My Car Accident Story

I was told that I am lucky. I am actually more than lucky. I amazed many people by walking out of my minivan, with a child in my arms. To this day, I can sit here and think about the events of that day and it makes my head spin.

December 17, 2006, my family and I were headed to the mall to get my youngest child a birthday present as well as to see Santa since Christmas was only days away. We never made it there. As we were heading south, a car was heading north and a Toys R Us tractor trailer was behind him. As they got closer to us, the tractor trailer rear ended the car and pushed him head on into us at about 55 mph. We never saw it coming. I am kind of glad of that.

Everything was white. The air bag deployed and that was all I remember. Talking to my family and then everything going white. When the airbag was deflating, I started to realize what had just happened. I do remember hearing the hit as well. Everything happened so fast, in the blink of an eye. Speaking of eyes, when the airbag was deflating, I realized that I couldn't see out of one eye. That was a scary moment, one of many to come. The airbag pulled my contact lens right out of my eye. My eye doctor later told me that my contact may have saved my eye from terrible injuries. Airbags come out so fast and literally, you have no time to blink your eye. You just don't see it coming. So I was lucky to have my contacts in.

Once I realized what had happened, it was time to get moving and get to my kids. Covered in blood, I wasn't worried about myself one bit. My kids were my life and I couldn't even face a life without them. My husband got out of the car but said he couldn't really walk. He got to my son, JD, who was seated right behind him. I can still hear the blood curdling scream that my daughter, Lexi, was screaming in the third row of the minivan. I tried to get up from my seat so I could get to my kids but my feet were pinned down. The heater box collapsed and pinned my shoes down. Adrenaline helped me to get my feet out of my shoes so that I could get to my scared and hurt children.

My youngest child, Jesse, was in his rear facing car seat right behind me. He was just fine and didn't seem to even know something was wrong. My daughter, although very scared, was OK too, just some lacerations and bruises on her neck from the seat belt that saved her life. My son, Ryder, was seated in the third row next to Lexi. He was asleep when the accident happened. He doesn't sleep heavy so when I got back to him to find him not responding and his head flopped in front of him, the real panic started to set in. I took off his seat belt, he was in a booster seat, and kept screaming for him to wake up. It took many screams and about three to five minutes to get him to respond. The longest few minutes of my entire life. The scariest too. He finally woke up and looked at me and I felt so much better at that moment. I did think for a split second that I had lost my son. Not a feeling that I wish for any parent to ever have to feel.

I carried the baby out of the car to the sidewalk and my husband took my son, Ryder. My arm wasn't right. It was very weak and I could barely hold the baby. The police were there so quickly and started asking if everyone was OK. The ambulance followed quickly. My daughter had seat belt injuries, JD had a bloody nose and seat belt bruising, Ryder was unconscious for those few minutes and he also bit down on his tongue so hard that he had actual blisters on both sides of his tongue, and Jesse had no injuries. My husband had a broken foot and seat belt bruising and I had a broken arm, bloody nose, bruises up and down my body and slight burns on my face from the airbag.

When we got to the hospital, they X Ray'd my husband and told him that nothing was broken. They told me that my arm was in deed broken after my X Ray. They checked the kids out and said that we can go home. They only put a splint on my arm and I was told to see an orthopedic surgeon in the next week to get a cast put on it. We went home and tried to pick up the pieces of our life. That wasn't easy and the harder parts were still to come.

None of the kids would leave our sides when we got home. We all slept in the family room for about a week, together. That actually made me feel better too. The thought of losing my life or any of my family member's was the scariest thing I have ever had to deal with in my life. The physical injuries were nothing compared to the mental anguish and financial issues that we had to face. My son had nightmares. JD saw the car coming. He told me many times. He remembered the color of the car and some of the details and that was scary for him. That was scary for me to know that he saw it and was having trouble moving past it.

After about a week, my husband went back to work. After only a few days of working, he said that there is no way that his foot isn't broken and scheduled an MRI to check out the problem. He went for the MRI and came back home. Five minutes after arriving home, the office called and said that he had to come back right away since his foot is broken. He was put out of work for six weeks. Now starts the financial issues.

Once we were both healed and he went back to work, the financial problems still lingered. They just don't go away. Catching up is very hard once you fall behind. Nine months later and we are just about back to a normal life. The path to normalcy is a long, hard one. We are not completely over it all and I don't think we will be for a while.

Now the lawsuit starts. The accident report says that the tractor trailer was at fault but we all think that the car was the one at fault. He was trying to make an illegal left turn and that is why he hit us. His wheel was turned the the left, or else he would not have hit us, on the other side of the road. So we are suing the tractor trailer and then once they settle, we will be suing the car as well. He was at fault and he isn't going to get away with it. He almost ruined my family. He got lucky to have not injured us more or worse.

I was told on the scene of the accident as well as at the hospital and subsequent doctor's visits that if my kids were not in their car seats, booster seats and seat belts, they wouldn't be here today. I never wore my seat belt but that day for some strange reason, I had it on. I had an angel watching over me, that is the only explanation. Now, I wear a seat belt each and every car trip. If I didn't have the seat belt on, I would have been seriously injured or even dead. One simple thing saved my family. Seat belts. Wear them. Keep your kids in their car seats until they are big enough and old enough to graduate to a booster and then to a regular seat belt. These things do save lives. I am proof as well as my family. Airbags are a good thing too. That saved me from slamming into the dashboard or windshield. This accident could have had a much worse outcome but because of the seat belts and airbags, luckily it didn't.

My minivan died that day. It was totaled. Nothing could fix it. The floor came up, the roof buckled, the entire front end was no longer in the front. The dashboard collapsed and everything was thrown around and destroyed. Even my stroller, which was up against the sliding back door on the passengers side felt the impact. The wheel was bent. Nothing was the same after that morning.

Thus my financial issues escalated since I needed a new minivan and couldn't wait too long. I have four children and a family of six will not fit into a compact car. We were able to wait about a month and then we had to get a new car. We had a balance on the old one so my financial problems just didn't let up. I was left with a balance on the old minivan of about $3500. So things were rough for a while but I am glad to say that things are getting better.

December 17, 2006 will always be a part of me now. I will never forget the events of that day or the feelings. I will keep preaching to anyone that will listen about the importance of car seats and safety belts. Please, use all precautions to ensure your family's safety. Family is the most important thing and it can be destroyed in the blink of an eye.

If I can save just one family from going through a worse accident in which a child is not properly secured, I did my job well then. Make sure that your car seats are properly installed. That is important, and keep those children buckled up, as well as yourself.