Ethan's Accident

Saturday, June 19, 2010: It is SO easy to forget how life can change in the blink of an eye. Our family had a HUGE eye opener on Saturday!

Saturday started out like any other. Brandon was holding a riding school so Ethan went with him. Taiya had a birthday party in the morning and then we were planning on going out to the track to watch the boys ride. Then we were going to go grocery shopping, do yard work, and watch movies...

Taiya was at her party when Brandon called me and told me that Ethan's bike broke down, so he wouldn't be riding the rest of the day. Taiya and I still decided to head out to watch Brandon and see the track. We were half way there when Brandon called and told me that there had been an accident and that I needed to turn around and go to the E.R. He told me Ethan had gone on the track and got hit. I kept asking him if he was okay and he said he honestly didn't know and that he was jacked up. He kept telling me how scared he was. That scared me so bad because Brandon is one who never goes to the doctor unless something is broken or it is REALLY serious. I can't even begin to explain the horror I felt. I started crying and telling him I was scared. I could hear Ethan crying in the background. That was probably one of the hardest things because I wanted to be comforting him and holding him, but I was in another car and had no control. My heart was breaking. The drive to the hospital felt like an eternity! The Summerfest was going on so there was insane amounts of traffic. I hardly remember any of the drive now. I called my "other Mom" Linda and she flew up to the hospital and let them know what had happened... so they were waiting and he was registered.

Taiya and I got to the hospital about 2 minutes before Brandon and Ethan did. When Brandon got out with Ethan, I was in shock. He was covered in dirt... every inch of him. It was all over in his hair, his ears, his nostrils, his eyes, his mouth... literally everywhere. He had massive cuts all over him. His face was so bad and so were both of his legs. I just cried when I saw him. I was sick to my stomach. He was crying, Brandon was crying. It was the most heartbreaking sight. I honestly thought he was going to die when I saw him. He looked so bad.

They took him into a room and the doctor came in right away. They hooked him up to an I.V. and started looking him over. Then I heard the whole story. Brandon was doing some hot laps and Ethan was at the bottom of a jump watching him. This jump is about 80 ft. so Brandon was in 3rd gear (about 40-50 mph) Brandon was flying in the air when Ethan decided to play chicken and run across the track. Once he saw that Ethan was running across the track, Brandon flipped the bike sideways in the air to try and move some to try to avoid hitting Ethan... as soon as he touched the ground Brandon slid the bike sideways, but it hit Ethan at the same time. Ethan flew 45 feet and landed at the top of a different jump. Brandon threw his helmet off, ran to Ethan and scooped him up... he was not crying and that is what scared Brandon the most. (When Ethan gets hurt even a tiny bit he screams like it is the end of the world) His eyes were rolling and he was whimpering and groaning. Luckily there was a mom there from the riding school who saw everything, so she took them to the hospital.

I honestly thought I was going to lose my baby. I just shut down. I couldn't think, concentrate, and it was hard to even move. I just felt numb. They did CT Scans on his head, neck, and abdomen. They x-rayed his pelvis and legs. They did blood work and urine samples. Everything came back perfect! They thought he might have a fracture in his femur, but after reviewing it with a few doctors, they decided it was nothing! He didn't have to have any stitches either! The doctors were amazed that he was okay! They kept telling us that he had to have angels watching over him! There are not many kids who can have an accident like that and be able to walk away without any broken bones, stitches, or internal injuries! He is a miracle. I know that my Mom was protecting him!

Ethan was such a trooper. He was in so much pain. He has a huge burn from the exhaust and it was extremely painful. I was holding his hand and when he would cry he would reach up for me to give him hugs! I loved just hugging him and kissing him. You just want to pick them up and squeeze them and never put them down. It was so hard to just sit by him and hold his hand.

They decided to keep him overnight in case anything happened later. He went up to Ped's. It was so hard to see him walk because he was in so much pain! He could barely walk because his hip hurt so bad, as well as both his legs. He threw up a few times too. Other than that though he did really well throughout the night. Landon and my Grandpa gave him a beautiful blessing. That was so comforting! I am SO grateful that we are able to receive and give blessings. They are so sacred and so important to me. I am SO grateful that Heavenly Father has blessed us with that gift.

Ethan is now home and doing amazing! He is doing really well. Stairs are really the only hard thing for him. He is back to his happy personality too! I am SO happy that Heavenly Father saved him to be with our family! I am so grateful for all of the love and support that has been shown to our family. We have had so many visitors and we are so grateful for them. We are so grateful for all of the calls and prayers we received as well. Thank you to Natalie for coming straight up to the hospital and hanging out with us while we waited. Thank you to my Dad for driving up from Brigham to be with us as well. Thank you to Linda for taking Taiya and getting him set up. Thank you for being there to help me through another situation! I love you more than you will ever know and I am SO grateful that you were such a special part of Mom's life! Thank you to Landon and Grandpa for the beautiful blessing. Thank you to Grandpa and Grandma for the pizza! Thank you Taiya for being such a big help and taking such good care of your brother. Thank you to the amazing doctors... Dr. Plowman, Dr. Harris, and Dr. Harker! You all were so amazing! Thank you to the E.R. nurses and especially to the Ped. Nurses! They were so amazing and took such great care of all of us! Thank you to my sweet husband! He is honestly amazing! I don't know what I would do without him in my life! Thank you to everyone who has read this LONG post!

This is Ethan when he was first brought in and hooked up to everything. The pictures do NO justice! He looked 10 times worse in person!

He has cuts and scrapes all the way in his scalp and a huge goose egg on the back of his head! His neck is covered in scrapes too.

His knee was really bad... there are some tire tracks on this leg too.

This is his burn. There is a huge circle that goes halfway down his leg... you can really see it in this picture though. You can see more tire marks too.

After he got released we went to see the accident scene. When I actually walked the track it hit me at how lucky he is to be alive. If Brandon wouldn't have had all the experience he does, it would have been fatal. Luckily Brandon was able to more scoop him instead of t-boning him. Thank you Heavenly Father for all of the miracles we received this weekend!