The Accident

Saturday, November 13, 2010 started out as just a normal day.  We all got up, ate breakfast or had coffee and started getting ready for the day.  Chad had a golf outing planned.  Chandler and Caleb had a fun day planned with the McKinney family.  They were going to ride dirt bikes and then go back to the house for some fun with friends.  Corben, Carlie and I were just planning to hang out at home.  Chad left about 10:45 to take Chandler and Caleb to Anna's house before he had to meet for golfing.  As they walked out, I said "be careful".  When they left, I sat on the couch and messed around on the computer for a while.  I started thinking how nice it would be to go buy me something new to wear.  But, I don't like shopping with the kids.  So, why would I even consider it?  I kept debating it in my head.  For some reason, I decided I would give it a try.  So, I started to get the kids and I dressed and ready to go out.  We got to the mall about 2:00 that day.  At around 3:30, my phone rang.  I answered and it was Chad.  He said that he was finished golfing.  He also said that Caleb had called and said that Chandler had been in an accident.  He didn't know any details.  He just knew that they had called an ambulance to take him to the hospital.  Immediately, my heart started racing.  We hung up the phone and I started preparing to leave the mall and meet Chad at the ER.  Chad called back and said he spoke to someone at the ER and they said that if Chandler was being brought to Lewis Gale Hospital then that was a good thing.  The other hospital in town is where you're taken if things are more serious.  So, we felt some relief.  I got in the van to leave the mall and Chad called again.  He said he found out Chandler was headed to the other hospital (Roanoke Memorial).  When he said that, I knew it was more serious than we thought.  I didn't know how to get to that hospital so I met him at a local garage that a church member owns so that Chad could leave his truck there and we could ride together.  Soon after we found out he was going to a different hospital, we also found out that he was being air lifted.  Hearing that news was horrible.  To be air lifted is never a good sign.

We finally got to the ER.  We went in, checked in and they said that Chandler had already been there about 8 minutes.  So, we sat down to wait.  Caleb wasn't there yet.  He was still in route with the McKinney family.  We were sitting for only a few minutes when a couple of ladies approached us.  They were hospital Chaplains.  That was upsetting.  First of all, we haven't even seen Chandler yet.  And, now we're being approached by Chaplains.  That's not a good sign either.  Chad told him they weren't needed.  He let them know that he was a Minister himself.  Soon after, a lady put us in a room outside of the regular ER waiting room so that we could have some privacy.  We went in there and sat and waited to hear any information they could share with us.

We finally got some information.  Chandler had a badly broken leg, broken shoulder blade, a pretty minor gash on his head, punctured lung.  We also found out that the EMT's had to resuscitate and intubate him.  He was also unconscious.  They were still doing tests on him so we couldn't see him yet.

Friends started showing up at the hospital to support us.  Caleb and the McKinneys finally arrived.  It was so good to see them.  They finally came to get me and Chad to take us back to see Chandler.  He was still in the ER at this time so when we walked through there were other patients and curtains separating the areas.  We got to Chandler's room.  We walked in and saw him.  He was just laying there, like he was sleeping.  He was covered with blankets.  He had a tube coming out of his mouth that was helping him breathe.  His hair was dirty.  I could still see dirt and grass on the back side of his neck at his pillow.  I just wanted him to open his eyes so that I would know he was going to be okay.  It was so hard to see him like that, knowing that he's so badly hurt and there is nothing I can do about it.  A  Mama is supposed to be able to help her children.  The doctors and nurses talked to us a little bit about his condition.  Nothing sounded good.  They were trying to get him to another room and out of ER.  We left him and went back to our ER waiting room while we waited on them to get him moved to another area.  About an hour later, they had him moved so they took us and all of the people there with us to the 9th floor waiting area.  We couldn't go see Chandler again yet because they were still getting him set up in the new area.

By this time, there were already so many wonderful people who were at the hospital with us.  It was so encouraging to us to have so many people around us at such a horrible time in our lives.

We were finally called and told that we could come see Chandler.  He was taken to the 9th floor to the Neuro/Trauma ICU so we walked through the big doors, past all of the other rooms to his room.  We walked in.  He was covered in a big blow up kind of blanket to keep him warm.  His head was cleaned up so he looked a lot better.  You couldn't see the dirt anymore.  He just looked like he was sleeping.  We stood by him, touched him and talked to him.  I told him how much I loved him as well as the rest of his family.  For the rest of the night, we could come in and out to be with him.  When we weren't with Chandler, we would sit in the waiting area with all of our wonderful friends.  In the middle of the night, we tried to get some rest there in the waiting area.  Chad rested a little but I could not go to sleep.  My eyes just kept going from watching the clock to the TV.  I finally decided about 3:00 am that I wanted to go spend some time with Chandler.  So, I headed back there by myself.  When I got to him, I was happy to find that David and Connie McKinney were in there with him.  They were sitting with him, talking to him, praying and reading scripture aloud.  I can't tell you how happy I was to see them in there.  We love the McKinney family and I loved that they were in his room and Chandler wasn't alone.  They stayed with me for a while.  I just pulled a chair up beside Chandler's bed.  I put my hand on his arm and just held him and looked at him for an hour.  Connie sat in there and read scripture aloud while I was there.  It was a sweet time.  They had also taken the blankets off of Chandler.  So, he was just laying there in his hospital gown.  His legs and arms were exposed and he looked so much better.  It made me hopeful.  Also, since his arms were now exposed, I saw that he still had his bracelet on.  He's worn one of those rubber bracelets on his arm for about 2 years.  He never takes it off.  It says "Jesus loves me".  It was so good to see it.  It also reminded me of how much Jesus does love Chandler and it showed Chandler's love for Jesus.  Here he is 16 years old and he's not ashamed to wear a "Jesus loves me" bracelet.