The Accident - April 11, 2009

Due to the many inquiries about the car accident that resulted in my wife Jan's injuries as well as how she is doing day to day, I've created this log that I will update daily.

The accident occurred on the evening of Saturday, April 11, 2009. Jan was driving, I was in the front passenger's seat, and our grandson Ryan Jones was in a car seat behind Jan. We were at the Arctic Circle on about 3900 West and 5400 South. As Jan pulled out of the parking lot to turn west on 5400 south, our car was hit on the driver's side (Jan's side). Jan was severly injured with multiple fractures to her pelvis, broken ribs, and a fractured vertibrae in her neck. I was only slightly injured with a contusion on the chest wall. Our grandson, Ryan, was completely unhurt.

At this point, a number of miracles had already occurred:

1. Jan wasn't killed. The impact on the car was so powerful that it dramatically caved in the drivers side of the car.
2. Jan didn't suffered any brain damage. This could very easily have happened.
3. Jan wasn't paralyzed. The vertibrae that was fractured was the second vertibrae in the neck. When the actor Christopher Reeve was paralyzed in a horse riding incident, he fractured the same vertibrae. In his case, the spinal cord suffered irreparable damage. Jan's spinal cord was completely untouched.
4. I went into both emotional and physical shock. This was a blessing because it enabled me to view and interact with the whole thing while being emotionally detached. It enabled me to remain clear headed instead of collapsing in panic. Also I could feel virtually no discomfort in my chest, thus enabling me to physically move about unimpeded.
5. As was mentioned before, our grandson was completely untouched. He was on the same side of the car as Jan was. His car seat held completely.

Paramedics were on the scene within 5 minutes. They demonstrated great skill in stablizing Jan before removing her from the car so as not to produce any further damage to her. She was rushed to the emergency at the Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah. There they diagnosed her injuries, and moved her to the shock and trauma intensive care unit (ICU). At this time, my son Chad and I gave her a health blessing. The blessing was very comforting in that it revealed a very positive outcome. She continued to wear the neck brace placed on her by the paramedics, and was heavily sedated due to terrific pain. In the meantime, the results of her diagnosis were sent to teams of orthopedic surgeons and neurosurgeons.