Local Texting & Driving Crash Victim Speaks Out

I would love to forget this date, however, life changed drastically for us!

A teen texting hit us head on in Afton MN while on his way to football practice.  I ask myself, what call was so important that could not wait until he reached his destination?

The injuries were very serious, we were lucky to be alive, thank goodness for a large motor and a sturdy vehicle.  My husband’s dream car, a 1999 Mustang Cobra convertible was totaled as was the teen’s parents’ car. 

A shattered hip, bruising, surgery, twelve pins to hold the hip together, a week in Regions hospital, a month in a nursing home rehabilitation center in St. Paul for my husband.  This was followed by months in a wheel chair, months out of work, needing assistance, hospital bed at home, ramps, home health visits, personal care worker, and months of physical therapy, chiropractic care, and supplements for bone health. 

My injuries included smashed left knee, broken right foot, and broken right wrist, inability to walk, months in a wheel chair, physical therapy, chiropractic, x-rays, MRI and living with my daughter for almost 2 months.

When people say to me, I text and drive and I am careful, I say “I don’t even use my cell phone in the car anymore.  There is no call more important than your life and the safety of others.”  How would you feel if your car were hit by a texting driver and your child were hospitalized due to someone else’s mistake?

It is the one year anniversary of our accident today and there are still things left unsaid.  My wrist is still weak, my left knee still bruised.  I still am fearful when driving and I see someone texting, I stiffen when I hear a car accident on a movie, I still have nightmares and I still cannot ride on the road where we had the accident. My husband has a bad limp-disabled, has yet to regain the nerve functioning in his hip and right leg, he cannot run, walk quickly on uneven ground, kneel or play on the floor with the grandkids.  He cannot chase balls playing catch with them either. A mile is his limit and we used to walk two miles daily.  He can’t even sit on a swing, and still has pain. 

Also, there is that pain whenever he sees a mustang and he is not driving.

Let’s forget the enormous medical bills, the hassles from collection agencies,  the pain and suffering, the time away from work, the lost wages, the inconvenience it caused our own children, and forget about all this past year for a bit.  What I really want to do is get others to listen:  no texting and driving! 

Please consider this:  the life you save may be your own child’s.  Please people, put away your phones, 911 can be dialed from the ambulance, and guess what? EMT’s can dial for you! 

Thank you to our family and friends who supported us and cared for us and brought us back to good health. Thank you to the EMT’s, emergency room staff, doctors, nurses, chiropractor, physical therapists and visiting nurses.  Thanks to neighbors who mowed, shoveled, watered, delivered meals babysat us in our time of need and thank you to those of you who turn your phones off when you enter the car!