatz family’s world changed in an instant during the summer of 2008. That’s when Grace and Bill Schatz of Chicago lost their son, Adam, during a professional sprint kart racing accident. The tragedy forever altered their family dynamic.
“We were at Road America near Elkhart Lake. There was a collision on the track. Adam was hit in the back of his kart and he ended up airborne, ejected from the kart and in essence, he broke his neck and suffered a traumatic brain stem injury,” Grace Schatz recalled. “If anybody follows racing at all, it’s the same thing that happened to Dale Earnhardt Sr., the famous NASCAR driver.”
The karts race bumper to bumper and can reach top speeds of more than 100 mph, Bill Schatz said, explaining the severity of the crash.
In the moments following the kart crash, emergency personnel stabilized Adam and rushed him to a local hospital, his mother said. From there, he was airlifted to the trauma center at ThedaCare Regional Medical Center-Neenah.
“He was a caring person. He would be the first one there helping you get your car started or if you needed a ride or something like that,” Grace Schatz said of her son. “He had no qualms about opening a can of soup for you and helping you out if you didn’t feel well.”
Adam Schatz died after a week in the hospital. He was 26 years old.
Paying it Forward
Nearly 20 years later, the Schatz family remains immensely thankful for the care and support extended to their son, their family and their friends by ThedaCare and the ThedaCare Family of Foundations. The Schatzes’ annual contribution to the ThedaCare Foundation-Neenah’s Guest House Fund is an expression of gratitude, signaling their continued commitment to helping other families navigate similar loss.
Nearly two decades ago, Grace and Bill Schatz of Chicago lost their son, Adam, during a crash at a professional kart racing event near Elkhart Lake. The couple said the care and compassion they received from the ThedaCare Family of Foundations and ThedaCare Regional Medical Center-Neenah is something they continue to pay forward.
“We’re just a middle class, blue-collar family,” Grace Schatz said. “We’re nobody special. We still want to support and pay it forward for someone else. As long as I’m alive, and Bill says the same thing, we owe ThedaCare and in a good way, not a bad way. That’s really where this all comes from.”
Although Adam’s health outcome wasn’t what the family hoped for, they say ThedaCare made the tragic experience significantly more manageable.
“We had family come up. We had friends come up. We had people looking after our equipment back at the track,” Grace Schatz said. “We had people who came from Chicago to button up all that equipment at the track and bring it back home. It was crazy the amount of support, but leading the charge was ThedaCare.”
The health system showed its support immediately, Grace Schatz recalled.
“From the minute we got there, we felt like we were seen, we were heard and we were cared for,” she said. “That’s how I felt during our whole week up there. Obviously, we did not have a good outcome but the doctors and the nurses and the staff could not have been more supportive.”
Grace and Bill Schatz of Chicago continue to donate to the ThedaCare Family of Foundations almost 20 years after the loss of their son, who died at ThedaCare Regional Medical Center-Neenah after a professional kart race crash at Road America near Elkhart Lake. “As long as I’m alive, and Bill says the same thing, we owe ThedaCare and in a good way, not a bad way. That’s really where this all comes from,” Grace Schatz said.
Space for Togetherness
That support included providing the Schatz family with a nearby place to stay. The family resided in a secure, private, healthcare hospitality guest home. The home, part of the foundation’s Home Away From Home program, is one of four houses intended to help families of trauma patients reduce concerns over hotels and Airbnb properties and keep the focus on supporting their loved one receiving care in the hospital. There is no charge for stays at any of the homes.
ThedaCare opened its fourth healthcare hospitality guest home in late summer 2026, with support from Bergstrom Automotive. Accommodations at the homes are available to all patient families, but trauma patient families are prioritized.
“It was lovely to have a space for us to be together,” Grace Schatz said. “All the while we had this underlying sense of being safe and having somewhere to land, somewhere to rest, somewhere to leave the hospital and get a break. The reason I was so at ease up there is because we felt safe and cared for.”
It’s About Caring
That’s the goal of ThedaCare Home Away From Home, said Barbara Beuscher, chief philanthropy officer, ThedaCare Family of Foundations.
“Caring for patients and families extends far beyond the walls of our hospitals,” she said. “Thanks to the Schatz family’s generosity and legacy of giving, more families will have a comfortable, welcoming place to stay close to their loved ones during treatment and recovery.”
Grace Schatz holds dear her family’s experience at ThedaCare.
“On the day we took Adam off life support, we had nurses crying with us,” she said. “If I had to pick a way to let someone go, that would have been my pick because I just felt so supported. ThedaCare helped lighten our load. We did not have a good outcome but we owe ThedaCare a lot simply because they took care of us which was all that could be done at the time.”
Bill Schatz echoed those sentiments.
“I dealt with a lot of tragedy in my work. I was on the fire department for 38 years in Chicago, a district chief,” he said. “I witnessed a lot of traumatic situations and things we wouldn’t even speak about. I think that ThedaCare made it easier for us to deal with this tragedy in our family. Part of what helped us was the fact that ThedaCare was there for us.”
Date posted: October 27, 2026