An Angel To Protect

Monday, April 12, 2004

It was a quiet Easter Sunday.

Betty, Sarah and I had a nice lunch.  Sarah had to work, so Betty and I got to watch the simple joy of Phil Mickelson win his first major ever!!  Watching him celebrate with his family was really neat.  Sarah came home and we packed her up to leave back to school about 11:10 p.m.

At 11:45 p.m. we got a call, knowing it was too early for Sarah to call from her apartment, we were worried.  Sarah was calling to say she had ran into a sudden really heavy downpour.  As she reached to turn her wipers on full blast, she hydroplaned going 70 mph.  Her car spun around three times she thinks, then she stopped suddenly.  The problem is, it wasn't her brakes that stopped her, but a tree.  Luckily, the rear of her car hit.

A man saw her "fly" and stopped to give her assistance.  We spoke with him and he told us where Sarah was (Exit 151 on Interstate 16 about 46 miles from our house.)  We were getting ready to leave and called Sarah and she told us an off duty Savannah police officer stopped to help.

We drove the nineteen miles to the Georgia border and our phone rang.   Betty answered and was surprised by a voice that identified herself as an EMS with Sarah enroute to Memorial Hospital in Savannah.  We got directions and when we were about two miles from the hospital, got passed by the ambulance carrying our baby!  Of course we wanted to follow, but didn't want to go through red lights.

We got there with a minimum of difficulty and they lead us back to a waiting room  There was a young man waiting to talk to us, come to find out, he is Nathan, a fellow Sarah has just recently met.  He had called her right after her accident and drove from Statesboro and followed the ambulance to the hospital.

He had seen her for a moment.  She was in pain from the seat belt at her shoulder and hip and he thought maybe her ribs had hit the console.  He only saw the car for a moment.  The hatchback was out of wack and the back of the car was resting against the tree.  He said her window was rolled down, but Sarah said she thinks she broke it with her head.  She was coughing a lot and in pain.

After about an hour and a half, they started to wheel her out.  The doctor said that she had bruised her lungs, had a slight concussion, and that from her x-rays, it looked like her back was OK.  BUT, they were wheeling her over to do Cat Scans of her abdomen, pelvis, chest and head just to be safe.  She was wearing a neck brace also.  Well over an hour later, they came out, nothing broken, but the bottom of both her lungs were bruised, and they wanted to keep her for observation for a day or two. The neck brace will stay on for at least a few days.

They admitted her to a room at about 5:20 a.m.

Sarah said when the police and EMS were removing her from the car, an officer said: "do you know you have an angel in your lap?"  Sarah looked down and saw the angel that had been clipped to her visor had come off and was sitting upright in her lap and she said she started to cry.  Had Jessica spun the car to do the least amount of injury to her baby sister????  You'll have to do a lot of talking to convince Sarah, Betty and I otherwise...........

Tuesday, April 13, 2004

Thanks to all for the prayers.  Sarah is doing much better, but very sore.  We got to see her car and it told an even bigger story of Sarah's survival and amazement that she survived because of the way the car impacted.  The force was probably equal to the one that took our Jessica, but we feel with Jessica's help was directed at the back of the car on the passenger side to protect her baby sister.

Here is the result:

Below is a close-up of that area where the tree impacted:

The gas tank and exhaust are bent almost to the ground.  Sarah could smell gas as she sat and waited for the EMS.  If the impact had been on the drivers door............

That indentation on the seat behind is from the head rest!  No wonder Sarah has two bruised lungs and such bruising and pain from the seat belt on her hip and shoulder!  She has a stiff neck, but they took the brace off!!!

Sarah was really sore yesterday, 15 hours after the accident and still hadn't slept much.  Her body has taken quite a beating and is trying to fight back.  They have given her all kinds of medication that has gone to the pain receptors in her body and working overtime and hadn't made her sleepy yet.  Finally last night at about 10:00 p.m. she relaxed and got a night's sleep.  She has been doing respiratory exercises to keep her lungs clear and open.  Her hip is so sore she needs to walk with the aid of the walker.

The Angel on the left is the one the policeman noticed on Sarah's lap.  The one on the right is out of my car.  We have them on our sun visor's.  In the picture on the right, notice the change to Sarah's Angel.  They were exactly alike.  Did the Angel have to bear some burden?  They have the same finish too, a pewter color.  In the picture on the left, I was surprised to see mine glow gold.  A greeting from Jessica??? Maybe not. but before sunrise and only the flash of the camera.............

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Sarah recovered in about two weeks.  She has had no lasting effects from the crash.