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Darrell’s Story

Site created on May 23, 2020

***note: Tributes go to Caring Bridge—not to help Darrell. Do not donate on this site if you want to help.*** See info below if you'd like to help in that way.

On May 22nd, Darrell was in a car accident. He is now in Trauma ICU fighting for his life. Please keep praying for him; we will post updates as much as possible. We ask that you refer to this site or the Facebook group for all medical updates so the family can reserve energy for the long road ahead. During the course of the accident, Darrell sustained injuries to his brain and multiple organ systems. We are hoping and praying for a full recovery, but in the best case scenario, the process will be a marathon with lots of waiting, small wins, and setbacks.

During this COVID crisis, the hospital is restricting all visitation as well as calls for information. As you can imagine, this add additional layers of concern. During this difficult time, your words of encouragement, cards, prayers are helpful. At the same time, Jax and Connie have been answering a lot of the same questions and retelling the same stories over and over, so we're trying to help their peace. We'll update appropriate information here so that everyone who cares can know. Direct questions to darrellrecovery@gmail.com and we'll do an update on the public sites (here) and (FaceBook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/prayingfordarrell)) with relevant info. DO feel free to reach to Jax and Connie and the rest of the family to let them know you are praying or share fun memories (just have grace with responses as they may not be able to respond AND please don’t message Jax questions and scary pictures—he does want to see those, but I’m trying to be here to help him process it all and not let it consume him with worry). You can also share positive memories on here or the Facebook group at Facebook.com/groups/prayingfordarrell (https://www.facebook.com/groups/prayingfordarrell).

Important: Your cares and offers to help are most encouraging, but please do not contact the hospital on our behalf, the staff has limited capacity and has ordered only one person permission to communicate with them, so Connie will be in communication with them a couple of times a day and will pass the information on to us and I will update here (when appropriate).

Donations: While we haven't asked for donations, some of you have generously given donations on here. We wanted to make sure you know that the donations/tributes on CaringBridge DO NOT go to help Darrell. They help CaringBridge run their program. If you would like to help in that way, you can do one of the options below. If you have made a Tribute donation on here & would like a refund, contact CaringBridge at customercare@caringbridge.org (mailto:customercare@caringbridge.org) or via phone.

Mail to:
Darrell Whited c/o Connie Whited
167 County Rd 257,
Bryant AL, 35958

Or Donate Online at the GoFundMe managed by Connie Whited (http://gofundme.com/f/darrell-whited-recovery-fund) for Darrell's recovery expenses.

Newest Update

Journal entry by Cara Hicks — Jun 7, 2020

Good morning guys,

The trach & PEG procedure is scheduled for noon today and the Dr. is confident that Darrell is ready for it and will benefit from it. The other surgeries are scheduled for Tuesday.

Thanks for your continued prayers. I’ve heard lots of praises for the movement and progress this week and we’re so grateful to God for these small, but significant steps towards recovery. I wanted to clarify that his eye movements and appendage responses to stimulus are significant, but they aren’t necessarily voluntary responses just yet (from my limited understanding). He’s not ready to hear from family just yet because of the risk of increasing his brain pressure. We’re praying that those moments will come very soon. This article was helpful for me.

I’ve been asked for more communication, but the information we’re getting is very limited due to the nature of his condition as well as phone-only communication (COVID restrictions). We want to know much more and know what to look for and to hope/pray for, but I just don’t have more information right now. As you can imagine, not being able to be there for the past two weeks adds an additional layer of difficulty for the family. Your patience, support and prayers are helping us get through this. 💛

I (Jax’s mom) am going to take some time away from social media for some time to be more present with Jax and his siblings over the next week or so. Lauren, Darrell’s girlfriend, has offered to help with updates and will be sharing the information that Connie is providing. Thanks so much for praying for Darrell & caring about his family too. I know Jax has been encouraged by many of your posts and prayers and it will mean a lot to his dad too. 💝

Read More of the journal titled "June 07, 2020"

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