Five years ago, an accident occurred in the beautiful western New York countryside. The car crash left my sister and niece with some minor injuries. It was another story, however, for Luke. He had been wearing a seat belt, but had tucked the shoulder strap behind him--it didn’t feel good to have it crossing his body and riding up the side of his neck. He was 12 years old. When the emergency crew arrived at the scene, they focused on the bloody victims first. My sister and niece both had head lacerations and one had a broken finger. The emergency crew noted the seatbelt bruise across my nephew Luke’s lower abdomen. He didn’t seem to have sustained other injuries. But a wise and experienced crew member kept an eye on him. When he vomited, she understood there could be internal damage. And yes, there certainly was.
 |
| Luke before the accident. |
By the time The Man and I arrived at the hospital, Luke was in a drug-induced coma. We were told that at the time of impact, the seat belt had held his lower body in place while his upper body flew forward. The force of that action ruptured his intestines. We were told later that he was just minutes from death due to internal bleeding. He had a full transfusion and lost almost two feet of intestines in the operating room.
This was a messed up little guy.
 |
| Luke after surgery, in a drug-induced coma. |
We prayed to God for mercy and Luke started to heal. He was brought out of the coma and after the doctors were confident that everything was working properly, Luke got to go home. But within a few weeks, adhesions had caused a blockage--he needed a second surgery. My sister says it was terrible having to tell Luke a second surgery was needed.
He was moving forward with his recovery and wasn’t excited about having to start over.
The second surgery fixed the problem and he began the long process of getting back into shape for his beloved sports: baseball and basketball. The progress was slow, but he worked hard and regained his strength.
Fast forward to this last Saturday: We, his family, got to watch Luke (now a big, strapping lad of 18) march down the aisle with his high school diploma in hand. What a joy. He attended a small private school where due to smaller class sizes, pictures of each student at different stages of life are projected during the ceremony. As the pre-accident pictures flashed across the screen, I thought of how, at that point, the horror of two cars crashing at a country intersection hadn’t yet affected us. We had no knowledge of what was coming. But it did come and it was a hard and scary time. But then came the post-accident pictures showing a strong, athletic Luke, and I felt very grateful. We had prayed for him to recover and God had answered our prayers. Here before us, was the tall, smiling, blue-robed living proof. We know many people pray for loved ones in similar circumstances. Similar results are not guaranteed. We don’t pretend to know why. We are just thankful that Luke has his life. His future lies ahead of him and we have been given the opportunity to stand with him and watch it unfold.
 |
| Luke, June 2011 |
 |
| Luke, June 2011 |
Congratulations Luke!
No comments:
Post a Comment