ACCIDENT STORY

***Trigger Warning***

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I am sensitive to those who might have had accidents before, that is why I put a Trigger Warning at the top, in case people need to scroll by. 

On February 1, we went to our local park, across the street to take Harper snow tubing, in the unicorn snow tube we had just bought for her. The hill is known for being great for sledding. We had been before and were excited to go again, with the huge snow that day. We met Harper’s friend from kindergarten and her family, and they started down the hill in their tubes.

Christian got in with her a couple of times and I did too. It holds up to 600 lbs.

I had to ask Christian for details of the actual accident because I don’t remember it at all. I remember everything up until the impact.

The last time I went down the hill with her, I remember getting into the snow tube, Christian giving us a little push, and off we went. The tube was headed with Harper on the downhill side. We started to drift off to the left and the tube turned, with the left side of my body facing downhill, but my face was facing uphill. I couldn’t see what was behind me. I remember thinking we were going pretty fast, and that is all I remember. We were headed directly into a tree but I had no idea. The next thing I remember is waking up in the trauma room at the hospital, after getting a cat scan, and seeing Christian sitting beside me.

Christian watched the entire accident happen. He said it happened very fast and I never saw the tree. I hit the tree full force on the left side of my body, my arm and ribs hitting first, and then my head hit the tree. I continued sliding down the hill, with my body dragging in the snow, but my feet and legs still on the snow tube. Harper popped off the tube and landed in the fresh snow. She was totally fine.

Christian rushed down to me. I was not coherent, but screaming and moaning with blood coming out of my ear. Harper was right near me crying. He called 911.

My friend (Harper’s friends' mom) ran over, took Harper away from me, and distracted her.

Firefighters came pretty fast, transferred me to a stretcher, and gave me oxygen. The ambulance came soon after. Christian was able to ride with me to the hospital. They rushed me to the trauma unit at Harlem Hospital.

My friend took Harper back to their apartment before the ambulance arrived. She kept Harper overnight, fed her, gave Harper her daughters clothes, and took incredible care of her that night, as well as some days while Christian was at the hospital. The following night, other great friends of ours, took Harper in for the night. Harper is very good friends with their children. They have also kept Harper many afternoons as well since the accident. Just eternally grateful for these families that just took Harper right in.

The trauma unit at the hospital examined me and sent me for scans. I fractured the temporal bone of my skull, which resulted in a subarachnoid hemorrhage and subdural hematoma. My eardrum ruptured. I fractured three ribs that caused a lung contusion and bleeding around my lungs. I fractured a couple of vertebrae. My middle finger broke and I hurt my knee (no break).

I was in critical care for three days because of the brain bleed and lung contusion. Luckily, neither bleed grew more and remained stable. I stayed a total of five days in the hospital.

I am so thankful for all of the angels watching over us on that day, while I was in the hospital, and at home while I recover. 

SAFETY MESSAGE

My sister joked with me this past December that if there were an illustrated dictionary, my picture would be next to the word, “Careful”. 

She said that as I was prepping to come to Charleston, after Christmas, to help take care of mom. I did everything possible to protect mom and everyone weeks before traveling and while I flew down there. I was the person in the airport that refused to go anywhere but the gate, had two masks on, protective glasses, a safety medical shield, and gloves. I sweated like a football player on the plane and I looked crazy.

I wear a bike helmet whenever I’m riding my mom’s bike on the beach. I get lots of funny looks.

I wear food service gloves when cooking raw meat in my kitchen. I conned Christian into somehow doing it too when he cooks. I know he does it just to humor me though.

But, I’m a rule follower, always have been. It’s part of who I am, and I like to think, part of my charm. 

All joking aside, it never occurred to me to wear a helmet while sledding, ever. I never thought to put one on Harper, and I am obsessive about her wearing one on her scooter and bike. I haven’t been sledding or snow tubing that often in my life, so the thought just never entered my mind.

So, in the spirit of all of these winter storms that have happened, I would like to encourage everyone to consider putting a helmet (a ski type one, that covers more of your head) on your kids and yourself, when sledding/snow tubing.

Also, please figure out what type of sled would be the safest for you and your family. I did some reading recently on sled and snow tube safety. The article suggested that the safest types of sleds are those that can be steered and that have rails that raise the rider off the ground. It suggested saving snow tubing for tubing parks that have clearly defined lanes for the tubes. It is very hard to steer a snow tube.

Look at your surroundings before you go sledding. Which hill has no obstacles or potential hazards, trees, polls, etc. Look for a hill that isn’t right next to the street.

Please call your local parks where you have sledding hills. Ask them to put up hay bales at every tree, or around anything that seems like it could cause the potential for injury. A great friend of mine wrote to the park where I had my accident, told them what happened, and they had hay bales around the trees the next day. 

Besides my accident, there have been several sledding accidents that I know of, in the last several weeks. My injuries caused me to be in critical care in the hospital. I got lucky. Sadly, a sixteen-year-old, in upstate NY did not survive. I did not know them, I read about it online. So tragic.

I never want you or your loved ones to get hurt from a simple, fun thing like sledding or snow tubing.

Be safe y’all, but have fun. Life is precious.