+- CSNbbs (https://csnbbs.com)
+-- Forum: Active Boards (/forum-769.html)
+--- Forum: SunBeltbbs (/forum-317.html)
+---- Forum: Sun Belt Conference Talk (/forum-296.html)
+---- Thread: My Wife's Wreck: 1 Year Later (/thread-738521.html)
My Wife's Wreck: 1 Year Later - Burn the Horse - 05-26-2015 02:09 PM
Many of you know that my wife Samantha and my toddler-age son were involved in a very serious car accident just over a year ago.
I came here the day it happened, logged in from a computer in the hospital waiting area, to pour my heart out and express sorrow to folks I consider to be true friends. This community has meant a lot to me over the years and I feel blessed to be one of its leaders.
My long absence has been a result of dedicating as much time as humanly possible to my wife and son as she has recovered both physically and mentally. Thank you all for your prayers and understanding during a very low point in the BTH family.
I wanted to let all of you know that Sam has made a miraculous and quite unbelievable recovery. She is driving herself back to work now! Our home life is back to normal, or as normal as I think we will ever get, and my son is happy, healthy and seems to have gotten over the nightmares he has had for months.
I can't adequately explain the utter horror of having a police officer ring the bell to tell you your wife and child have been in a "very serious car accident with life-threatening injuries" miles from home, and that he has no further information..."call this number."
Samantha will most likely suffer from trauma-induced PTSD for the rest of her life, and her scars will never fully go away. But shes alive. She is here and that's all that matters. I would have been content to simply have her mind back, but God made her whole again and I am so blessed for that.
I guess I just wanted to let you all know whats been going on with me and mine as of late. I doubt many if any of you think about that wreck daily like I do, but its always nice to hear about folks getting better. Thank you again for the support and words of encouragement during the dark times I lived through, it proved to me that we are a family here, a Sun Belt family.
March On Ya'll.
RE: My Wife's Wreck: 1 Year Later - EigenEagle - 05-26-2015 02:11 PM
RE: My Wife's Wreck: 1 Year Later - arkstfan - 05-26-2015 02:13 PM
Thanks for blessing my day with that.
RE: My Wife's Wreck: 1 Year Later - Burn the Horse - 05-26-2015 02:14 PM
(05-26-2015 02:13 PM)arkstfan Wrote: Thanks for blessing my day with that.
The fact you care means a lot to me bud.
RE: My Wife's Wreck: 1 Year Later - THUNDERStruck73 - 05-26-2015 02:17 PM
That is really awesome news. From us in HerdNation... Godspeed!
RE: My Wife's Wreck: 1 Year Later - CatMom - 05-26-2015 02:22 PM
Sometimes life gets in the way of what we do on this forum. I have followed your family's progress thanks to Facebook. Can't say I haven't shed a tear or two for all of you. Their recovery and return to a "normal" life is nothing short of miraculous.
We sure miss you here but your family is far more important. You can come over here any time, your family can't wait. We will welcome you back when you have the time and/or desire. In the meantime, take care of that wonderful son and your beautiful wife.
........we'll keep the lights on.
RE: My Wife's Wreck: 1 Year Later - Burn the Horse - 05-26-2015 02:22 PM
Some of you, like CatMom, are friends of mine on facebook. Ya'll have been able to see the photos Ive posted here and there throughout her recovery. Feel free to speak up and share your opinions from the past year...if you have any.
We've been asked to speak at several local churches about the whole ordeal and how our faith never wavered. The moment the accident occurred, the Lord was moving to make sure Sam received the best help possible only moments after the car stopped flipping. "The Man on the Horse," as we have come to call him, was on the scene getting my son cut out of his now-upside-down carseat practically instantly. The elderly couple that stopped while on their way to catch a cruise ship, who was a trained paramedic, that arrived 5 minutes later, and the ambulance that responded, both medics being EMT trainers...all of these people were put there to save her and they succeeded.
RE: My Wife's Wreck: 1 Year Later - Burn the Horse - 05-26-2015 02:27 PM
I tell ya, without all the help from friends and family I would have lost my mind during all of this. You guys provided me with uplifting encouragement, my Sunday School class cleaned our house and kept my lawn mowed, and my buddies down at the local comic book shop sent me like $200 worth of free comics to get my mind off things when I could.
Everyone rallied around us and made things as easy as they could have been. It's in times of great distress when you find out who your true friends are.
BTW, without those comic books...I wouldn't have made it.
That lousy hospital in Huntsville has 12 channels and 2 were in Spanish! All I did was read comics for like a month.
RE: My Wife's Wreck: 1 Year Later - Georgia_Power_Company - 05-26-2015 02:27 PM
Awesome news!
RE: My Wife's Wreck: 1 Year Later - Usajags - 05-26-2015 02:29 PM
I was unaware of any of this, not sure how I may have missed it.
+++Prayers and vibes to you and your family's!!!+++
RE: My Wife's Wreck: 1 Year Later - cleburneslim - 05-26-2015 02:32 PM
It is wonderful to hear how great things turned out for you. It seems everyday you hear a tragic story and so often it goes the other way for so many.
So thanks for reminding us all that miracles do happen and one should not give up hope.
RE: My Wife's Wreck: 1 Year Later - sidslidkid - 05-26-2015 02:33 PM
Happy for you guys!
RE: My Wife's Wreck: 1 Year Later - NCeagle - 05-26-2015 02:39 PM
glad to hear she and your son are doing so well. I'm sure the last year has been rough on you. Luckily your wife had a strong dude to see her through a rough year.
RE: My Wife's Wreck: 1 Year Later - panama - 05-26-2015 02:47 PM
(05-26-2015 02:09 PM)Burn the Horse Wrote: Many of you know that my wife Samantha and my toddler-age son were involved in a very serious car accident just over a year ago.
I came here the day it happened, logged in from a computer in the hospital waiting area, to pour my heart out and express sorrow to folks I consider to be true friends. This community has meant a lot to me over the years and I feel blessed to be one of its leaders.
My long absence has been a result of dedicating as much time as humanly possible to my wife and son as she has recovered both physically and mentally. Thank you all for your prayers and understanding during a very low point in the BTH family.
I wanted to let all of you know that Sam has made a miraculous and quite unbelievable recovery. She is driving herself back to work now! Our home life is back to normal, or as normal as I think we will ever get, and my son is happy, healthy and seems to have gotten over the nightmares he has had for months.
I can't adequately explain the utter horror of having a police officer ring the bell to tell you your wife and child have been in a "very serious car accident with life-threatening injuries" miles from home, and that he has no further information..."call this number."
Samantha will most likely suffer from trauma-induced PTSD for the rest of her life, and her scars will never fully go away. But shes alive. She is here and that's all that matters. I would have been content to simply have her mind back, but God made her whole again and I am so blessed for that.
I guess I just wanted to let you all know whats been going on with me and mine as of late. I doubt many if any of you think about that wreck daily like I do, but its always nice to hear about folks getting better. Thank you again for the support and words of encouragement during the dark times I lived through, it proved to me that we are a family here, a Sun Belt family.
March On Ya'll.
RE: My Wife's Wreck: 1 Year Later - Ole Sleepy - 05-26-2015 02:48 PM
Hallelujah!
RE: My Wife's Wreck: 1 Year Later - Burn the Horse - 05-26-2015 02:53 PM
(05-26-2015 02:29 PM)Usajags Wrote: I was unaware of any of this, not sure how I may have missed it.
+++Prayers and vibes to you and your family's!!!+++
Thank you.
For those who don't know what I'm talking about, here is a recap:
On April 26th of last year my wife and son were driving north to Kentucky to meet up with her former college roommate and God son. A few miles after she passed the turnoff for Huntsville on I-65, the two were involved in a horrific single car accident that saw our Chevy Impala lose control at 80mph and proceed to flip between 10 and 12 times, finally resting on its crushed-in roof on the outside southbound lane.
My wife's neck was broke, her skull fractured in two places, her nose broke, her lungs punctured, and her left forearm was stripped of ALL tissue down to the bone. My son escaped without a scratch.
Sam was flown by helicopter to Huntsville Hospital as a Jane Doe. All of her and my son's belongings had been scattered across the interstate so she had no I.D. on her upon arrival, and my son being only 2 at the time was not very helpful. It took the folks at the hospital 4 hours before I was located. They found a FBC Prattville child care tag on the one bag a stranger had thrown in to the ambulance with my son when he was taken to Huntsville. They called our church, who in turn called the police, who rang my bell with the news.
Samantha was in a medically-induced coma for a week as they tried to get the brain swelling to come down. It did, and she was brought out of the sleep. She was very confused and had NO memory of her life and could not retain any new information. Think the movie "50 First Dates." After 2 weeks in NICU we were transferred to a private room where I was allowed to stay with her 24/7. My mother had driven me up there so she and I took shifts going from bedside to babysitting, there was no rest.
A month of worrying about her mind in that hospital room followed, a tiny bit of improvement each day but no assurances she would ever return to me mentally. During this time she had 3 surgeries, 1 on her arm and 2 on her brain. Each time they were adamant that she might not wake up. So basically I was preparing myself mentally for her death and the job of raising my son without his mother for pretty much his whole life. But she did wake up, and she fought, and she suffered, and she persevered. I feel guilty every time I give up on anything now after seeing her fight through pain and confusion to get out of there.
Finally they decided her body had healed enough to transfer her to Birmingham for live-in rehab where she would learn to walk and use fine motor skills again. Her mind had not fully returned still but they wanted her to get moving and retrain her muscles and body. It was here at UAB Hospital where she turned the corner. I guess it was all the physical and mental exercise that got her mind right, because on our 3rd day there she woke up that morning and we had a normal conversation, and I knew my wife had returned to me. The loneliness I had been living in was gone, my most difficult struggle had come to an end. Now we just had to worry about getting her out of there and back home. When we arrived at UAB her doctor advised us that she would most likely be there for 2 months, Samantha got out in 2 weeks!
Once home we were fully concentrated on getting things back to normal, but she still needed daily pic-line injections I performed, she could not walk unassisted, and she was unable to perform any of her motherly duties, I think that was the hardest thing for her during this stage.
Now we are "back to normal." Sam picked herself out a new car, a Subaru Outback because of its impressive safety score, and she is driving to work again. It's amazing ya'll, truly inspirational.
RE: My Wife's Wreck: 1 Year Later - USAJag2011 - 05-26-2015 02:54 PM
I wasn't a member of SunBeltbbs back then and havn't heard about the accident, but I'm glad things are looking up for your family.
I will pray that God continues to restore a sense of normalcy to your lives. Your wife's recovery is inspiring, I'm sure it would not have been possible without you by her side.
Stay strong my friend
RE: My Wife's Wreck: 1 Year Later - OsageJ - 05-26-2015 04:18 PM
I am very happy for the improvements your wife has made and thank God for well made child car seats.
RE: My Wife's Wreck: 1 Year Later - CajunExpress - 05-26-2015 04:23 PM
I seem to recall you asked everyone here to say some prayers of support. Looks like the Lord accepted them in ways we cannot comprehend. Yea, we get the getting better part, but that type of result does not always get answered in a way we want and understand.
IMO the Lord answer those prayers by making US better christians, and people by doing what we could for a stranger. He chose you to do that, fate chose your family. So glad you have been helped, I know I have been by your battle, and my prayers for y'all.
RE: My Wife's Wreck: 1 Year Later - McLeansvilleAppFan - 05-26-2015 04:31 PM
I think this is the type of thread where everyone piling on with the same basic message is not a bad thing at all.
So glad to hear your latest report.