An 11-year-old boy has died nearly one month after his family's van strayed into the wrong lane on a central Minnesota highway and struck a semitrailer truck head-on, his father said.

The crash occurred shortly after 10 a.m. on March 28 along Hwy. 23, roughly 3 miles east of Paynesville, according to the State Patrol.

Nathaniel Shumaker, 11, of nearby New London, died Wednesday night at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis.

"As some of you already know, Nate went to heaven earlier this evening," father Tim Shumaker, of nearby New London, reported last week on a Caringbridge.org page.

"As was our hope, he was able to donate some of his organs as well as other tissues," he continued. "We know he would be and is happy to give some of himself to others."

Surviving their injuries in the van were Nate's mother, Heather Shumaker, 50, and his brothers Josh, 16, and Benjamin, 15.

Semi driver Roger Sylvester Bruemmer, 61, of Richmond, Minn., also survived his injuries.

Josh Shumaker was driving the minivan east on Hwy. 23 "when it crossed the centerline and struck a westbound Freightliner semi head- on," a statement from the patrol read.

The patrol has yet to reveal what caused the van to enter the wrong lane.

PAUL WALSH