On May 30, 2013, Matix, his dad, and his dad's girlfriend Faith were in a head on collision rollover accident on the 215 and Skypointe. To say that was the scariest day of my life would be and understatement. Every mom's nightmare. Here is a recap of everything up to date. Warning: Some of these pictures and details may break your heart.
I was at work, on my lunch break when I got that dreadful call. Jon's mom was crying and told me that Jon and them were in a car accident. It was a rollover and Matix is alive but he broke his arm. My tears started flowing and I was kinda freaking out. I asked if Jon and Faith were okay but she said she didn't know. She said someone on the scene who had helped pull them out of the vehicle had called her and didn't know their status. He just said get to the hospital quick. By now I was borderline hysterical. My coworker Heidi drove me to UMC Trauma immediately. My dad got there at the same time as us and we beat Matix's ambulance there, so this was the first thing I saw...
Such a hard thing for a momma to see. He was covered in blood. Oh my gosh, there was so much blood. They told him that his mom was here and that everything would be okay, and then he started screaming and crying for me. He never opened his eyes though, so he didn't see me. I started to cry even more, but Heidi reminded me that I needed to keep it together for Matix. So I sucked it in and was strong. They wheeled him behind closed doors and all we could do was wait.
Family and friends started showing up, texting and calling right away. I hadn't told much of anyone at this point, but word started spreading and people started showing up. It was hard because at this point we didn't know what was even wrong with anyone involved. Finally, Matix's nurse came out and told me that he wasn't properly restrained, and he has a laceration across his face that needed to be stitched and that he broke both bones in his forearm all the way through. She also said that he had some cuts and bruises on his shoulder and stomach so he was in line to get a cat-scan to make sure there was no internal bleeding. About 10 minutes later she came back out and got me so I could be with him until he went back for his cat-scan.
Seeing him that first time was so sad. Luckily they cleaned off most of the blood, but he was heavily medicated so he kept slipping in and out of consciousness. We talked to him and he told me that I was his mom. It melted my little heart. I held his hand and kissed his little face as much as I could. I was so glad he was alive! While I was there a plastic surgeon came over and stitched his face. That was hard. First of all, his laceration was huge. I could see every layer of his skin, muscles, everything. So much worse than I imagined. But his doctor (who was a girl that looked about my age) assured me that it looked bad, but it was a straight slice so it would stitch up really nicely. And it did. The hardest part was holding his little hand as he screamed bloody murder at the top of his lungs while they gave him 3 shots to numb his face. My tears we streaming down my face. I couldn't help it. No mom wants to see their kid in so much pain. He almost immediately fell asleep and was out through the whole stitching process. Which was great because that little boy was so scared of getting stitches. He cried at any mention of stitches and even told his doctor that he didn't need them, he just needed a band-aid. Cute boy.
Then it was time for his cat-scan. It came back negative...no internal bleeding! I got to stroll around the Trauma E.R. a little bit and see Jon and Faith. Jon and Matix actually ended up being in beds right next to each other which was both convenient and not convenient. It was convenient that they could see each other, well Matix was in a neck restraint forever so he couldn't see his dad, but his dad could see him. But not convenient because it was hard for Jon to see and hear Matix's pain and frustrations. He broke down a few times and the guilt was heavy. Devin came around 6 and was a great distraction. They talked and told stories and had a funny pee adventure. Dev helped him pee in his jar and it ended up shooting up to "outerspace" (the ceiling) and Dev closed the lid on his junk. Quite the memory! But it sure gave them a good laugh!
in and out of consciousness after they set his arm the second time
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| These are all the stuffed animals he accumulated. A police bear from the social worker. The flag bear from the firemen/ambulance ride. The brown teddy from the orthopedic surgeon when they set his arm. And dinosaurs that I went home to get to keep him company :) |
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| Story time with Devin. |
We were in the E.R. until 10 something that night when a bed in peds opened up. Our nurse up in peds, Janie was the cutest sweetest thing we could have ever hoped for. We had a rough night. I couldn't sleep because of the adrenaline and craziness of the day. I was still in shock, disbelief, and was so grateful that I still had my baby boy to love and smother. Matix woke up ever 30 min or so in pain and discomfort, peed the bed, and threw up. So it was a long night! But we made it through and Janie was so helpful! We met our roommate the next morning, Edward. He was 12 and had major leg surgery a few days before. The boys watched morning cartoons until Matix was released around 11 a.m. He was so excited. He did not want to be at the hospital anymore.
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| Getting transferred up to peds. |
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| This was the first time I saw his laceration ofter his stitches. He threw up all over his bandage so Janie changed it. |
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| The next morning looking defeated. It was a long, hard night! |
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| Finally getting to go home! |
We finally got more information about the accident itself. Faith remembers everything from start to finish. Jon remembers bits. And Matix remembers quite a bit as well. (sad)
Jon was dropping Matix off to my mom who was babysitting my sister's kids out in Aliante. They were heading east on the 215, I believe between Durango and Skypointe when a car swerved into oncoming traffice and hit them head on. (a 70 year old man...rumor has it he was drunk/or a suicide attempt/or both/or neither...who knows??) The impact occurred mostly on the driver's side (Jon was driving Faith's Toyota Tacoma) which caused them to drive up onto the other car (a Lexus car) and roll twice. Neither Jon or Faith were wearing seatbelts (which actually saved their lives) because they flew out of their seats (luckily not out of the vehicle). The engine went up into their seats and would have pinned them/cut off Jon's legs. In fact Faith's dad went to the truck in the junkyard and doesn't quite understand how Jon still has legs or is alive. Faith was thrown into the back with Matix (who was in the middle with a lap belt on) and Jon was thrown into the area of the passenger's seat. When it stopped rolling Matix was hanging by his seatbelt above Faith. She started to smell gas so she immediately went into survival mode and did everything she could to get Matix out of the truck asap. His seatbelt was jammed so her and Jon had to pull on it to release it, Matix fell on her and she used her dislocated arm to open up the back window to get him out. It was very apparent that Matix's arm was broken, but Faith just told him he needed to do clib out the window anyways. He was brave and when his little head stuck out of the window a bunch of people came over and helped pull him out. They then had about 7 guys open up the passenger door to safely out Jon and Faith out of the truck. Luckily the truck never blew up. Everyone on the scene, police included, do not know how they made it out alive...it was that bad.
We got these pictures from 2 separate random people who did not know we were the ones involved. They simply took these pictures because of how awful of an accident it was. They later discovered it was us and texted them to us.
Their injuries are as follows: Matix broke his radius and ulna in his right arm, got stitches across his face and had bruising along his stomach and neck, had a couple of glass cuts on the back of his head, a cut on his ear and a cut on his tongue (super minor). He stayed in the hospital overnight. Jon broke his L2 (spine), ripped all the tendons in his left middle finger and broke his nose. He also got tons of stitches all over his hands and legs. He was released after a few hours. Faith had bleeding in her brain, a hemotoma in her lung, dislocated her right shoulder, broke 2 ribs, broke her L5 (spine), broke her sacrum (where her spine and pelvis meet), broke her pelvis, and has a 5" hole in her left leg (mostly likely from her shifter). She was in the hospital for 7 days and they predict she will be in a wheelchair for 4-6 months. Both her and Jon have a long road of physical therapy ahead of them.
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| Matix's first time seeing Faith after the accident. She got out of ICU! |
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| Faith's first time sitting up. On day 5 in the hospital. |
We had lots of visitors once we got home, that all came bearing gifts! It was like Matix had a second birthday! He was loving it. He layed around watching movies and napping, until my mom got home with Shelby and the twins. Then he finally perked up and didn't want to be left out. Brian did a great job helping them play with some of his birthday toys and he even tried to ride a bike! I about had a heart attack but he convinced me that he only needed one hand to ride--boys will be boys! After about 10-15 minutes he said "man, riding a bike is hard now." I held him while he watched the kids ride some more. On day two he was almost back to his normal self. He decided to stop taking his pain medicine and was adjusting to one armed life pretty well. Nights became the hardest because he couldn't get comfortable and the pain was greater. During the day he was distracted by friends and cousins. And then the itching started. Curse that itchiness! It's so rough to watch your baby suffer and cry knowing there's nothing you can do to help. It's also been hard to hear his occasional, "Mom, I just want my arm back." "Make my arm better." "Just take off this cast....well part of it." "It itches!!!!!!!" "I can't get comfortable." "My day was great, except that my arm is still broken!!" "How am I gonna read books with only one hand???" With tear-filled eyes. The frustrations are never ending for a five year old boy, but he has been such a trooper.
posted up at home
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| His stitches after a few days. Super bruised. |
At our follow-up orthopedic appointment, Dr, Wulff showed us his X-rays and his bones weren't lined up, like at all. They were 100% displaced, so he took more X-rays to be sure and told us we needed to do surgery, tomorrow morning! We rushed to get everything in order, and registered at UMC for an 8 a.m. surgery. Matix was nervous, but he never once cried. He was very curious about what exactly they were doing and why.
Plan A was to just be able to manipulate the bones into position. Plan B was to successfully manipulate but that it wouldn't be secure and so he would need pins. Plan C was that they couldn't manipulate so they would have to cut him open and figure out what was in the way. That night he prayed for Plan A and slept like a champ. On the way to surgery he asked me to make sure I hold his hand while he goes under. He was being such a brave boy! His aunt Roni (on his dad's side) met us there and stayed the whole time. So sweet of her.
Surgery went great! They did Plan A! Matix woke up in a lot of pain, which was hard and sad to experience all over again. But he was strong. We were in recovery for almost an hour and then we had transport wheelchair him up to see Faith before we left. She could sit up on her own now...which was amazing to see! Faith is one strong, positive girl! We stopped by Quizno's to get Matix some soup for lunch before going to his followup plastic appt for his face! The doctor released him from treatment. He said his face was healing great and that we didn't need to come back! Yay!
Now we are back home, taking it day by day. Matix seems to be doing great! He hardly complains about the pain. Itching is the worst of it, and one-armed fristrations. It's going to be a long 5 weeks, but we are going to entertain this boy as much as we can so he won't be sad about not being able to swim for a while. We've mastered bath time. And we've invested in some tank tops (his arm doesn't fit into his regular shirts). He is more clingy and definitely paranoid about cars. He is quite the backseat driver nowadays, bless his little heart. Today he told me that he knows why he is still alive...because he always prays that he will be safe. I think he is right. We were truly blessed to have survived such a horrific accident. I am so beyond grateful. Thank you to everyone who called, texted, visited, and prayed. We love you guys!
His first signatures on his cast.
