Hockey mom remains hospitalized in Colorado after crash while husband cares for injured children

One person remains hospitalized after last week's deadly collision on Interstate 70 in the mountains that knocked a van filled with three players of a young girls' hockey team and family members off the highway.

Brenda Greenwald is a mother of five. She was traveling to Colorado with three of her children, including a daughter who is on the Santa Clarita Lady Flyers 12AA team. Greenwald was taken to Denver Health along with several children and two other adults. Her condition remains serious. Her husband, Jason Greenwald, says his wife has internal injuries as well as a broken pelvis, broken clavicle, broken ribs, and broken lumbar.

"Appreciate your wife, because, you know, they do so much, and it's such a thankless job. And they just, you know, for sure, they need to be more appreciated every day. Every wife, every mom," said Jason Greenwald.

The couple's 11-year-old son Joshua was the most seriously injured of the children in the van. He was airlifted to Children's Hospital in Aurora with internal injuries and broken bones and was released early this week.

Jason Greenwald is home, caring for the children in California, while another family member stays at her bedside in Denver. He was not traveling with the team when the accident happened a couple of miles east of the Eisenhower Tunnel on a road made slippery by falling temperatures over a thin layer of snow. The Colorado State Patrol has said a plow slid across the median, through a cable rail fence, striking three vehicles, including the van carrying 10 people. But investigators have yet to say if there was anyone at fault.

A hockey parent driving the van, Manny Lorenzana, was killed.

"We lost a good person. For sure. It's heartbreaking," said Jason Greenwald. "Just a great dad. Loved watching his daughter play hockey, and just a good person all around… I think he should be regarded as a hero for what he had to do, and the way he reacted, and the outcome."

Greenwald believes the crash could have been far worse.

His three children in the van continue recalling what happened.

"That's the scariest thing of all. They can speak very candidly about everything," explained Greenwald. "They all described the same thing. Everything just went black, and then they woke up, and they were trying to get out of the van."

The oldest of the children has the clearest understanding, "Just hearing my daughter describe it, because she understands, being 13.. It's scary. Very, very scary."

The team was boosted by continuing to play in the weekend tournament. Other teams cheered and supported them. The hockey community in Colorado and in California stepped in to help.

"The team, I had no idea what, how well this organization ran, just amazing," credits Greenwald. "The responsiveness, the love, the outpouring from the team to the logistics of everything. Just… unimaginable."

They have also been boosted by people in Colorado. The stands were packed when the team won the championship on Sunday.

"Complete strangers, kids, cheer on your daughter's team. Kids, strangers crying. It was just amazing."

Even though she was too injured to play, Emily joined the team on the bench in the last game.

"She was there. She was on the bench. She was able to jump out of the bench onto the ice with the team and do the whole celebration with them, the whole thing with the banner and the pictures and the crying. She got to experience it all with them."

"These girls are just so tight. friends and teammates… They needed it, and I'm so grateful that it happened."

A family friend started an online fundraising campaign for the family. Jason Greenwald does not know how long he'll have to be off work to care for his wife and help take care of his children. But he feels fortunate.

"We're going to heal, and hopefully Brenda will come home soon. And we'll be whole again. And it's hard to say that about the other families, you know."