The Night of Insult

This page describes what the medical profession terms as 

"THE INSULT" 

Below is the description of Hannah's automobile accident and spinal cord injury... a new journey that our family began on January 14, 2012

Night of "Restart"

Our family waited restlessly for Hannah to come home. It was Saturday and our four children and I had been packing all day to go on a short weekend trip to the coast. The car was packed with our bags, and the only thing left was for Hannah to come home from work.

Where was she? Why has it taken so long?
To be honest we, were ticked off...especially me. 

I would later learn that she had a very busy day; multiple weddings, client visits and tastings. I would come to find out that the reason why my wife was initially late for our trip was that she was doing what she always does...she was giving. She had stayed late from work to visit and comfort a friend of ours. This is just like Hannah, putting others before herself.

Our families restlessness grew into frustration, so I sent her a few abrasive texts. Messages that I would never forget, but always regret. The gravity of how I had spoken to my wife in a text message would later lay heavy on my heart, and forever change the way that I communicate with her. I would soon have to struggle with deep feelings of regret, and fight the condemning voices that told me it was my fault that she was injured.

After the text messages, in an act of anger, I called her cell phone.
This phone conversation, along with the text messages that I had sent, became the evidence that the Holy Spirit would use to expose to me my ugliness and need for a drastic change in my marriage. When is it ever helpful to be in strife?
How can you love someone and speak to them with such harsh tones?
Is not the root of this kind of conversation hatred?

Scripture says that "where there is strife and division there is confusion and every evil work."

I know now that I contributed to Hannah's accident. Instead of filling her car with love and peace, I filled it with confusion and strife.  I had distracted her. I had taken her focus off of driving safely. I had given her a hard time. That phone conversation was a mistake that would forever change my life. It was at that very moment that she hung up her phone and entered the intersection of Road 200 and Highway 41.

We would never reach that sunny destination...

According to Hannah she had just completed the phone call with me and had dropped her cell phone, when she unbuckled her seat belt and reached down to pick it up...the mistake that would forever change her life.
Convinced she saw a green light she turned left to go southbound on highway 41. At that moment she pulled in front of north bound highway traffic and was hit on in her drivers side door...without a seatbelt.

 Later on, when discussing the accident, the Highway Patrolman described to me how the Mercedes saved her life. "You picked the right vehicle to put your wife in", he quietly explained to me as we stood outside the emergency room , "the air bags kept her from being ejected from the car."

Help Arrives
A retired EMT pulled over at the incident and began to care for the passengers of the other vehicle, and then my wife...a decision that forever changed our lives.

He reported to my father, who is a retired Sheriff, that he had an overwhelming feeling that he had to help. Being that he has seen too many accidents over his many years of service he usually does not stop to help... but this time it was different.

When he approached the Mercedes he saw that Hannah's driver door was crushed but that the passenger door was wide open. This fact alone is a miracle. Mercedes doors lock when the car is in gear. Since our purchase of the vehicle there have been numerous times when we have tried to open the doors once it is on auto-lock, to no avail.

The EMT saw that Hannah's head was in the passenger seat, her body was upside down near the roof of the car, and her feet were pinned under the steering wheel.

Hannah later reported to me, when we first spoke in the emergency room that her angel opened the door for the EMT and that the angel was holding her on His lap! She described perfectly what had happened, and where she was laying, even though she was unconscious. She was awake in the spirit and knew it all!

The EMT saw that Hannah wasn't breathing and adjusted her airway. He saved her life at that moment. He prayed with her, administering the healing power of God, secured her neck, and called in the airlift helicopter. The helicopter arrived just as the other emergency services got to the scene... a blessing of God, being that the accident was in the remote foothills.

CHP Officers
Being that my father is a retired Sheriff, the officers at the scene immediately recognized Hannah as one of his family. They came to my father's house to report her accident personally. Because of their efforts to contact my father, the amount of time that it took for me to be informed of her accident was reduced by several hours. In fact, I was at the ER in the early morning hours before the hospital would finally contact me concerning Hannah.
How many hours would the kids and I have waited?...but because of the favor of God we knew instantly. My father was able to contact me and we headed to the hospital.

My dad and the two deputies prayed at that moment, directing more healing power to Hannah.

Lifted by Helicopter to ER
Once at the ER waiting room the hospital staff informed me that they had not officially identified Hannah, and that she was brought in as a Jane Doe. Despite all my efforts to have them allow me to see her, they would not. It was again the Highway Patrolman that gave my father and I access to enter the ER. Without that man's favor with my father I do not know how long I would have wondered if Hannah was alive or not.

Once I got next to Hannah's side I was greatly relieved. She was conscious and speaking, although she was bleeding from a large wound on her head.

Doctors initial report
After the emergency staff performed X-rays and a MRI they sewed up her scalp. The results of their findings showed a small brain and lung bleed, a broken first rib, significant breaks in the cervical spine at C7 & T1,  multiple ligament tears in C1, C6, C7, T1, and a compressed spinal cord.

Even though her scalp was gashed open to the skull for about 6 inches, it was a miracle she had no significant brain injury or a completely severed spinal cord. The main concern was the diagnosis of acute central chord syndrome.