A license practical nurse (LPN), Campbell was attending classes and expected to earn a registered nursing degree in December 1980.  She came upon the scene of a car accident two miles east of Marshalltown on U.S. Highway 30. A vehicle driven by an Ames woman went off the road and overturned along side a fence line.

Campbell instinctively stopped and headed to the car to aid any victims. She didn’t make it. Instead, she came in contact with an unseen 7,200 volt electric power line which had been knocked down by the woman’s car.

“Some of the witnesses said I burst into flames,” Campbell said.

She received well-deserved praise as both a hero and Samaritan for her actions that day. But, as the result of the severity of the burns her left arm and right leg were amputated.

Campbell

Campbell went through more than 20 surgeries and endured a five and a half month long hospitalization, plus a much longer recuperation.

She thanked everyone for all the prayers, cards and all types of help offered. Campbell kept packets of news clippings as well as all the cards she received from Sunday school children and others. They serve as a recount of her recovery and the support she received from the community.

In October 1982, when her first child Maja was 8 months old, Campbell was diagnosed with a cancerous ovarian teratoma; as only 1 percent of these teratomas are cancerous, she was devastated. Again, with a lot of help from her family and friends, Campbell survived.  

What does she have to celebrate?

“I want to celebrate now while I’m alive with a Survival Celebration versus missing a Celebration of Life once I am gone,” Campbell said.

She had invited all friends, relatives, former students and co-workers to join her at the Tama-Toledo Eagles Club in downtown Tama on Friday for an observance of the great life she and others have experienced. Prior to the recent need to cancel the event, Campbell said, “This celebration of survival is to celebrate not only my survival of burns and cancer but to honor all who have helped me. I hope to see many of these friends and relatives who have survival stories or those who have been encouragers or care givers to loved ones.”

Despite the need to cancel the event she had looked forward to, Sharon will continue celebrating God’s grace, her children, granddaughters, her siblings Brenda Leonard Lukasko and Nancy (Mike) Purk, and all her nieces and nephews.

Her daughter, Maja Campbell is a nurse at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital in Iowa City, and is pursuing her doctorate in nursing practice at the University of Iowa. 

Campbell’s son, David and wife, Brianne, have two daughters – Gwen, 5, and Greta, 3. David works for CRST in Cedar Rapids and is attending the University of Iowa to complete his degree in accounting. Brianne operates a child care business.

Campbell is celebrating her life-long career advancements in education, having earned bachelor’s of science and masters in teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls.

For 20 years she taught English language learners (ELLs). Campbell taught at South Tama schools from 1996-99 and 2008-12, and Marshalltown High School from 1999-2007. Following the passing of her mother and a divorce, she moved to Cedar Rapids in 2012, and taught ELL at Cedar Rapids Jefferson High School from 2012-2017.

Campbell is a part-time adult ELL instructor at Kirkwood Community College and she substitutes in the Cedar Rapids Community school District (K-12).

She is a 1978 graduate of South Tama High School. Campbell is the daughter of the Jack and Elizabeth Bates and L.J. and Eris Leonard.