eMail #2 - June 10th, 2000
Hi everybody - thank you so much for your emails and calls - they've been a
wonderful encouragement to us. I wanted to bring you up to where we are
today.
Jill is home. She was released this morning and our friend Julie Martin
drove her home, stopping by the grocery and picking up "soft" foods
for the girls. Since both of them bit their tongues hard, they are on
popsicles, ice cream, soup, you know - soft foods.
Jill is doing alright. She is still real shaky and starting to get very
sore. It's hard for her to get up and move, yet its hard to just sit still.
It's hard enough when you're 8.25 months pregnant to go cruising around the
house - stress and strain nearly every muscle of your body and it's a miracle
she's even moving. She's got to take it real slow.
Lydia is slowly recovering, although her head is still very tender. I
was trying to get some of the blood-tangled hair out and must've pulled on the
wound. That hurt. Her right eye was pretty much swollen shut most
of the day.
Our friend Renee Flickinger came over and scrubbed the kitchen clean and vacuumed
- WHAT A BLESSING!! Thanks so much Renee.
While she did this and the girls rested, I and Penny Castro (she and David had
stayed with the girls all day yesterday at the hospital and David was gracious
enough when Lydia barfed all over him!) - we went to see the van, photograph
it as well as the accident scene. After that, I can truly say that either
there is a God watching over my family or she's so lucky she ought to go buy
some Lotto tickets - I'm still stunned by what we saw.
The van is beyond destroyed. How can I describe it? I don't think
I can. Maybe I'll post pictures after I get them developed on a website.
If it was ANY of a lesser vehicle, I would not have my family alive.
Here is the scenario based upon site observations and the van condition, as
well as eyewitness accounts. The passenger tires went off the road just
ahead of a curve. There was perhaps an inch or two difference between
grade and gravel. Interesting Note: If she had gone off the road there,
it was at least 5 feet further down and water below - both Jill and Lydia would've
landed under water. Anyway, Jill jerked the wheel to get back on the road
and slid into the oncoming lane - right into the guard rail. She slid
along the guard rail for perhaps 30-40 feet, with her drivers tires OFF the
road and dangerously close to falling off. The rail was bent with long
black paint stripes from the van. Both the rubber guard and the gas cover
where laying there. A large semi had just passed in that lane and she
couldn't see around the corner - I think she must've been terrified another
vehicle would come screaming around the corner and head-on collision with her
at 55 mph - it was a busy road.
She jerked the wheel hard to break away from the guard rail and jump back on
the road. This swerved her back into her lane but she couldn't stop in
time - the curve was too sharp and she plunged over the embankment at full speed.
It appears to be about 10 feet down to the ground - she cleared the barbed wire
fence as the van began to spin. The entire back of the van, on the upper
drivers slide slammed into a massive tree - we saw glass particles embedded
in the tree 12-13 feet off the ground. She snapped off a couple good size
branches. Interesting note: just one more foot south and she would've
head-on'd the tree and been instantly killed. Guaranteed. It was
sobering.
The van continued to spin and slammed into the ground below (again, it was about
10' down) right along the ridge where the drivers side and roof meet. It kind
of bounced down onto the drivers side and slid. Lydia's car seat wasn't
ejected - the roof above her collapsed. Seeing the damage on the van,
I can't fathom how she lived. The window frame was over a 45 degree angle
bent into the seat where she was sitting. The collision with the ground
broke Jill's seat just under the headrest and thrust it forward, smashing Jill
against the steering wheel. Maranda says she has two "angel brothers"
- Daniel and Matthew. She says emphatically that Daniel and Matthew worked
real hard to make sure the "steering wheel didn't break". If
it had, and it should've, Jill would've been impaled. She was pivoted
in the crash and her head was thrust down next to the steering wheel.
The first person on the scene was a lady named Kellie, who was running late.
She works in the pediatrics section of Swedish. She was in heels and a
skirt, but went running down that steep, muddy embankment and over the barbed
wire fence as fast as she could. She was a total lifesaver and got the
girls under control quickly.
The first EMT on the scene said "This is as worse as it gets." to
Penny later. I don't think he believed there were no life threatening
injuries or deaths. He climbed in the van and held Jill's hand, describing
what they were doing and keeping her from going into shock. Jill cries
when she thinks of these two wonderful people. And I don't blame her.
We have a long road ahead of us. We'll need a new van, new car seats.
We have muchos insurance to deal with (hey, two helicopter rides aren't cheap!).
But the main thing is Jill is sore and stiff. Her mom is flying out right
away, so that'll help.
Again, thank you all for your continued prayers, thoughts, emails, calls and
cards. From all of us, thank you.
Love - Phil