THE FAMILY HEATH

Ok, so last summer, June 2012 to be exact, we drove for the 2nd time to Oregon to see Chris's parents. We drove out of Amarillo around 5:30 am. Around 6:22 we came up on a wreck on I-40 West, about 20 min on the Amarillo side of Tucumcari New Mexico. What follows is our experience with this crazy accident! I feel like I need to share it in order to move past it. Feel free to skip right past this, I just have to document it somewhere!

**Warning: Disturbing Images**

So...we both noticed this white SUV off to the right of the road. Chris started to slow down and then we both saw the smoke coming up from the hood. Chris slowed faster and started pulling over. About that time we noticed the front passenger hanging out the window screaming. I had 911 on the phone as we rolled to a stop. I'll be honest, it was VERY frustrating. The 911 operator had to figure out who to send to help! We were still in Texas but the closest real help was Tucumcari.

There were 2 bodies on the ground that we saw first and the lady hanging out the window. I thought she was waving people down, nope, it was her arm hanging almost completely severed, it had been flung out the window when the car rolled. The driver, her boyfriend, had fallen asleep at the wheel. The car hit a grate and flipped several times before settling like this.

So, Chris's Combat Medic training kicked in like crazy. It really was amazing to watch. He first ran to the girl laying right behind the car, you can see her legs in the pics. She was an 11 year girl who had been sitting in the middle in the backseat, asleep, no seat belt. She was screaming, a lot. Couldn't move much but her leg that was bent a little. We could hear her screaming in the van. The kids and I stayed in our car with the windows up and the I-pad on!

Once he did a quick check of the girl he went to the lady on the left side of the pics, in the back. She was the sister of the driver, sitting in the backseat, with no seat belt on. He quickly assessed her, she was killed on impact. He then ran back to the car to the passenger side to check the lady who was stuck in, with the mangled arm. She was freaking out, like crazy. Chris then noticed there was a little boy strapped in his car seat right behind his mom. The crazy lady never once asked about her son, she just screamed at her boyfriend that she would have driven if he'd just woken her up.

Anyway, so Chris and the trucker cut the little 3 year old out of his car seat after Chris checked him over to make sure he could be moved. Chris brought him to me and Charly. He was shaking so bad from shock so we covered him with a blanket and turned on Hop to distract him from the continued screaming. He had blood and dirt all over. He was such a sweet kid.

So, Chris had to cut straps of the seat belts to tie a tourniquet on the mom's arm. She probly ended up loosing it to be honest...but at least she didn't bleed out! About that time we had 2 more guys stop but they didn't really know what to do to help. I told them to stay out of Chris's way! They then asked Chris if he'd checked "the other body". We had no idea there was someone else. The driver, and father of the little girl, had also been thrown and the car had rolled over him; no seat belt. As it turns out he was actually very close to our car but at an angle that made it hard to see...which was good since Charly has an incredibly morbid curiosity...I just know she's gonna do something in medicine.

Chris found blankets strewn along the road for the 2 dead bodies and 1 for the girl who was going into shock bad by know. It was bout 20 minutes gone by this point and we still didn't have any emergency vehicles showing up. An off-duty EMT happened to drive by on her way to Cali and stopped to help Chris. She called 911 again to tell them to get a copter in the air and was able to tell them better what was going on with the 3 survivors. Chris tried to tell them when I called but they didn't wanna listen to him. He only had 1 semester of nursing school left but his experiences in Iraq back in '04 are really what helped him deal so well with this. He said that when he checked the driver he was face down, when turned over...well...let's just say that Chris said he hadn't seen gore like that since Baghdad.

The EMT that stopped had Chris sit with the girl that was thrown and hold her head steady. She had an obvious broken neck/back and the beginnings of a deviated septum. (is that right? her trachea was started to bend). Chris said she was swearing like a sailor one minute then the next begging him to stay with her and in the next breath cursing him specifically.

Anyway, FINALLY after 40 minutes of us being there the ambulance showed up and took the young girl first. The mom and her son were loaded up on another that showed up a few minutes later. The highway patrol came too and got every one's statements and then we were free to go. About 10 min down the road we saw the 1st ambulance pulled over and the helicopter from Albuquerque drop to get the little girl, she was in bad shape. Chris said that 911 was having a hard time getting help to us, Amarillo hospitals were closer but our chopper was grounded due to fog and bad weather. ALB was the closest.

It was all surreal. Chris had a huge adrenaline crash and fell asleep within 20 minutes..for like 3 hours! I was wired and HAD to talk to someone so my poor brother got an ear-full. When Chris finally woke up again we couldn't stop talking/thinking about it. Our new mantra on road trips is "no chances". If we feel even a little bit sleepy we speak up. Seriously folks, stay alert, don't be a hero....or you could be dead. For the next 6 months anytime I heard about a wreck or saw one or saw a car on the side of the road my heart would pound and I'd break into a cold sweat. I had bad dreams for the next month. That's only from helping at a car accident for an hour that I had nothing to do with...kinda made me see at least little bit of what our returning soldiers experience. And my heart goes to all of them.

I did finally search based on the little info we could gather. They had been on a trip from Missouri to Nevada for a funeral. I was able to find an article about the accident in the Hannibal Missouri newspaper about it too. I pray for the survivors often, especially the little girl who lost her dad.

Anywho...like I said, no need to read this...I seriously feel better about it all now though. And one good thing came out of it, Charly NEVER argues about wearing a seat belt and I don't think she ever will. She kept asking why the Daddy wasn't getting up and how he died. Grateful she never had dreams about it all.

Chris is checking the lady that got thrown, left of the car. The guy on the right was a trucker Chris flagged down, he had a fire extinguisher we needed.

Some of the belongings that were just strewn all down the side of I-40. If you can make it out, just to the right of the red bag, almost dead center (pardon the pun) and a little to the right, is the driver. A little too close to our car for comfort.

The volunteer firemen from the nearest little town, don't remember what it was! They had to get the jaws of life to get the woman out of the car, then Chris came to get her son from me and carry him to the ambulance that eventually showed up. The sweet boy looked up and Chris and begged him not to leave him, his mom was still out of control in the back of the ambulance.

This grate is the same kind that the car hit...except the one he hit was 1/4 mile back.

It's true. It's now been 2 flippin' years since my last post. You could say ALOT has happened. I'm not even gonna attempt to re-hash it in order. For now, here's the update. Had a baby boy, Ethan Lewis Heath July 22, 2011. Had a fantastic delivery and recovery! I LOVE birthing babies...but I hate being pregnant. Weird! So...following is some random pics from the last few years. We've had a great time!

(And pardon the weird placement...i'm still a novice at Blogger!)