February 4th: The Accident

Our neighbor frantically rings the doorbell and runs into the house yelling, "Call 911! It's your daughter!"

I call 911 at 4:11 p.m. and then run up the street in my bare feet. As I approach Elle, lying on the ground with Rob and our neighbor hovering over her, I can't look. Elle is not disfigured, but she is having trouble breathing. We have four doctors who live on our street, so I run to one empty house, and then another with Cy following close behind, and then I beg a neighbor getting out of her car to drive to the top of the street and get Dr. Whiting, Elle's pediatrician.

Elle's friend's mom had been buckling her three young children and their little cousin into her car to take the cousin home, while Elle had put her coat and boots on and started walking home on the sidewalk, one house and an empty lot away. The neighbor who lives between us was slowly backing out of his driveway with his wife and two small children in their SUV to run an errand. Elle was run over, too small to be seen. There were no witnesses.

I run back towards Elle, but McKenzie tells me not to look and holds me tightly and tries to hush me. By now, police are arriving, and emergency vehicles block the road. Dr. Whiting and Dr. Bishoff are rushing towards her. Dr. Whiting wraps her in blankets and keeps her still. Air Med lands minutes later right on our street. Moving arms and legs, responding to commands and stable but critically injured, Elle is moved to the helicopter. Rob and I are told we will have to drive to the hospital, so Rob tells me to go immediately, and he will follow as soon as she is loaded into the helicopter.

I drive down our hill when McKenzie calls and tells me to drive to my sister Megan's house, 5 minutes away, so she can drive me. On Rob's drive, he calls our neighbor and bishopric member, Dr. Bishoff, and says, “Please go to [the driver's] home. Tell him that we understand this was an accident and tell them we are sorry for him. We know he must feel absolutely terrible.” Rob is in contact with the helicopter and calls me with an update. In the air, Elle’s condition has worsened. She has been sedated to eliminate any further pain and intubated, which means she isn't breathing on her own.

When we get to the hospital, Rob and I are ushered into an empty hallway next to the room Elle is in, and we pace the hall. I buckle over and feel like I will throw up. A social worker asks me to sit down, so I do. One of my knees bounces violently while I try to answer her questions. Elle is taken to PICU and doctors tell us she has suffered a severe crush injury to the lung, liver laceration, spleen laceration, cardiac and pulmonary contusions, right pneumothoraces, small bowel perforation, and left renal artery injury causing loss of blood flow to the kidney, but no severe bleeding in the abdomen and no immediate reason for surgery. She requires large amounts of fluid to keep her blood pressure sufficient to sustain her life. She has been crushed across her right shoulder to her left side, above her hip. A head scan shows no visible sign of trauma from the accident. Her spine shows no obvious injury but is not cleared.

All of the injuries to her organs are potentially recoverable. She needs only one kidney to function well, her lungs, liver and spleen can heal themselves if given enough oxygen and support, and the pulmonary and cardiac contusions can heal. But the worst news is her condition upon arrival at the hospital.

Elle's right lung had torn and collapsed during the accident and required a chest tube, but she could not be properly diagnosed in the helicopter. When she arrived at Primary's, the doctor tells us she was in shock and as sick a patient as any they had seen. She was blue, and the paramedics had not been able to get any readings on her vitals. They are very concerned that the oxygen deprivation she suffered since the accident has caused significant brain damage.

About 6:00 p.m. that night, doctors take her off sedation to assess her brain function. It is nearly 7:20, and she has not moved.

And then, she wakes up.