It was an unusual sight when a helicopter landed on the football field at South Whidbey High School Sept. 3.

An Airlift Northwest helicopter had been called to transport Aaron Schroader, 19, to Seattle’s University of Washington Hospital.

Schroader, who was having trouble breathing, is recovering from a June auto accident in Langley, in which he suffered a broken neck and damage done to his trachea.

The June 13 accident killed one teen, 16-year-old Robert Armstrong, and injured four others, including Schroader.

Schroader’s father, Dann, said the damage to his son’s trachea restricts his breathing, a problem that seemed to become life threatening last week. Dann Schroader said the condition cannot be surgically corrected until his son’s neck heals. Doctors have temporarily inserted a balloon into Aaron Schroader’s trachea to keep it open.

On the day of the airlift, the younger Schroader was having trouble breathing and knew he needed to see his doctors.

“We contacted his doctors at University of Washington Hospital and they wanted to see him as soon as possible,” Dann Schroader said.

Whidbey General Hospital paramedics picked Schroader up at home and delivered him to the high school to await the helicopter. His father said he thought his son had been having trouble breathing for several days, but didn’t want to tell anyone.

“His 19th birthday was Sunday and we knew he wanted to be home for that, so we think he was holding back about how much trouble he was in,” Dann Schroader said. “He really let down on Monday and we knew by Tuesday we needed to get him to the hospital.”

Schroader was sitting up and alert as he was loaded onto the helicopter and will return home for a few days before his surgery date.