Springfield0612
12-31-2013, 04:20 PM
92113921149211592116
Fellow Members,
I regret to inform you of the following incident that my family was
involved in over the holidays here in WA state.
On 26 December at about 4:30 Pm on Highway 161 Eatonville Lagrange Rd. we
were headed south and a pickup ran my family off of the road. My mother
in-law was driving, my sister in law was the front passenger. My two
nephews, two nieces, and my daughter were all in the van that went off of
the road. I was in a vehicle directly in front of them. It was my mother in
laws birthday. I watched it all happen in my rear view mirror.
My mother in law still has no recollection of how she lost control. She
remembers a really loud truck passing her really fast and the next thing she
remembers is slamming into the tree, then me asking her if she was ok and
assessing her for c-spine and head injuries.
As the truck passed us, I was looking at the truck and commenting about
their reckless driving and the next thing I know my wife is screaming,
"They're losing it, they're going to crash, etc." As I changed my attention
from the truck to my mirror I saw the van begin to swerve back and forth.
All in total about 4 times. I assume my mother in law unknowingly was
pumping gas then brakes. After the fourth and largest swerve the van was
pointing to head across the left lane and into the ditch. My wife and I
both saw the van accelerate. It went into the ditch and then was airborne.
As it went airborne the van tilted about 40 degrees onto its left side and
was turned a little to the right. As it was airborne it went between two
big cedar trees on either side impacting the tree on the left side. It also
hit a sapling on the front center of the van causing the air bags to deploy.
The tree impacted the driver side between the 2nd and 3rd row seating. The
3rd row took the brunt of the impact and is where my niece Kennedy was
sitting. The van then spun about 90 degrees rotating back to the left and
came to rest about 40 feet later on top of a huge boulder.
After we turned around and got back to the scene I instructed my father
in law to dial 911 to report the crash, my wife went to the passenger side
and I to the driver side. I first saw Kennedy and how bad she was she was
in the 3rd row driver side. She was breathing and moving but had a very bad
head wound, I couldn't get her out through the window safely due to her
injury and fear of her c-spine. I then went to the next seat which was my
nephew Cannon 2nd row driver side. He had minor cuts and one deep
laceration above his temple but bleeding was minimal, he was conscious and
crying. I then went to check my mother in law. The air bag deployed, her
left forearm was broken, and she had lacerations to her face. I assessed
her head and neck, she was conscious and breathing. I then turned off the
ignition.
I left the driver side to get compression bandages for my niece from my
vehicle so we could get her out of the van and slow down the bleeding. By
the time I got back to the van, my sister in law had kicked the window out
of the passenger door and my wife had all ready crawled into the van through
the broken window on the slider door. My wife began to unbuckle and start
handing kids out to her sister. By the time I got back to the van my wife
was pulling Kennedy out of the van and moving her to the roadway.
Fire and Aide were on the scene in about 3 minutes, the first ambulance
arrived at about 5 minutes, with additional aide arriving soon after with
two WSP officers as well.
My niece Kennedy was transported to Marry Bridge Hospital in Tacoma (50
minutes away). They gave her a blood transfusion in route. Once at Marry
Bridge they intubated her and stabilized her enough for continued transport
and immediately assessed she needed to go to Harbor View(HV). Once she
arrived at HV they immediately took her into surgery to stabilize her jaw
and airway. The following morning she had another surgery to add additional
correction to her mouth and nose.
Her injuries are:
-Fractured lower jaw (right side)
-all teeth on her upper and lower right side are gone
-multiple severe facial fractures
-severe facial nerve damage to her right side
-the lacerations are too deep to repair and she is missing muscle tissue and
will need skin grafts.
-Her right lung upper lobe was collapsed
-bruised kidneys
The positives:
-No TBI(traumatic brain injury), no swelling, no bleeding, no spinal injuries, she has full control of limbs
and feeling.
-Both eyes are fine and no injuries there.
-She is in great spirits and very strong!
-She is more concerned about everyone else that was in the car, and she was
very happy to see one of her little brothers. The youngest brother could
not go into the ICU as they had TB, and MRSA on the ward. Once moved to
Children's hospital it will be easier.
-She wants to see her Grammy (the driver) but we are keeping Grammy in the
dark about the extent of the injuries for her own mental well being and
protection.
-She was at HV ICU from 26 Dec-30 Dec. On 30 Dec they removed her
intubation tubes and she is breathing on her own, they removed her catheter
and she has been transferred her to Children's Hospital.
-Kennedy had previously learned basic sign language and now with the help of
her parents and a counselor they have developed a dialogue that allows her
to communicate better and is less frustrated.
Kennedy will be in Children's for at least the next two weeks undergoing
numerous reconstructive surgeries before she will be allowed to go home.
Followed by rehabilitation to re-teach her to eat and speak again. The
right side of her face will be permanently damaged and will not have facial
control just like a stroke victim. Her teeth were all baby teeth and she
will hopefully still get her adult teeth around age 8.
My mother in law suffered a broken left forearm, cracked ribs, cuts,
bruises, and severe bruising from the seat belt.
My sister in law suffered cuts, bruises, a broken rib, and severe bruising
from the seat belt.
My nephew Cannon suffered the small cut to the side of his head.
All the other kids including my daughter only suffered minor cuts and
bruises. Kellan the youngest of the group at 9 months old was covered in
glass and when I threw out his car seat the following morning it had about a
cup full of broken glass in it. He had not a single scratch on him
anywhere.
A very special thank you to the Fire Dept. and Emergency Services, the WSP
officers that responded, the gentleman that gave first aid to my niece and
contributed to saving her life, the staff at Marry Bridge in Tacoma are all
awesome, and the staff at Harbor View that provided care for her and now the
staff at Children's.
The truck was an early to mid 90's pickup. I suspect it was a first
generation Ford lightning or an early 90's ford step-side model. It was a
small truck smaller than a normal F-150, but it was not a Ranger. It had an
aftermarket paint job, it was blue/teal green possibly with a metallic
flake. The exhaust was aftermarket as well, it was loud. I don't remember if
the windows were tinted or not. But it did have chrome rims. This was not a
farm, mountain, back woods truck, it had performance upgrades. The distance
from where the truck passed us until he made the right hand turn was a
little over 1/4 mile away. He closed that distance and slowed down to turn
all in about 5 seconds which would put his speed as he passed us over 115
MPH. The accident was classified as a hit and run and WSP immediately put a
BOLO out on the truck. We still do not know if they ever made contact with
the driver.
A family friend has started a page for donations for medical costs for
Kennedy and ask that you all visit the page. Prayers are always welcome.
http://www.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/kennedy-s-journey-home/120928
Thank you all for your time. Please drive safe and make sure your loved
ones are all buckled up safely!
Kennedy's father is a new member of the casting and reloading community though he has not taken the step to join up here yet. You have all helped me many times in the past in the short amount of time that I have been on this site and I thank you all!
Fellow Members,
I regret to inform you of the following incident that my family was
involved in over the holidays here in WA state.
On 26 December at about 4:30 Pm on Highway 161 Eatonville Lagrange Rd. we
were headed south and a pickup ran my family off of the road. My mother
in-law was driving, my sister in law was the front passenger. My two
nephews, two nieces, and my daughter were all in the van that went off of
the road. I was in a vehicle directly in front of them. It was my mother in
laws birthday. I watched it all happen in my rear view mirror.
My mother in law still has no recollection of how she lost control. She
remembers a really loud truck passing her really fast and the next thing she
remembers is slamming into the tree, then me asking her if she was ok and
assessing her for c-spine and head injuries.
As the truck passed us, I was looking at the truck and commenting about
their reckless driving and the next thing I know my wife is screaming,
"They're losing it, they're going to crash, etc." As I changed my attention
from the truck to my mirror I saw the van begin to swerve back and forth.
All in total about 4 times. I assume my mother in law unknowingly was
pumping gas then brakes. After the fourth and largest swerve the van was
pointing to head across the left lane and into the ditch. My wife and I
both saw the van accelerate. It went into the ditch and then was airborne.
As it went airborne the van tilted about 40 degrees onto its left side and
was turned a little to the right. As it was airborne it went between two
big cedar trees on either side impacting the tree on the left side. It also
hit a sapling on the front center of the van causing the air bags to deploy.
The tree impacted the driver side between the 2nd and 3rd row seating. The
3rd row took the brunt of the impact and is where my niece Kennedy was
sitting. The van then spun about 90 degrees rotating back to the left and
came to rest about 40 feet later on top of a huge boulder.
After we turned around and got back to the scene I instructed my father
in law to dial 911 to report the crash, my wife went to the passenger side
and I to the driver side. I first saw Kennedy and how bad she was she was
in the 3rd row driver side. She was breathing and moving but had a very bad
head wound, I couldn't get her out through the window safely due to her
injury and fear of her c-spine. I then went to the next seat which was my
nephew Cannon 2nd row driver side. He had minor cuts and one deep
laceration above his temple but bleeding was minimal, he was conscious and
crying. I then went to check my mother in law. The air bag deployed, her
left forearm was broken, and she had lacerations to her face. I assessed
her head and neck, she was conscious and breathing. I then turned off the
ignition.
I left the driver side to get compression bandages for my niece from my
vehicle so we could get her out of the van and slow down the bleeding. By
the time I got back to the van, my sister in law had kicked the window out
of the passenger door and my wife had all ready crawled into the van through
the broken window on the slider door. My wife began to unbuckle and start
handing kids out to her sister. By the time I got back to the van my wife
was pulling Kennedy out of the van and moving her to the roadway.
Fire and Aide were on the scene in about 3 minutes, the first ambulance
arrived at about 5 minutes, with additional aide arriving soon after with
two WSP officers as well.
My niece Kennedy was transported to Marry Bridge Hospital in Tacoma (50
minutes away). They gave her a blood transfusion in route. Once at Marry
Bridge they intubated her and stabilized her enough for continued transport
and immediately assessed she needed to go to Harbor View(HV). Once she
arrived at HV they immediately took her into surgery to stabilize her jaw
and airway. The following morning she had another surgery to add additional
correction to her mouth and nose.
Her injuries are:
-Fractured lower jaw (right side)
-all teeth on her upper and lower right side are gone
-multiple severe facial fractures
-severe facial nerve damage to her right side
-the lacerations are too deep to repair and she is missing muscle tissue and
will need skin grafts.
-Her right lung upper lobe was collapsed
-bruised kidneys
The positives:
-No TBI(traumatic brain injury), no swelling, no bleeding, no spinal injuries, she has full control of limbs
and feeling.
-Both eyes are fine and no injuries there.
-She is in great spirits and very strong!
-She is more concerned about everyone else that was in the car, and she was
very happy to see one of her little brothers. The youngest brother could
not go into the ICU as they had TB, and MRSA on the ward. Once moved to
Children's hospital it will be easier.
-She wants to see her Grammy (the driver) but we are keeping Grammy in the
dark about the extent of the injuries for her own mental well being and
protection.
-She was at HV ICU from 26 Dec-30 Dec. On 30 Dec they removed her
intubation tubes and she is breathing on her own, they removed her catheter
and she has been transferred her to Children's Hospital.
-Kennedy had previously learned basic sign language and now with the help of
her parents and a counselor they have developed a dialogue that allows her
to communicate better and is less frustrated.
Kennedy will be in Children's for at least the next two weeks undergoing
numerous reconstructive surgeries before she will be allowed to go home.
Followed by rehabilitation to re-teach her to eat and speak again. The
right side of her face will be permanently damaged and will not have facial
control just like a stroke victim. Her teeth were all baby teeth and she
will hopefully still get her adult teeth around age 8.
My mother in law suffered a broken left forearm, cracked ribs, cuts,
bruises, and severe bruising from the seat belt.
My sister in law suffered cuts, bruises, a broken rib, and severe bruising
from the seat belt.
My nephew Cannon suffered the small cut to the side of his head.
All the other kids including my daughter only suffered minor cuts and
bruises. Kellan the youngest of the group at 9 months old was covered in
glass and when I threw out his car seat the following morning it had about a
cup full of broken glass in it. He had not a single scratch on him
anywhere.
A very special thank you to the Fire Dept. and Emergency Services, the WSP
officers that responded, the gentleman that gave first aid to my niece and
contributed to saving her life, the staff at Marry Bridge in Tacoma are all
awesome, and the staff at Harbor View that provided care for her and now the
staff at Children's.
The truck was an early to mid 90's pickup. I suspect it was a first
generation Ford lightning or an early 90's ford step-side model. It was a
small truck smaller than a normal F-150, but it was not a Ranger. It had an
aftermarket paint job, it was blue/teal green possibly with a metallic
flake. The exhaust was aftermarket as well, it was loud. I don't remember if
the windows were tinted or not. But it did have chrome rims. This was not a
farm, mountain, back woods truck, it had performance upgrades. The distance
from where the truck passed us until he made the right hand turn was a
little over 1/4 mile away. He closed that distance and slowed down to turn
all in about 5 seconds which would put his speed as he passed us over 115
MPH. The accident was classified as a hit and run and WSP immediately put a
BOLO out on the truck. We still do not know if they ever made contact with
the driver.
A family friend has started a page for donations for medical costs for
Kennedy and ask that you all visit the page. Prayers are always welcome.
http://www.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/kennedy-s-journey-home/120928
Thank you all for your time. Please drive safe and make sure your loved
ones are all buckled up safely!
Kennedy's father is a new member of the casting and reloading community though he has not taken the step to join up here yet. You have all helped me many times in the past in the short amount of time that I have been on this site and I thank you all!