Those Who Offered Help Kept Forever In Her Heart

Five years ago, my son was involved in a vehicle-pedestrian accident and suffered a traumatic head injury. He was comatose for 39 days.

From the moment I was notified, support was there. Don’t let anyone tell you that those wonderful people working in the Deaconess emergency room are just doing their job. They were kind and considerate of my feelings while doing an excellent job for my son. During the next several weeks I experienced love and caring from people I had never met. One woman who had been head-injured herself drove from Sprague to offer support.

“Grandma” Marge, who is over 80, was there every day for hours, just sitting with me. She wouldn’t leave because “what if my boy wakes up and I’m not here?” The Lord rewarded Grandma Marge by allowing her to be the first non-medical person to see Skeet when he woke up.

All of us in the intensive care waiting room were afraid of the outcome for our loved ones. We sat together, held hands, cried, joked when we could and gave each other strength.

A man from Tri-Cities whose wife was airlifted in, walked up to me and in the midst of his own pain hugged me and said he was praying for Skeet. A couple from Tonasket offered me the use of their motel room.

My friends Alice and Theresa were there every day. They encouraged me when the doctor said there was very little hope. Many of the kids from Cheney High School visited daily. One young man begged to be allowed in to see Skeet to give Skeet his senior pin. The list is endless. There aren’t enough words to thank everyone.

My son now lives on his own and goes to college. This young man who wasn’t supposed to live and who was then supposed to remain in a semi-vegetative state for the rest of his life, is now 21 years old and healthy.

Tomorrow is Easter, a perfect time to pause and count blessings. It’s something we often forget to do in this harried world. My son’s recovery from his coma is one blessing. And the Lord truly blessed us by bringing all of those wonderful people into our lives. I have lost touch with many of them, but they are always in my heart and in my prayers.