6-7-17

I will start by saying my 16 year old daughter lived through this Wednesday evening. 

 I got a phone call that no parent should ever get.......Kayla was in a really bad rollover accident. By the grace of God, she somehow walked away. Her vehicle is totaled, but she is alive. She walked away for one reason according to all first responders, that was her seat belt. It saved her life. She is sore, has some bruising and had some glass shards and road rash, but that is it.

She was coming around a 90 degree turn a mile from home, heading towards town when her phone slid across her dash. According to her, her eyes never left the road, but she did reach to stop it while making the turn. When coming out of the turn, her passenger front tire hit a bit of gravel and she panicked, over-correcting into the opposite lane, at this point, she over-corrected to get back in her lane and lost control. She ended up on the left side, hitting gravel, then a decent sized ditch where it launched her vehicle into what she remembers being 3-4 rolls before finally stopping. She recalls it feeling like slow motion, believing she would be meeting her maker while ducking her head and clinging to the steering wheel for her life. She said each time the vehicle hit upside down, more glass shattered and flew at her, she remembers watching a Taylor Swift CD come flying through the cab and breaking. When it stopped, she noticed her phone and grabbed it to call us. She was hanging upside down by her seat belt. Her memory was blurry here, but she just knew she smelled gas and was worried it would explode and somehow scrambled out away from the vehicle, getting cut up and lodging some glass shards into her knee on the way.

When I got a call, it was her and she sounded shaken, but simply said she had been a small accident. Nate and I jumped into the van to get to her quickly, only assuming a fender bender and maybe she had hit a deer. As we came around the corner, I saw her Suburban flipped upside down and became hysterical. I thought all the worst. I just knew she called me trapped from the vehicle and was going to need to jaws of life to get her out. I saw myself holding her trapped and helpless. All the horrible images were flying through my mind as we came around the corner. When we finally approached the scene, I saw her in shock, bleeding, STANDING! I immediately grabbed her and held on, but I stopped myself and yelled at her to sit down, asking her what hurt. I began assessing her from head to toe asking how many times she thought she could have hit her head or if she thought she had been knocked unconscious at all. She was certain she hadn't. About 6 neighbors and passerby's had stopped, although not one had called 911!  I made the call myself. FYI, if you come across a rollover vehicle and stop, CALL 911 and make sure the person is sitting. She was in extreme shock. The hospital released her shortly after her arrival, but she could have had head or stomach injuries and I knew it was critical to get her completely assessed before believing she was actually okay. 

We are all still recovering from the shock and our family seems that much more patient with each other after coming so close to tragedy. I have found deep appreciation for all signs of life that comes from my babies, including the messes. 

....................This has shaken me as a mother.......................