Help Alanna Recover from a Devastating Accident

I feel like we are in a living nightmare. Just when I think life has thrown us the worst of the worst; life proves me wrong!

About an hour in to my work day and sitting with a gut full of worry for no known reason I felt like I urgently needed to check my phone. I unlocked the screen, only to see multiple text messages and missed calls. I proceeded to open the text messages before I called back, which is when it happened. I opened the text that read.; Alanna’s been in a car accident… I let out a wail that I can’t find the words to describe.

Sunday, October 5 at approximately 8:02 AM my sweet baby girl‘s life drastically changed. She was two houses away from home when she lost control of the vehicle and proceeded to take the flight of her life. After catching air propelling her through one fence panel taking out 2/3 of the side fence line another panel on the other side of an approximately 40 foot horse pasture, a tree at approximately 24 inches from the ground level that propelled her higher and faster in the vehicle. Add approximately another 20 feet in flight before the car connected with the ground for the first hard hit of at least six about the second connection, the car made with the ground has it flipped and flopped, and banged where Alanna was ejected from the vehicle through what we believe was a door window where she proceeded to fly solo for more than 100 feet before her 102 pound body came to a hard and abrupt stop when she met the ground I was told that she was not conscious when the first person arrived to help. She did regain consciousness. She was responsive. She knew answers to some important questions, but she was obviously very very broken. 911 was called and first responders showed up on scene. Initially, the plan was to activate life flight set up a landing zone and fly her fast but due to weather conditions life flight was 42 minutes out and she didn’t have that kind of time. So,instead they quickly and safelypackaged her broken bodyloaded her in the back of the ambulance and raced for Salem trauma center. I raced for home to pick up baby sister and since the scene was on my way, I made a quick stop to assess the scene to prepare myself and baby sister for what we were about to see when we got to Salem.

I have never in any of my time as a first responder or any point in my life seen such a debrief field on a single car traffic accident. The distance alone was mine, blowing the amount of individual pieces of the car that went flying from the first point of contact with the ground to where her frail broken body landed were too many to even try to count. I walk the scene. I took pictures and we raced for Salem when we were arrived. We were informed that she was in really bad shape and they were transferring her to legacy Emanuel hospital in Portland immediately. And started listing of her injuries, baby sisters knees buckled, and she fell to the ground in tears, and I just couldn’t even begin to catch my breath. Salem Hospital tried to activate life light life light was still 42 minutes out due to weather so again they packed her quickly and safely. They loaded her in the back of another ambulance, and they went hard and fast to get her to Portland approximately 20 minutes after she arrived in Portland, I received a phone call from the surgeon they were taking her back as quickly as possible to surgery, where they removed her spleen due to a heavy laceration and investigated for possible bowel injury, orthopedics was on board and rapidly looking at MRI films and trying to put a plan together to repair her pelvis. I arrived in Portland shortly after she came out of surgery number 1. She has at least three more to go. They will surgically repair her right mandible./jaw Tuesday, August 7 if all goes well with surgery number two they will proceed with surgery number three on Wednesday, October 8 where they will go in and install hardware to put her left hip and the left side of her pelvis back together there has been no talk as to when surgery number four for her left wrist that is broken will be. I am going to assume that they will wait and find out how she responds to the pelvic surgery and I hope and pray that they give her at least a 24 hour break before they take her in for surgery number four. I have asked the direct question a few times And can’t seem to get an answer as to the estimated amount of time she will be residing in a hospital room. The surgery is alone will put her at about a week. I have been told that I can pretty well expect at least two weeks in hospital. They have started the process of looking into inpatient rehab rehabilitation. Insurance will cover up to 20 days of inpatient rehab rehabilitation and they have also proceeded with setting up assistance to get her needs met to come home out of rehab that’s the closest to a timeline that I have I have in the last 24 hours been back-and-forth twice, which used approximately 9 1/2 gallons of gas equaling about $40 with the cost nowadays. I’ve already had to take two extra days off work to be able to be there with her. A third day for my own knee surgery day number four was already scheduled off as an extra day from my own recovery. We don’t have many bills, but we do have some and I no longer have a paycheck this week to cover anything and about $17 left to my name. Alanna’s employment has been terminated due to medical emergency which does give her the option to reapply and ask for her job back. She’d only been on the job two weeks and she was proud and she was happy and she was looking forward to so much. She still has it to look forward to. It’s just gonna take some time.

I have wrecked my brain inside and out upside down and twisted trying to figure out how I’m gonna make all this work timewise and financially so that she doesn’t have to do it alone! Without possibly cutting back some days at work for a little while and drastically reducing my income I don’t know how I can possibly be there as much as she’s gonna need. She’s scared. She’s in a tremendous amount of pain, refusing IV pain medication and trying to tough it out and she’s lost and confused Because she remembers nothing except she let her head down on her pillow to go to sleep Saturday night she has no memory of leaving at 4 o’clock in the morning. She has no memory of where she met up with her friends. She has no memory of what they did. She has no memory of the drive home or the accident. She’s absolutely beside herself. I left for a few hours today to come home and get baby sister and I received two phone calls from a very scared and frightened little girl who just wanted Mom and Sister to be there.

Anybody that knows me knows that I am not good at asking for help, but I don’t know how I’m gonna make it all work without humbling myself and asking please help us. I know that things are really tight for all of us out here in this crazy greedy, expensive world we live in, but if you can and you would, please help us in any way, you can financially is for the sole purpose of just trying to stay afloat and get my baby girl back to healthy and standing and walking on her own again it would tremendously help to cover the few pills we have to put gas in the car for travel, just enough substance to keep us going.

We’re only about 40 hours in to this long road to recovery for her and I honestly don’t know how I will even refill my fuel tank I’m currently sitting just under half a tank, which will get me up there and back one more round-trip, and after that, I don’t know what I’m gonna do.

I never imagine being in this ugly unbelievable inconceivable place. I can’t even begin to wrap my brain around how she flew 100 to 120‘ slammed into the ground with her body and is still alive. There is no logical conceivable explanation as to why I am not planning my child’s funeral the only thing I know is that God was with her every inch of the way and protected her and patted her and held her close as much as possible to reduce the damage and keep her here with us. So now it’s time for me to do my part and help her get through the rest. I just really need help to get there. So, if you can. If you would, I will be forever grateful for any and all help given.

Please help me be there for my baby. She needs all of us. Thank you so very much your kindness compassion, and help will never be forgotten.