MACOMB TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Aaron Skiba, a 41-year-old husband and father, died after his car was hit head-on Tuesday evening by a wrong-way driver on Interstate 94 near Metro Parkway in Harrison Township.
His wife, Jessica, said it took rescue workers 45 minutes with the Jaws of Life to get her husband out of his mangled car.
He was rushed to MacLaren Macomb Hospital but died.
"I yelled at the doctor when he told me. I said, ‘You didn't try hard enough. This can't happen. You have to go try harder,'" Jessica Skiba said.
She met her husband 15 years ago when he was a medical assistant and she was a patient. He had her laughing from day one.
"He was so funny. He wanted to do stand-up comedy," she said. "In a situation like this, he would be making jokes."
Aaron Skiba was on his way to the John D. Dingell VA Medical Center in Detroit, where he worked as a sleep technician, when he was hit.
The wrong-way driver, 72-year-old Larry McCullough, also died at the scene.
Jessica Skiba said she never imagined she would only have a few short years with her husband. Her 10-year-old son, Jerron, got even fewer.
"He really cared about me. He told me he loved me about five times every day. I would tell him, ‘I love you more,'" Jerron said. "I'm going to miss the whole fact about him, the fact that he's not going to be with me anymore and I'm not going to be able to have fun with him anymore. He was my best friend."
Aaron Skiba also leaves behind two daughters, 17-year-old Alexandra and 22-year-old Alyssa.
The family has set up a Go Fund Me page to help with burial costs. You can help by donating here.