Well, first and foremost, Max and I are fine. Yesterday, we were on our way home from aqua therapy and were involved in an accident.
We were headed westbound on Gulf Beach HWY (two lane road) and a VW Bug was head eastbound. The VW crossed the center line into oncoming traffic and the truck in front of me managed to swerve, but ended up clipping the VW and sent it into a 360 into my van. We were going about 45 mph. The man driving the car died at the scene.
By the grace of God, Max has only some minor bruising and a little lower back pain where his seatbelt was. His chair released and flung him forward. When we came to a stop I immediately turned around and he was face down completely bent over the tray to his chair. I was petrified that his airway was cut off and I couldn't hear him crying due to all the noise around us. I was able to reach back and lift him up, but his chair kept trying to lean forward again, so I had to hold him until a gentleman came up and was able to get in the back of the van and physically hold the chair down, so that I could actually get him out. The car behind me had stopped to come help and we laid Max in her vehicle until the ambulance arrived and took us to the hospital. My wrist is pretty burned and banged up from the airbag and my neck is achy and so far I have found 4 bruises. I was able to lift Max at the scene and take care of him, but by the time we got to the hospital I think my adrenaline was gone, because I couldn't even move him. Now, I am not one to hysterics, but I will say, I was pretty hysterical. They kept asking me what I needed from the van and I finally had to yell at them to stop and let me think for a minute. Max had only enough food for the next hour and I needed to call Aaron. The van can't go to just any repair shop, so I needed to look up the number for the local mobility dealership. I can't even tell you the amount of problems I was trying to trouble shoot. All the while knowing that the van we worked so hard for and so many people helped us with was in ruins and Max's only access to freedom, his chair, was broken. I calmed down and went back to the van to get some of his supplies and proceeded to lose it again when I say how extensive the damage actually was. Aaron was unreachable at the time and I called another wife who was able to call the squadron and commander's wife. Of course, there was so much chaos and traffic at the scene that Aaron didn't get there until long after we left. Below are some pictures of the van. Aaron called from the scene, because after seeing the van he couldn't believe that Max and I were really okay.
I had no idea that the man in the car was killed. I didn't even know a helicopter landed there until someone told me later. Aaron was actually the first person to tell me and he thought I already knew. Looking back it makes sense why they wouldn't let me go to the van without an escort and there was a highway patrolman blocking me from going past the front of the van. Please pray for the repose of that man's soul and for his family. They lost someone special to them yesterday. We have no idea what caused this man to veer into our lane and regardless of the reason he was a person. If there is one thing that Aaron and I have learned and are trying to impart on Max it is that every person regardless of abilities or disabilities, what one "contributes" or doesn't, if a person is "bad" or good, is a person of dignity and we should treat them as such, because we were ALL made in the image and likeness of God.
Now for what I learned from this situation. One is that you are never prepared! In Charleston I had lots of plans in place, people who had access to our house. knew what kind of stuff we needed and so on. I think because Aaron is not traveling right now I had grown into a false security. Of course, he was still unreachable when this happened and I didn't have any numbers from the phone roster for his work. Luckily I had just gotten a couple of numbers from friends in the last two weeks, who were able to get the ball rolling. Once again the AF community stepped up, as they have for us more times than I can count. Mary Anderson, the commander's wife, came to the hospital and stayed with me and actually assisted in playing some switching of vehicles so Aaron could go ahead and get Max home while I was still waiting for x-rays. I cannot thank her enough for this, because she just might have kept me sane.
As for the van, it isn't like we can just take it anywhere. In the midst of all of this we were trying to find a number for the mobility conversion dealership, so that they could get the van. Then there was the pesky detail of how to transport Max. Thankfully, I remembered to tell Aaron to get his strap system that he lays in the van with, so that we could lay him down in the car to get him home. Also, my parents brought over my grandmother's mobility van for us to use temporarily. It looks like our van will be totaled out, so we have some decisions to make, fast. Aaron and I were out looking this morning trying to figure out what all we need and it looks like we will probably upsize into a full-size conversion van. Crazy, I know. The thought of driving something that large makes me want to throw up.
His chair is also broken. The guy is coming to look at it on Monday, but depending on what he says we may have to completely replace the chair. Needless to say Mr. Max is back to a manual chair, which he is not super stocked about. He does, however, understand that his chair is broken and needs to be fixed. He is such a mature little guy.
This is what his chair did during the impact. His chin brace came off and the black shoulder pieces that hold his torso in place released and sent him forward, doubled over. Thank God for the seatbelt. How he managed to not hit his head on the console between the front seats is beyond me. He was basically coming out of the chair.
So I think that is it for now...I know, like there needs to be more. I'm sure this will be a continuing saga for weeks/months to come. Right now, I am just once again grateful for our guardian angels who have really been putting in some overtime recently. For those wondering...I was back behind the wheel today and even drove down the road where it happened. I can't say it was without trepidation, but I also can't allow fear to control me. Peace to everyone and be safe on the roads.