Overcoming misfortune

BROWERVILLE — Twenty-two-year-old Dominic Lindquist continues his job of installing, maintaining and repairing grain legs, augers, conveyors and storage systems — even after an unfortunate incident at work almost took his eye.

Lindquist works full time for JT Construction Inc., a millwright company owned and operated by Tim and Steph Schlauderaff, located in Barnesville.

For five years, prior to coming on full-time, Lindquist has been helping the Schlauderaffs on nights and weekends, while also attending Bertha-Hewitt Public School and studying carpentry at Alexandria Technical & Community College.

In August 2025, Lindquist was unloading grain from a truck at the Schlauderaff farm, working alongside the Schlauderaffs’ son, Micah. They noticed the auger they were using had a broken bearing on the end. Since bearing replacement was a routine job for the two, they attempted to replace the part.

“Micah had the torch, and I was using the hammer and the chisel,” Linquist said. “I gave (the bearing) a whack to dislodge it when a piece of steel broke off and shot into my eye.”

The two didn’t panic but instead called Tim.

“I didn’t have my safety glasses on, but I still thought that I had closed my eye in time, because the pain wasn’t that bad,” Lindquist said.

However, the look on Micah’s face told him it wasn’t good.

It took 25 minutes for Steph to drive Lindquist, his girlfriend, Autumn, and Micah to the Sanford Emergency Department in Fargo, North Dakota. The drive was uncomfortable, Lindquist said, but it went quicker than he expected. Once in the emergency room,
he had to wait to be seen by the on-call doctor.

“I just remember I had to keep both my eyes closed for the entire car ride and while we waited in the waiting room,” Lindquist said. “The most pain was actually from my eyelid rubbing on the steel shard that was still protruding.”

Lindquist said that everyone involved, including him at the time, wasn’t aware of how big the steel shard actually was. It measured close to 8 mm long by 7.5 mm wide.

“The first ER doctor asked if I could see anything, and I told him I couldn’t,” Lindquist said. “He examined my eye, and at that point, his disbelief showed. He said he’d have to call in an eye specialist. After we heard that, we all were a little more nervous, because we knew then that it wasn’t going to be a simple procedure.”

Lindquist saw the eye specialist, who then called in an eye surgeon.

“Luckily the surgeon happened to be around that day,” Lindquist said. “They put me under and did an emergency surgery to remove it. It lasted about two and a half hours, and I got 14 stitches in my eye. My retina had been detached completely, and that is why I couldn’t see anything.”

Following surgery, Lindquist was referred to the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Neurosciences at the University of Minnesota Medical School, where he underwent dozens of follow-up appointments and received injections to prevent scar tissue and promote healthy healing. When the metal shard entered the eye, it shattered the lens, so Lindquist had a new lens surgically placed. His vision remains blurry in his left eye.

“It’s pretty much to the point where my brain just blocks it out,” Lindquist said. “During surgery, they had to take most of my iris out, which is what filters the amount of light. I wear sunglasses almost all the time, because my eye is pretty sensitive to light.”

Next, Lindquist will have a cornea transplant.

“Being young, the doctors are hopeful that this last surgery will give me some vision back, or that my vision will be correctable with glasses,” Lindquist said. “We’re praying it will be usable again.”

Working directly with farmers leading up to harvest and maintaining equipment and repairs, harvest season is a busy time for Lindquist. Healing time will require him to have lifting restrictions, so he requested the surgery be held off until December to ensure he will not miss any more work.

“I’ve accepted it,” Lindquist said. “I’ve grown up working on dirt bikes and tinkering with equipment my whole life, so I don’t plan on changing careers.”

Sharing his story, he said, might help others who work in the same type of field.

“I do hope that people can learn from my story,” Lindquist said. “In a dangerous field, constantly working with equipment, staying safe should be at the top of your priority list. It’s not like you have to wear a big suit; it’s just safety glasses and that can make all the difference.”