Miracles We Have Received

At a little past 2p.m., on Wednesday August 23rd, my mom was at my house when she got a call from my brother, saying my dad had been run over by a tractor.

We flew out of the house and headed straight to the field where we knew he was at. As we drove up, I'll never forget the scene...the way it looked to see one of MY dads tractors and plow, in the middle of HIS field, surrounded by fire trucks and police cars.

Mom and I jumped out of the car and started running towards my brother who was walking slowly towards us, white as a sheet.

He said, "Dad is laying under the plow. He's awake, alive and talking but I don't know for how much longer. I stayed with him as long as I could but then they made me leave."

It was so surreal. So slow motion. My mind blocked out all the noise and it was too quiet. Standing there didn't make sense but there was no where to go.

Before we knew it, we heard the chopper over head. They landed, and in less than 2 minutes, they had my dad on a stretcher, they were pushing him through the field, the field where he grew his precious corn crop, into the helicopter that was waiting for him on the road.

He seemed so far away from us, as the 3 of us stood together in a huddle. I could tell they had taken his shirt off, and I remember realizing how white his skin seemed and how dark his hair looked.

My friends, it's an image I'll never forget, but at the same time, it feels like an image that wasn't even real. Your mind does funny things when it's in shock or when it realizes you are in the middle of something too large to handle.

The three of us drove straight to the hospital, in silence, but yet, in prayer.

The wait in the emergency department was long. And scary. We had no idea if he even survived the helicopter ride, much less what his injuries were. We were put into a private waiting room where we prayed HARD. We prayed for everything. And we talked about the things we were thankful for. They moved us from room to room, all over the hospital. With each movement, our legs became more and more weak and our entire bodies began to shake uncontrollably.

We had been getting updates that he was still talking, still hanging in there. He was too unstable for a CT and was losing too much blood to not start surgery. Within 2 hours of being there, we were informed he was going back to be operated on.

You can guess how the next few hours went. LONG.

When the surgeon finally came out, he had an overwhelming list of injuries to tell us about. They were all so severe and scary. But, he was alive, and that was a true miracle.

12 days later, my dad is still alive and proving to us all, God works miracles if you believe in the power of prayer.

My dad was lying UNDER the tractor that day when it took off, and a plow, with medal disks ran over him, while he desperately tried to hang on, to keep himself from completely going under. He was drug a good distance before the tractor stopped.

The first miracle was that he was able to find and grab his phone, which was now bent and busted up, and call my brother to let him know what had happened. My brother, though he wasn't there, made the 911 call.

The next of many miracles was that the first responders and the volunteer fire department were very nearby, already on a call which turned out to be a false fire alarm at a church, 2 miles away.

The police officer, who was the first to arrive, also used to be a paramedic and he never goes anywhere without a tourniquet on his belt. His fast thinking and skill, saved my dad from bleeding to death. A minute later would have made all the difference.

Like I said, here we are 12 days later, and my dad is still with us. His injuries include the following:

6 broken ribs

5 fractures in his low back

a broken right hip

a broken bone in his left leg

both knees have torn ligaments

2 broken bones in his right forearm

a large laceration to his upper right arm/bicep

an amputated big toe on his right foot

and his major injury that concerns us the most - his left leg, on the back, from the knee to his ankle, he is missing his entire calf muscle and all skin.

While the list is large and overwhelming, the doctors are all confident they will get him "back to normal." Dad is scheduled for many future surgeries for skin grafts ect.

It's taken me this long to share this story for a few reasons, one major reason being lack of sleep. It's been a long 12 days, esp for my mom. We've of course been at the hospital every day and mom has been spending the nights.

There is so much more that I want to tell you about this, but I figured I should start somewhere. I don't know what life will look like for the next few months. Once dad makes it out of the hospital, which isn't on the radar at all yet, mom will need a lot of help getting him back and forth to appts and therapy, I'm sure.

So many people have already reached out with how they can help. Right now, we just need prayers. Seriously, we can see a difference in dads progress when we ask for specific prayers vs. when we don't.

I don't know why my family was chosen to go through this, or any of the other trauma we've been tested by, but I DO know God wants me to share with you the miraculous things He's done. No trial we've experienced (my amputation, losing my husband and now this), has made us turn our back on Him. And I don't plan for that to happen, either.

Please say prayers for my dad. He really still needs them as things are getting more painful, the more he's aware. He's feeling discouraged and less brave these days, I can see it in his eyes. Please pray that his spirits are lifted and he's reminded that God has a plan for him, for us all.

Thank you my blog family. Thank you.