Tragedy is hard to handle. When I saw my sister, Suzie, deal with the death of her 21 year old son in 2000, I thought I saw pain that knew no bounds. That was 8 years ago. She is still grieving.
Then, early one morning in April, I got a call from Suzie.
"Amy, I just got a phone call. Rachael was in a terrible accident. I need to fly down to Florida. Can you help me get tickets? I can't think."
My own mind was spinning. What? Her only daughter in a bad accident? But she already lost a son! How could this be?
"Yes," I told her. "I will get you a plane ticket. Would you like me to get a car for you too? And do you want a hotel?"
"Whatever. I guess I'll need a car to get around. I don't know. I need to pack. Just get the ticket."
I looked up tickets, trying to find something not too expensive. My sister works hard, but since her separation, she has lived with a lot less. She budgets all of her expenses to keep on top of them. This definitely would not be a budgeted expense. I finally found something for that afternoon, late. I called her.
A friend drove her to the airport so she would not have to leave her own car there. Then I waited.
O God, please spare Suzie. She already lost a son. She has endured so much with life...brain surgery, breakup of her family, loss of so much. Please, don't take her daughter....please! I prayed very hard.
A few hours later, while she was on layover in Philly, she called.
"I just learned that she is stable," she said. I sighed a sigh of relief. I had prayed for life. Now that I knew she was alive, I wondered, in what condition? Did she have a brain injury? Was she paralyzed? Was she on life support, just waiting until someone gave the ok for it to be removed? I still agonized.
That evening, Suzie sent me a text. "She has immense internal injuries and many broken bones. But no head or spine trauma."
And so began a very long journey back. For two weeks, Rachael was kept sedated because of intense injuries to internal organs which required them to keep her open so they could keep an eye on it.
When she finally began to heal, and they sewed her up, she still had surgeries for broken arm, hand, leg and pelvis. That took another two weeks.
She is now moved to a rehab hospital, where she does rehab 3 times a day. She cannot walk at this time, or sit, or manage on her own. My sister is determined to stay with her daughter until she is well.
As you can imagine, the expense of living in another state has taken a toll on my sister's limited budget. And though I hate asking for money, I have started a Fund to help her.
If you are moved by this story and would like to contribute, please do so at the PayPal button below. Or contact me and I will send you my address and you can send a check.
I also ask that you share this with your family and friends. The fund raising has been hard. I would appreciate having the word spread.
I pray that you never have to deal with losing a child. I pray that you never know what it is like to almost lose a second child. Thank you.
You can contribute here:
paypal.me/SuzieHimesFund
paypal.me/SuzieHimesFund
