By Some Miracle

Our family had just celebrated her college graduation mere months ago. It seemed the decision to move to Atlanta to pursue a career at LIFE University had been the right path for our only daughter.

It was midsummer now, and she had made the trip back to Michigan to attend a family member’s wedding. We had enjoyed having her home for a few consecutive weeks; after all, she had been in Georgia for many years, often not able to even come home for holidays.

It was late morning as she put the final pieces of luggage into her car. Her dad, brother, and I said our goodbyes in the driveway, sending her off with hugs. As she drove off, my husband and I both headed to our jobs.

It was about an hour later, as I was standing in the checkout line at Walmart making a purchase for my work, when an unknown number began calling my phone. Not wanting to be rude, I sent the first two calls to voicemail. Finally, the third time, I answered, a bit annoyed.

On the other end there was a woman’s voice asking me if I was me, and then she proceeded to tell me that my daughter had been involved in an accident. She said nothing more than, “Please head to the coordinates of the two roads where it occurred,” which was a few cities away. The phone went silent. I immediately called my husband and told him to start the drive as well.

Approximately 15 minutes into my drive, I received another call from dispatch telling me to head straight to the hospital because she had been taken there.

My husband arrived at the crash site to see that she had been hit by a semi truck. The police officer on site offered no other information than that there are usually no survivors in these types of accidents. My husband dropped to his knees screeching, believing she was gone after seeing the car.

I arrived at the hospital to see my daughter very bloodied and broken but able to identify me. I knew for certain that by some miracle her head had been spared from injury. I did not know the many injuries she had sustained, but I knew she was alive. She was not feeling anything below her waist either.

I had a flashback to the graduation we had just had for her and the promising future that she was most excited about, now being a chiropractor. She was a healthy and clean eater and was determined to inspire others to do the same. Now I wondered, had all that schooling and debt been racked up all for nothing? Would she even be able to adjust subluxations now? Would she even be able to walk?

It was determined she had multiple fractures: both hips, broken breastbone, cut liver, broken shoulder, pelvis, etc. She was broken from the neck down. The pain was excruciating, as one can imagine. She underwent surgery, which ended up putting her in an external fixator. It is a metal frame with pins placed outside the body to stabilize and align the fractured hips. Seeing her in this type of pain was unbearable for me.

She spent many weeks in the hospital and then another. She remembered nothing about the accident. The driver of the semi quit driving altogether but claimed she had pulled out in front of him. There were no witnesses or cameras. No one received any tickets.

She was sent home in our care in a wheelchair and could not bear any weight for almost two additional months. A ramp was built in our home to accommodate her. There was very little that she could do for herself.

Her recovery was over a year long, and it set her way back in her career. There were cognitive delays, headaches, and lots of confusion. There was physical therapy and many doctor visits, so she could not return to Atlanta and begin studying for her boards. The fear that she had not retained all that she worked so hard to learn was real.

Gradually she fought her way back physically, mentally, and emotionally. Passing her boards to become licensed took more times than it would have, but eventually she overcame that obstacle as well. There continue to be headaches and chronic pain, which is her new normal.

She has relocated now to Chicago, and it is disheartening as her parents to see the struggle, because she has not been able to establish herself financially or professionally. Were the eight years of schooling all for nothing, simply taken away in a random accident? These questions never stop, but our faith keeps us moving forward and believing all things happen for a reason.