My Car Accident Story

What most people don't know is that a week before the serious car accident I was in, I was in my first fender bender car accident. That accident scared me to death. I was shaking for hours afterwards. I think I merely got in that accident to prepare me for the accident that was to follow.

The detail are still a bit hazy, as I was looking down, and Molly was completely out of it because of her head injury. But, I will do my best to tell the story.

Molly and I had found a ride with a family of 7 (5 kids), a widow of a BYU professor, and another BYU student over Thanksgiving break from Provo to Las Vegas in a 12-passenger van. My sister Katie, brother-in-law Connor, and their daughter Emmeline live on base in Vegas. My parents flew from DC to Vegas to spend Thanksgiving there as well. The drive down was awesome. I slept some, and played with the kids some. Molly got wrapped into drawing pictures of everything and anything the kids could think of. Poor girl. When we arrived in Vegas, Katie and Emmeline picked us up at a restaurant right off the freeway. We spent the week/end making and eating yummy food, playing with Emmeline, and just hanging out with family. I was pretty glad to have a break from school-- even though I did plenty of school work while I was there. When the week was over, we got our stuff packed up and met back at the same spot to get picked up. Molly and I slept some on the way back, especially since it was approaching night time/darkness where we were. Molly also drew more and more and more as we watched movies.

When we got into the area of Scipio, Utah we stopped at a rest stop for gas and to stretch our legs. It was around 5 or 6. When the car was filled up, and all of us were back, we piled in the car and made our way back towards Provo. Unfortunately, we didn't make it far. On our way onto the freeway (again, my head was down, as I was looking at my iPad) we were hit. Apparently we were going too slow and another car was going too fast and we got t-boned RIGHT where I was sitting. I was in the back right of the car. Right as the impact occurred I remember a lot of screaming. I felt like my lungs were crushed, I couldn't breathe. (Fortunately, that sensation wasn't as bad as the rest of me.) The window to the right of me was crushed and gone, my glasses had flown out the window, and there was blood-- we had no idea who's blood it was. Molly had memory loss, she was FREAKING OUT. And when I saw freaking out, I mean freaking out. She was scaring all the kids in the car. When the BYU student tried calming her down, she turned to me and asked who this guy was and why he was here. Then she started asking where we were, and where we were coming from and going. She asked who all these people were. She was completely confused. I kept answering her questions, but by the 10th time, I was starting to get really concerned. When the first set of paramedics got there I told them what was going on from my perspective, and told them to get Molly first. I had already called my parents and let them know what happened briefly but had to go once the paramedics got there. I saw them taking on a second stretcher, the passenger of the pickup truck that hit us. They were in the first ambulance that was there locally (took 15 minutes to get to us). Then we waited another 30 ish minutes for the ambulance from the hospital in Fillmore to get to us.

They first got the little girl sitting between Molly and I and took her out of the car. (Her head was the one bleeding as we discovered.) She was in a lot of pain, and it was so sad and so scary. After they took Molly, I kept saying over and over again "you're being so brave" to the little girl. Turns out she broke her collar bone and got staples in her head after colliding heads with Molly.

Then they finally got to me. At this point I was in a LOT of pain. My ankle was killing me. It felt like there was glass in my ankle. Ouch. Also, even though I could move my toes (HALLELUJAH I'm not paralyzed) I couldn't move much else. My hips were in an EXTREME amount of pain!! I just remember this one guy who saw the accident run up and he stood by me the whole time, holding my hand, talking to me about what was going on and about my life, and advised me not to move. He was also one of the men who helped the paramedics get me into the ambulance. When the paramedics got there for me and the little girl, they took her first (it was easier to reach her) and then they had to get me. I screamed a lot. It hurt sooooo bad. They had to lay me down on a stretcher they had weaseled into the van. The man who was with me was the only reason I wasn't in worse shape. He made sure the paramedics were attentive to my ankle and my hips. When they finally got me out of the car on the stretcher and to the ambulance the man said his goodbyes and I started crying hysterically. He was God sent.

The ambulance ride was about half an hour and the poor little girl. She was in the ambulance alone (well, with me, but no parents). She was so terrified. I kept saying it would be okay, I hope that helped some.

When we got to Fillmore hospital we were rushed in and I immediately was explaining what was hurting, how bad of pain I was in (about a 12/10 at this point), and asking how everyone else was doing. I was so worried about my sister Molly. They took me in for x-rays and CT scans of my body and had to flatten me out. At this point my legs we still bent with my feet on the stretcher but my knees up. It hurt soooo bad. (I learned later that I had a sprained knee, and that's why it hurt so bad.) But, they did the scans, and got me some pain meds to ease the crazy pain. They told me I had fractured my pelvis and ribs.

They didn't have the necessities to take care of me in Fillmore, so they told me they were life flighting me to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center (the hospital in Provo). They wrapped my pelvis. It was one of the most excruciating moments of my life. I was then life flighted up to Provo. When I arrived, my mom's cousin Candy was there waiting and we listened as the doctor told explained my injuries in more detail. I fractured my pelvis in 2 places, and fractured my sacrum. I also broke three ribs. My ankle wasn't broken, just sprained. Within 20ish minutes I was moved to a hospital bed and was brought to a room. When I got upstairs, my brother-in-law's brother and his wife were there and they helped me fill out all that nasty paperwork the hospital gives you. The next day my parents flew into town from Vegas and stayed for some time.

I was visited by many friends and family members. I felt so blessed. It was nice to have the support when I wasn't sleeping and was in so so so much pain.

In time, I was released from the hospital and my mom and I went to my dad's friend Steve's house in Provo. He was soooo nice to let us stay there while I recovered and finished school. It was so nice to have the support of my classmates who helped me finish my classwork and helped me study for finals. They were so sweet. Once finals were over, we made the trip home...

When we got to the airport, the flight had been cancelled. The soonest they could get us home was Dec 26th-- the day AFTER Christmas. So, my mom talked to every supervisor's supervisor's supervisor and we finally found a flight out of Boise, Idaho the next day. We weren't able to get a rental car, as all the one way rental cars were taken, so we prayed and posted on FB, and within a short time the Riedlers came and picked us and ALL our luggage up and we were on our way. We drove halfway to Burley, Idaho where my Aunt Catie picked us up and we drove to Burley for the night. The next morning Catie's husband Steve's grandaughter came and picked us up and drove us to Boise. We got on our flight and flew to Denver. Our layover was longer than expected as our flight home was delayed. In time, we got on the plane and flew home. I fell asleep on the flight, and when I awoke, I was in monstrous amounts of pain. We had left one of my three pain meds in Burley so I was only on 2 which was disastrous. But, we managed to get to Baltimore, MD and we were met by my Daddy and my brother-in-law Kenny. They got us and we drove back to Springfield, FINALLY.

Within a few weeks I saw an orthopedic surgeon and he let me know things were healing nicely. A couple weeks after that we saw him again and he said I was healed completely! SO, although I had a roller coaster of a ride and was in 10/10 pain for a while, I was able to heal and now I am back to normal:) In fact, I feel better than ever.

Life isn't always as bad as it seems. In the darkest, most painful moments, we can find true happiness and blessings that we would have missed otherwise. I am grateful for these dark moments because I have seen miracles occur right in front of my eyes through these dark moments.

- J