A Big Ugly Crash

Life is so unpredictable. You’re going along just fine then BOOM! Changed forever.

It happened on the 1st of July to a dear friend of Michael’s. Mark, Marianne and their two daughters were vacationing in Klamath Falls, Oregon when he was in a traffic accident. We got the briefest of details in a text message from Marianne and a short phone conversation with his daughter.

Apparently, Mark was a passenger in a jeep when the driver took a corner too fast and flipped it. He was ejected and was in the Coronary Care Unit with two punctured lungs caused by four ribs being fractured. Collapsed lungs. That has got to hurt. I am amazed that he had no other broken bones or a head injury. He did lose several teeth and has a lot of road rash and tenderness with his pelvis.

He doesn't remember the accident or pulling himself up an embankment with two collapsed lungs to find help in the rural area where the accident occurred.

It was such a bad accident that the doctors said that it was touch and go for a while. When he became stable, they also kept telling him that he was so lucky and should not have survived the accident. The biggest concern at the moment is pneumonia. He is on oxygen and has to sit up and try to breathe deeply. Tough to do that with broken ribs. It hurts!

He is not the most patient person in life. We heard that he had been struggling to jump out of the bed and was begging to go home. A model patient? Ah, no.

Mark has had an interesting year. He had been diagnosed with diabetes and decided to take matters into his own hands. He began an exercise program and learned how to change his eating habits. He found a trainer and began to exercise every morning for two hours on the elliptical. He beat back the diabetes. He is in excellent condition. The doctors said that his excellent physical condition saved his life.

He was released from the hospital on Friday and needed help getting home. Due to the collapsed lungs, he could not fly or sit in a small car. They had been considering an ambulance.

Michael rented a large RV on Friday, then at 4:30AM Saturday morning drove almost 400 miles, loaded the entire family into it and drove 400 miles back to their home. Fifteen hours of driving. Non-stop. One of his good friends, Ricky, volunteered to ride with him. Thank goodness! He promised to keep him awake!

They are home and Mark got his wish to continue his recovery in his own bed. He has a long road of rehab ahead but he knows the drill. He is already a gym rat.

I e-mailed my mom about this adventure and she replied:

That Michael, what a friend. I would not expect him to do anything less. That's the kind of friend he is, amazing. He has done so many things to help us out when we have been in a tough situation. I'm sure we have thanked him, but that was hardly enough. That's Michael - the best friend and son-in-law in the world.

Amen.