Last March 31st, on a chilly morning around 6am, my husband was on his way to work. He was traveling down Green River road when all of a sudden he was blind-sided by a car going full speed through a stop sign at Millersburg road. A woman who was talking on her cell phone and speeding, ran a stop sign at a very high rate of speed and T boned my husbands truck spinning him around and into oncoming traffic on Green River Road where he was hit again headon by another truck. He never even saw it coming.
The paramedics didn't even find my husband until minutes later when someone spotted him pinned under his truck. The vast force of the collision crushed his body and threw him out through the floorboard and passenger door onto the pavement. He was trying to yell for help but was unable to since his lower jaw was broken in two pieces and laying on his chest in a lot of blood.
His chest was completely crushed breaking 8 ribs down his left side, collapsing his left lung, the broken ribs lacerated his liver in 3 places causing internal bleeding, his shoulder was separated, his eye socket was broken, this list goes on.
I was laying in bed with our 3 year old son early that morning, when I got the dreaded call from one of Mark's friends who had seen the ambulances racing to the scene of the accident. I can't begin to tell you the feelings that come over your body when you hear this kind of news. I hope I never feel that way again in my life. My husband is everything to me, the love of my life, my very best friend and my hero.
To make a long story short, after 33 days in the ICU at St. Mary's hospital, several surgeries and lots of physical therapy, Mark survived! The doctors at St. Mary's called him the miracle man. His story was on the news several times and the Courier and Press three times. He truly is a walking miracle. I know it had a lot to do with his strength, faith, will to live and the thousands of prayers from all our friends, family and caring strangers! After his recovery, we had the mounting medical bills to deal with, $202,000 worth to be exact! We thought for sure we were in financial ruin. We met with several lawyers who wouldn't even take the case. The woman who caused the accident walked away the same day with minimum injury but she also had minimum coverage auto insurance which didn't make a dent in the bills.
Everyone told us there was nothing we could do and bankruptcy was our only option. That seemed so unfair that we had to suffer so much for someone else's recklessness, but we didn't see any other option.
So I scheduled an appointment to meet with yet another attorney, our 5th, a Mr. Bruce A. Smith, who specialized in bankruptcy. After hearing our story, he couldn't believe it. Come to find out, he only lived 2 blocks from the intersection where the accident happened and remembered seeing the horrible scene that morning, of mangled cars. He decided to take our case and try to save us from bankruptcy.... and he did!!!! After lots of meetings with the hospital and doctors he got our bills knocked down to only a fraction of what they originally were! We thank Bruce Smith so much for what he was able to do for us!!!
We also thank God everyday for the wonderful miracles he has given us! Good things have come out of very bad situations for us and we owe it all to God!
We were just trying to get back on our feet this year, trying to get the bills paid and Mark was able to return to work a few months later, when we got hit again! This time it was a lump in my abdomen! We were so scared. After several tests, scans and meeting with doctors, it was determined that I had a fairly large tumor in my abdomen. Noone knew for sure what it was yet, but the surgeon said it needed to come out. I was scheduled for surgery on Memorial Day weekend. The surgeon reassured me all was going to be fine and it was probably endometriosis which could be treated.
After I awoke from surgery, the doctor came over with a straight face and told me they had removed the tumor and unfortunately it was not endometriosis, but an enlarged lymph node which most likely meant.....Cancer! I started to cry uncontrollably and asking for my husband, he came in with tears in his eyes and we just held each other.
The next morning we met with an oncologist, I didn't even know what an oncologist was! After explaining to us what I had, the stage I was at and my likely survival rate and what our treatment options were, my thoughts were a blur! All I really remember was when he said 'survival rate' those words will wake anyone up!
It's funny, what I remember was, when he said my odds of survival were 65-70% the first thing that automatically pops in your head is....that's 30-35% chance of not surviving! Dr. Browning, my oncologist, decided we needed to start treatment right away.
I was introduced to chemo in June and have been taking treatments every 2 weeks since then. This fight with cancer and chemo has really made me appreciate all the cancer survivors out there! I had NO idea what people went through when they were on chemo, it's a horrible thing. It's funny when I get online and chat with other cancer fighters, we all kind of joke that we don't know what's trying to kill us more, the cancer or the chemo! I've learned that you have to keep your sense of humor in these kind of situations, sometimes it's the only that keeps me going!
Anyway, I have 2 more treatments to go, then I start radiation on my hip, where the cancer has spread from my lymph nodes into my right hip bone. I am still keeping a positive attitude, I think attitude has a lot to do with surviving. I learned that from my husband, he fought for every breath after his accident and he is living proof that willpower, faith and attitude can overcome extreme circumstances!
When my mom was battling with her disease, ALS, better known as Lou Gehrigs disease, she fought hard too, she fought just to move her limbs, to eat, to drink, everything. She fought for two years until it finally got the best of her in June of 1990, just 4 days after I graduated high school.
Now, my cousin Teet, is also battling Lymphoma like me. She is in stage 4 and has been through hell and back with her treatments. She has helped me so much in telling me what to expect and how to deal with all these horrible chemo side effects. She is currently at the Houston Hospital awaiting an Allogenic transplant and doing clinical trials. Please pray for her.
I just wanted to share our story with you. I like to tell our story to anyone who will listen to encourage everyone to keep a positive attitude, trust God, keep your faith and try to look at the bright side of things in the midst of tragedy.
Life is good if you make it so!
