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May 1, 2006
The accident
Based on a number of queries, it's obvious that not everyone knows the full story of our accident. I thought it might be helpful to get the full story in writing from my perspective to appease the curiosity of our friends and save me from a sore throat. ;-) This is mildly graphic, and was actually more difficult to write than I thought it would be, so be warned.
On Friday, April 14th, we were heading South on Interstate 81 in VA. to Courtney's parents house in Columbia, SC to celebrate Easter. Courtney was driving, I was in the passenger seat, and the kids were both in the back seat of our 1998 Toyota Sienna minivan. I believe they were watching Toy Story at the time. At approximately 11:00 AM, while driving in the left lane, Courtney was talking with her mom on the cell phone giving her our location and ETA in Columbia when an 11lb piece of steel (see pictures inline) came through our front windshield hitting Courtney square in the face. I don't remember the sounds, but I vividly remember seeing the gaping round hole in our windshield, about the size of a soccer ball, and seeing Courtney looking very awkward. She did not look natural, and her left arm was hanging off to the side with palm facing up. It was terrifying. I grabbed the steering wheel (I think we were in the right lane at this point), and righted the car and simultaneously slammed on the brake. I think we may have brushed the curb slightly, but there weren't any marks on the tire. I distinctly remember thinking as the car stopped, oh crap, I just stopped on the interstate. I looked behind and saw a dark SUV coming, but not too fast. I must have also been having the thought that I should continue driving to the shoulder, because when the SUV bumped us, we rolled forward about 50-100 feet where I steered the van to the shoulder. At the time of the incident, were were crossing over the James river about 50 or so feet below the car. There is a rather imposing railing, but it's not inconceivable that a car going 65 might crash through or over that barricade. At that point, with my foot on the brake, I opened Courtney's door from across her chest, threw out the piece of steel, which was sitting on her chest, and stuck my head out her door and screamed two or three times to the woman who had already gotten out of her car to call 911. I knew exactly where my cell phone was, but for whatever reason chose to let them call 911 while I tended to Courtney. I took off my polo and started to apply pressure to the big laceration above her right eye. I don't know why, but I actually opened her right eyelids to see that the eye was okay. She had a tear in her lip that was split wide open, and there were multiple teeth missing and one of her front teeth was hanging awkwardly. Every time I tried to tend to her lip and mouth, she would stop me, and at one point told me that she thought her jaw was broken.
At some point, I remembered that she had been on the phone with her mom, and I saw the phone lying open in a straw bag that we keep between the seats. I picked it up with my right hand and her mom was still on the phone and was obviously extremely upset -- she had heard everything. I told her that Courtney was badly injured and that we had called 911. She asked me where we were, and I looked over and saw that we wer exactly at mile marker 165. I think I told her a few times how badly Courtney was hurt. I may have tried to reassure her that she was going to be okay, but I don't remember. I certainly wasn't trying to soften the blow at that point. I then handed the phone to James and she tried to calm them down. Both kids had been crying hysterically since the accident. The woman, who's husband had called 911 was sitting half in the back seat trying to talk with the kids. I can't say enough about the people who bumped into us and then stopped. They were obviously uncomfortable, but they were doing everything they could to help me out. I think the guy called 911 three times to speed them up.
After about 10 minutes, Courtney told me that she thought she would need some help and that we should call someone. I'm a bit of a do-it-yourself-er, so humorously, Courtney may have thought that I would try to save a buck by fixing her up myself. I assured her that help was already on the way. I don't think she ever lost consciousness. I also realized that I was still pressing the brake with a lot of force. I put the car in park and relaxed my leg. I actually had hamstring soreness for a couple days after the accident from either the adrenaline response of first throwing my leg to the brake or the 10 minutes of pressing on the brake. Who knows? The emergency response teams showed up in about 15 minutes (I don't really know how long, but I wasn't getting impatient so it must have been no more than 15 minutes). I helped them put a neck collar on Courtney, and then I got out of the way while they got her out of the car and onto a backboard. They made the call to airlift her pretty quickly based on the extent of her head trauma. I answered some questions and talked with a state trooper for a few minutes. They eventually loaded Courtney onto an ambulance and transported her to the next exit for pickup by the helicopter. I wasn't present for the loading into the ambulance and stayed at the scene with the kids, so I never saw the helicopter. The emergency response team was great. They couldn't have been more helpful and responsive. When Courtney was being removed from the car, someone took the kids to the fire engine to preoccupy them. In fact, one of the workers gave Emma and James $10 for a treat when they got to the hospital. The couple driving the SUV that had hit us offered to take me and the kids to the hospital, which was nice because that was probably more expedient than waiting for the State Trooper. He was friendly, but his lack of urgency was mildly frustrating. After what seemed an interminable amount of time, I transferred our bags into the SUV, and had a few moments alone with the kids. We quickly prayed for Courtney, and a few minutes later we left to go to the hospital. The hospital was about 30 minutes from the accident. The kids talked up a storm the entire way.
At the hospital, I was met by a "patient liason" who was extremely helpful. She was available to help me out with the kids, and all of the luggage I had taken out of the car. They put us in the chapel, which was a nice quiet place to corral the kids. After the kids were settled, I went to check on Courtney. I was told pretty quickly that she was stable and getting a CT scan. I'm not really sure when I found out that her whole face was fractured, but I do remember the trauma surgeon telling me that due to the extent of Courtney's injuries, she was recommending that a local ENT surgeon look at her. She didn't think it would be a problem getting Courtney pushed to the front of the surgery queue, when/if the ENT surgeon on call was ready to go. When Courtney was admitted, they used the wrong name, and when the ENT doctor first showed up he couldn't find her, so he left. He was paged again, and thankfully this time he found us and informed me that his associate Dr. Mao would actually be doing the surgery and that he would go relieve her from her office duties so that she could come to the hospital. At some point along the line I was also informed that it didn't look like she had any major brain or skull injury.
The time in the ER was surreal, the kids were pretty wild. The woman was great, but given the trauma of the event, and the lack of a schedule/routine, the kids weren't behaving well at all, so I couldn't just ignore them and stay with Courtney. I spent the next 2-3 hours bouncing between the chapel and the ER. Courtney was "stable" so she was being largely ignored during those 3-4 hours. There really wasn't much I could do and felt pretty helpless. They had given her something for the pain, but she was in obvious discomfort. At one point, she threw-up what looked like a quart of blood. All of the trauma to her lip/mouth was going straight into her stomach. During surgery they did give her one unit of blood. I cannot remember when she eventually went into surgery, but it was probably around 4:00 PM. I think she went into surgery a few minutes before Courtney's parents arrived. They had dropped everything and drove the 4 hours to Roanoke from Columbia. My sister and her husband showed up a couple hours later to help out.
I saw her just before she went into surgery to tell her that I loved her. She said a few somewhat unintelligible things, they gave me her rings, jewelry and she went into surgery.
Posted by mark at May 1, 2006 12:45 PM Subscribe (FeedBurner)
Comments
So thankful for all the progress and continuing to pray for all of you.
loving you much, Jesus loves you more
Posted by: Bob and Betty Yount at May 1, 2006 4:08 PM
Mark-
I am so impressed with how you responded and for being such a wonderful support to Courtney and the kids. They are so blessed to have you.
Posted by: Kara at May 1, 2006 7:05 PM
Mark and Courtney, We pray for you every night with our kids. They're always asking us "How is Courtney?" It was good to find your post here so that we can stay up to date. God bless you. We are still praying for your family.
Posted by: Paula and Aaron Cook at May 1, 2006 9:14 PM
Mark and Courtney, Reading the sequence of events of that terrible day brought me to tears, even though I knew much of the story. I can see God's hand in so much of what could have been much, much worse. Mark, you did a stellar job reacting to everything w/ strength and wisdom, but I wonder if you had some angelic assistance! Courtney, you have shown remarkable courage and even though you still have many, many days of healing left, we are so grateful that you are alive and that you WILL recover totally. We think of and pray for you every day!
Posted by: Aunt Darian at May 2, 2006 6:05 PM
Mark and Courtney, the whole St. Paul's congregation has been in constant prayer for you during this tragic time. Meg Mages has kept us all informed so we could pray specifically. We will continue as we know this will be a long recuperation time. God is good and will continue to hold you in his arms.
Posted by: Bud Leonard at May 4, 2006 1:44 PM
Mark and Courtney, Tracy Seefried, our daughter, has shared your story and we have passed it on to our small group and to staff at The Jesus Film Project (CCCI) where I work. We are all praying for you. I watch Miracle Stories on cable and encourage you in the future to share your story with them and God's wonderful grace on your lives! May God continue to graciously and completely heal Courtney, may He bless your family abundantly, enlarge and expand your areas of influence, keep His strong Hands upon you, and keep the evil ones far away! Trusting God for great things in your lives!
Posted by: John and Linda Weber at May 4, 2006 2:12 PM