Car wreck has wrecked our lives!
Donation protected
My name is Amber Blackwell, my husband is Luke Blackwell, and our almost 7 year old son is Caeden Turner. We're from the Upstate of S.C.
On August 25, my husband was working at Papa John's on his way back from a delivery only 15 minutes away from getting off of his shift that he had covered for someone else. A man in a 2013 Dodge Ram with military grade steel turned left and pulled out in front of him at the literal last second.
My husband is an extremely cautious, law abiding driver. We joke in the family about how he drives like a grandpa, but really he keeps us safe. I knew as soon as I got the news he had been in an accident it was someone else's fault because he is such a defensive driver. My brother immediately drove us over to the hospital and we beat my husband there before the ambulance even made it. I can't begin to tell you how nerve wracking it is to not know the extent of the damage to your loved one and to wait on pins and needles to know if it's life threatening or not.
Fortunately, his injury was not life threatening-however it was debillitating. Our airbags didn't even deploy and no we don't have a salvage title! He was pretty banged up and he is now bedridden. After getting Xrays he had a bimalleolar fracture of the ankle and a broken fibula. In laymans terms both sides of his ankle had snapped, his ankle was buckled downwards and to the right, his leg was broken and scraping/pressed against his other leg bone(tibia), and fragments of his bone were floating around in his leg. Our car was annihilated. It was a total loss.
We had just sold our tiny mill house in April-the 10th worst neighborhood in America (Woodside) after our neighbors directly behind us had their door kicked in and were all shot and killed. This was the only asset/$ we had and we used the money to buy the car to go to work in/get our almost 7 year old son Caeden back and forth to school in.
In one day our lives were completely flipped upside down. We lost our only source of income, our vehicle, and I found out our health insurance had been cancelled-we hadn't received any notifications! His accident was on Friday, 8/25. The hospital had said to prepare for sugery on Monday and not to eat or drink anything that they were going to work him in and give us a call. They didn't give us a time. We waited and waited and waited. I called at around 2 and they said they weren't going to do it that day. Well that was pretty frustrating because he hadn't ate or drank anything all day and we had sat up all night worrying about the next day's surgery.
After our insurance was reinstated (hmm that's weird) I was able to finally get a surgery scheduled for Thursday--6 days after his accident! August 31st he had surgery that left him with a 10 inch incision on one side and 5-6 inch incision on the other, several screws going through his bones, and a steel plate. After opening him up they found that he also had ripped ligaments. The recovery time went from 6 to 8 weeks to 6 months minimum if there are no complications.
We are receiving worker's comp, but it is at minimum wage. I don't know any 3 person family who can survive on $145 a week. Our car insurance is $200 and the man who hit my husband had liability only so we have to keep our insurance going on a car we don't even have in case his insurance doesn't cover everything. We also have to keep our $100 phone bill to keep in contact with the Drs., etc. There goes half of our money for the month and that isn't even looking at utilities or daily, basic needs like toilet paper, deodorant, etc. ANY money that we receive will ONLY go towards our bills.
I can post the bills/receipts after the payments have been made. I am very frugal and buy only necessities. Rest assured that we will not spend money frivolously that is important to our survival and merely keeping the lights on and getting us through this difficult time.
We've never had a lot of money as both my husband and I come from extreme poverty. We moved out on our own when he was 17 and I was 18. My husband decided to raise my son even though he wasn't the biological father and he has since he was only one month old. We have been married for 5 years this upcoming February, and together for 7 years this October. We don't have money, but we have a lot of love for each other. Lack of money hasn't changed the fact that my child made Terrific Kid in the first nine weeks and was the only kid in his class who made a 100 on his district test last year. My son has everything he needs in life although maybe not everything he wants lol. We still have a lot of fun and good times regardless of our income. I am appreciative of our poverty as it allows me to focus on my family and allows me to be thankful for every small thing. When you have never had much you are humbled, compassionate/more considerate, and empathetic toward other people's problems.
Making this page and asking for help is extremely difficult for me because I have never asked others for help. Anyone in my family will tell you that I am very stubborn and independent when it comes to this. No matter how difficult things get my husband and I have always figured things out together. Every time we get our lives back on track, have a vehicle, and are going to work something turns our life upside down again. We will keep getting back up. We are strong, but I am now at the point where I have to have the humility to reach out for help. We can't do this alone this time. No matter how I've tried to budget, rebudget, and stretch things thin there is no way to make it on what we currently are getting.
This is our 3rd car that has been wrecked into that someone else was at fault and we're both under 25! Two years ago our VW Passat was totaled in a rear-end hit and run. Before that my husband narrowly missed a head-on collision with a drunk driver going around 100mph and hit the backside of our Ford Ranger. The drunk driver managed to hit 6 other cars before coming to a stop a mile down the road.
My husband is bedridden and my child is in elementary school; I can't go get a job even though I'd love to. If you could only give 50cents we would greatly appreciate it! If you would simply say prayers over us, or send positive energy-whatever your belief system is we would be grateful and thankful!
Due to Hurricane Harvey and now Irma things with the car insurance company are going very slowly. We still don't have our rental and it has been over two weeks. I could go through my insurance company, but that will take the $500 deductible off of the much needed money for purchasing our next used vehicle. We will get less than the $6000 we paid for our car that we JUST purchased 4 months ago because of the mileage we've added to it. We can't afford to also take another $500 off the top of that.
Anything at all you are willing to donate or have kindness/compassion in your hearts to give we would be extremely grateful for. When my husband's recovery is over I would like to throw a thank you party or if people are unable to attend due to location than to personally thank anyone who has helped us through the hardest time/greatest challenge in our young lives thus far. If you're reading this thank you for taking the time out of your day. If you're donating thank you from the depths of my heart! Sincerely,
one stressed out wife/mother.
On August 25, my husband was working at Papa John's on his way back from a delivery only 15 minutes away from getting off of his shift that he had covered for someone else. A man in a 2013 Dodge Ram with military grade steel turned left and pulled out in front of him at the literal last second.
My husband is an extremely cautious, law abiding driver. We joke in the family about how he drives like a grandpa, but really he keeps us safe. I knew as soon as I got the news he had been in an accident it was someone else's fault because he is such a defensive driver. My brother immediately drove us over to the hospital and we beat my husband there before the ambulance even made it. I can't begin to tell you how nerve wracking it is to not know the extent of the damage to your loved one and to wait on pins and needles to know if it's life threatening or not.
Fortunately, his injury was not life threatening-however it was debillitating. Our airbags didn't even deploy and no we don't have a salvage title! He was pretty banged up and he is now bedridden. After getting Xrays he had a bimalleolar fracture of the ankle and a broken fibula. In laymans terms both sides of his ankle had snapped, his ankle was buckled downwards and to the right, his leg was broken and scraping/pressed against his other leg bone(tibia), and fragments of his bone were floating around in his leg. Our car was annihilated. It was a total loss.
We had just sold our tiny mill house in April-the 10th worst neighborhood in America (Woodside) after our neighbors directly behind us had their door kicked in and were all shot and killed. This was the only asset/$ we had and we used the money to buy the car to go to work in/get our almost 7 year old son Caeden back and forth to school in.
In one day our lives were completely flipped upside down. We lost our only source of income, our vehicle, and I found out our health insurance had been cancelled-we hadn't received any notifications! His accident was on Friday, 8/25. The hospital had said to prepare for sugery on Monday and not to eat or drink anything that they were going to work him in and give us a call. They didn't give us a time. We waited and waited and waited. I called at around 2 and they said they weren't going to do it that day. Well that was pretty frustrating because he hadn't ate or drank anything all day and we had sat up all night worrying about the next day's surgery.
After our insurance was reinstated (hmm that's weird) I was able to finally get a surgery scheduled for Thursday--6 days after his accident! August 31st he had surgery that left him with a 10 inch incision on one side and 5-6 inch incision on the other, several screws going through his bones, and a steel plate. After opening him up they found that he also had ripped ligaments. The recovery time went from 6 to 8 weeks to 6 months minimum if there are no complications.
We are receiving worker's comp, but it is at minimum wage. I don't know any 3 person family who can survive on $145 a week. Our car insurance is $200 and the man who hit my husband had liability only so we have to keep our insurance going on a car we don't even have in case his insurance doesn't cover everything. We also have to keep our $100 phone bill to keep in contact with the Drs., etc. There goes half of our money for the month and that isn't even looking at utilities or daily, basic needs like toilet paper, deodorant, etc. ANY money that we receive will ONLY go towards our bills.
I can post the bills/receipts after the payments have been made. I am very frugal and buy only necessities. Rest assured that we will not spend money frivolously that is important to our survival and merely keeping the lights on and getting us through this difficult time.
We've never had a lot of money as both my husband and I come from extreme poverty. We moved out on our own when he was 17 and I was 18. My husband decided to raise my son even though he wasn't the biological father and he has since he was only one month old. We have been married for 5 years this upcoming February, and together for 7 years this October. We don't have money, but we have a lot of love for each other. Lack of money hasn't changed the fact that my child made Terrific Kid in the first nine weeks and was the only kid in his class who made a 100 on his district test last year. My son has everything he needs in life although maybe not everything he wants lol. We still have a lot of fun and good times regardless of our income. I am appreciative of our poverty as it allows me to focus on my family and allows me to be thankful for every small thing. When you have never had much you are humbled, compassionate/more considerate, and empathetic toward other people's problems.
Making this page and asking for help is extremely difficult for me because I have never asked others for help. Anyone in my family will tell you that I am very stubborn and independent when it comes to this. No matter how difficult things get my husband and I have always figured things out together. Every time we get our lives back on track, have a vehicle, and are going to work something turns our life upside down again. We will keep getting back up. We are strong, but I am now at the point where I have to have the humility to reach out for help. We can't do this alone this time. No matter how I've tried to budget, rebudget, and stretch things thin there is no way to make it on what we currently are getting.
This is our 3rd car that has been wrecked into that someone else was at fault and we're both under 25! Two years ago our VW Passat was totaled in a rear-end hit and run. Before that my husband narrowly missed a head-on collision with a drunk driver going around 100mph and hit the backside of our Ford Ranger. The drunk driver managed to hit 6 other cars before coming to a stop a mile down the road.
My husband is bedridden and my child is in elementary school; I can't go get a job even though I'd love to. If you could only give 50cents we would greatly appreciate it! If you would simply say prayers over us, or send positive energy-whatever your belief system is we would be grateful and thankful!
Due to Hurricane Harvey and now Irma things with the car insurance company are going very slowly. We still don't have our rental and it has been over two weeks. I could go through my insurance company, but that will take the $500 deductible off of the much needed money for purchasing our next used vehicle. We will get less than the $6000 we paid for our car that we JUST purchased 4 months ago because of the mileage we've added to it. We can't afford to also take another $500 off the top of that.
Anything at all you are willing to donate or have kindness/compassion in your hearts to give we would be extremely grateful for. When my husband's recovery is over I would like to throw a thank you party or if people are unable to attend due to location than to personally thank anyone who has helped us through the hardest time/greatest challenge in our young lives thus far. If you're reading this thank you for taking the time out of your day. If you're donating thank you from the depths of my heart! Sincerely,
one stressed out wife/mother.
Organizer
Amber Michelle Blackwell
Organizer
Greenville, SC
