DOVER - Some approached him cautiously, asking how he was doing. What can you say to comfort a guy who lost most of his left leg in a farming accident just six weeks earlier?

"Great," Jeff Schmeckel would answer matter-of-factly. "Accidents happen."

The benefit held Saturday night at the Dover Inn to support the 24-year-old rural Union Grove man was not a tearful affair. He cracked jokes with former co-workers, shared hugs with relatives and quizzed old friends about their families.

Life offered him plenty of reasons to feel down. Even before he got sucked into a combine while trying to clear a blockage,

Schmeckel was laid off by Con-way Freight in Franklin in December. Now, he faces tens of thousands of dollars or more in out-of-pocket medical costs.

Instead, when conversations naturally returned to his bandaged leg, Schmeckel talked excitedly about the future. He plans to be fitted for a prosthetic leg.

"They guarantee I'll be walking by Halloween," he said.

Pete Schmeckel marveled at his son's upbeat attitude. He wonders if he'd handle it as well.

After the accident May 12 at the farm where the family raises beef cattle, corn, soybeans and other crops, Jeff Schmeckel underwent six surgeries. Even when the pain sneaks through the medication, he said he hasn't felt angry or depressed.

"That doesn't get you nowhere," he said.

His parents talked him into buying COBRA insurance after the layoff, lessening the financial blow somewhat. Organizers planned the benefit to help Schmeckel with the remaining bills.

Family friend Rebecca Rusk of rural Kansasville estimated a crowd of 800, continuing a trend of support the family has welcomed for weeks. Besides the $10 admission at the Dover Inn, 1909 N. Beaumont Ave., prizes ranging from a Packers preseason ticket package to a Corgi puppy were put up for auction.

Schmeckel is confident he'll be able to return to about 95 percent of his old farming duties. Pete Schmeckel said his son is itching to get back involved. He remembers Jeff at age 2, knocking over an older kid to ride a new, pedal-powered toy tractor. Even if his son is limited, he'll have a place for him.

"Put him in the combine and he can sit there for seven or eight hours a day," Pete Schmeckel said.

With a smile on his face, no doubt.