4 Years Ago

With that kind of title you probably think Im going to blog about my wedding, or the birth of a child. But although those are some of the greatest events in my life, there was another one that was just as big.

I didn't think to blog about this since most people know the story, but my friend Cathy wrote about it on her blog and I realized that sometimes it is good to be reminded of places God helped us out of.

A little background.... at this time, Mike and I had been married only 3 months. Parker was 21 months old, and we were getting ready to sign the papers on our new house. It was a very exciting time for us. There was a hurricane that had just come through and another on radar headed our way. Kim, Cathy and I were all in school for a degree in Elementary Education. We usually rode to school together and most of the time we took Cathy or my cars ( little sedans). Cathy had a 5 month old baby girl that usually came to school with us since Cathy was still breastfeeding her. Well on Sept 13th 2004, Cathy's husband was going to keep the baby, and Kim was coming to pick us up in her minivan. We headed towards Palatka to go to class. We stopped in Florahome to pick up some goodies at the gas station. Let me just tell you. I was one of those people who always put on her seat belt. I got back into the back of the van and didn't put my seat belt on right away. I was going to put it on once I got my stuff situated. I remember actually feeling vulnerable and telling myself it was stupid, that I was in the back seat and I was going to put my seat belt on in just a minute. What are the odds that something would happen in the short amount of time? Well whatever the odds were, they weren't slim enough. Now, I don't actually remember anything that comes next, but this is what they told me happened.

Less than 3 minutes from the gas station we saw a man swerving in and out of our lane. We were on a two lane highway so there is not anywhere to go except into the ditch. It looked like this man was playing chicken. When we swerved into the ditch, he followed into the ditch. Kim turned hard back onto the road hoping that he would hit the back end of the van. He didn't. We were in a head-on collision going about 45 MPH. As Cathy said in her blog, "We became statistics that day." We are now just a couple or the millions of people who have been hit or killed by drunk drivers. Luckily we survived. The man that hit us died at the scene. His blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit at 5:45 in the afternoon.

I was thrown into the back of Cathy's seat and onto the floor between the two front seats. I was laying on the back of my neck. It's kinda hard to describe, but my butt was in the air and my head was under my pelvic area. I don't remember that part either, but this is what I was told. The paramedics were shocked that my neck had not been broken. A paramedic training officer was driving behind us and called and ambulance right when the accident happened. I remember waking face down on the stretcher in the middle of the road. The paramedic helping me turned out to be the wife of a guy that worked with Mike. I recognized her name and told her to call Mike. I remember then turning me over and talking to me about my injuries. I heard on the radio that there was a confirmed signal 7. I know that means a death, so I freaked out wanting to know who it was. She told me it was the driver of the other vehicle, but that Cathy was hurt really bad. I don't remember anything else until I was on the helicopter. I just remember thinking I had to stay awake till we got to the hospital. When they told me we were landing I guess I fell asleep, because I don't remember anything else till they were torturing me in the trauma unit. Both of my femurs and my pelvis were broken. I had a lot of soft tissue damage on my right side. I was in the hospital for 7 days and in a wheelchair unable to put ANY weight on my legs for 6 months. I had to learn how to walk, stand, and balance. I still cannot run, skip, jump, or squat. The doctors cut through my knees in order to insert titanium rods into my femurs. It is fun to set off all the metal detectors :)

There are a lot of funny and humbling stories that happened during this time in my life. But one thing I learned was that my friends, family and church are amazing. When it was time to bring me home there were a lot of concerns. One was how to get me home. I could not bend my legs since they had cut through my knees, so I was unable to get into a car. A friend of Mike's got permission from the county to bring an ambulance up to the hospital and bring me home. Another concern was how to get me into the house. I was in a wheelchair and the new house had steps. The men at the fire station in Keystone built a ramp for me leading to the front door. What a blessing these things were. But it didn't stop there...

We were supposed to be moving when I got into the accident. Our church family went to our old house and packed all our things. Then they came to the new house and painted all the walls for us AND moved in all our stuff and unpacked some rooms. They set up the kitchen and bathrooms so that we could just bring me home and not have to worry about it. They also provided dinner for us for almost 2 months. It was amazing! I feel so blessed to have people like this in my life. I could never thank them enough for the love and help they gave us during this time.

Ill post more later about my wonderful husband and mother, and about the funny things that happened. But for now, this post is long enough. Here are a couple pics of the accident.

The scene(Yes the sheet on the ground is the body of the man who hit us.Yikes!)

This is Kim's van

This is the passenger side of Kim's van. (Cathy's seat)

This is the driver side of the other vehicle