A Miracle and a Tragedy

Paige's accident was all over in the news. In Paige we have truly witnessed a miracle. Who lives to talk about a motorcycle accident at 85 mph and not wearing a helmet??? She was conscious through the entire accident. Never lost consciousness once. She remembers hitting the car, flying through the air, hitting the guard rail, and the pain. She remembers looking down and seeing her leg bent in the wrong direction, and looking down to see blood pooling around her, seeping out of her body. The image in my mind that haunts me is that she was thrown from the bike, over the viadoct, across traffic and into the guard rail of the opposite side. From there, she landed in the middle of the highway, screaming, "Someone move me!" as she was terrified that an oncoming car wouldn't see her and would run her over.

The surgeon on her case said as he looked at the x-rays that her broken knee was one of the worst he's ever seen. He said he's only ever seen one other case as severe. The surgery went amazingly well. They weren't able to fix her leg, as it was too swollen. One of the main arteries in her leg wasn't working. They were able to fix the artery, and then they cut her leg open to give the swelling someplace to go, and put an external fixator in it to hold it steady until next week when the swelling has gone down enough for her to go into surgery again. In the ER they told us that with the way her leg had broken (twisted, then rotated up) all of the muscles and tendons in her knee had most likely been ripped off, that none were attatched. When they got in there for the surgery, they were shocked to find that not one ligament was severed. Every muscle was still attatched. There is a tear in her ACL, and that will eventually have to be fixed, but for now, it's the least of their concerns.

Her wrist was broken and dislocated, her hand was broken, and her thumb was smashed. Initially they told us that she would probably lose her thumb. But when they got into surgery, it wasn't nearly as bad as they expected, and they were able to save it.

Paige is in a lot of pain. They have her on as much medication as they can, and she is still hurting so bad, and will continue to do so for a long time. She has multiple surgeries ahead of her. She will be in the hospital for a minimum of three weeks, and will have to be in intensive rehabilitation for at least a year. But when the surgeon came out after her surgery was over, he said to my mom, "We have witnessed a miracle today. This little girl should be dead."

I cannot express how amazed we all feel. How blessed. You should see her: she looks beautiful lying in that hospital. She has a tiny bit of road rash on the side of her head, but it's tiny. Other than that, her face and her head are perfect. No brain damage. Not even a concussion. No spinal damage. No internal injuries. How is it even possible??? Logically, it isn't.

I keep seeing in my mind the image of angels protectively cradling her head as she fell.

The tragedy in this is that Westley, the driver of the motorcycle, didn't survive. He died last night at the University of Utah Medical Center. We feel such compassion for his family at this time. Yes, driving a motorcycle without a helmet wasn't smart, but who of hasn't done something careless? We've all done something we knew we shouldn't have. Something that could have gotten us hurt. Our prayers are with Wes' family.

Please keep Wes' family and Paige in your prayers as well.