The Adams Family Tragic Car Accident Erie PA

On December 22, 2023, Kaitlyn was in a major car accident. While driving, another vehicle swerved into her lane and hit her head on. She was 34 weeks pregnant and had her 2-year-old daughter was with her. Her daughter was secured safely in her carseat and sustained barely any injuries thankfully. Kaitlyn had her seatbelt on and was able to keep her baby safe. Hamot was ready when they arrived, and they quickly took the baby out and Jaxson is healthy and in the NICU being cared for. Kaitlyn unfortunately took the majority of the accident to her body.

The doctors had made the decision to remove the baby vertically instead of horizontally and they are so grateful that they did. After removing Jaxson, they were able to access and begin to repair her internal damage. Kaitlyn had some internally bleeding, ruptured spleen and fractured ribs at immediate assessment. They removed the spleen and part of her stomach and cleaned her, obviously leaving tubes in the continue to drain the blood. Kaitlyn has a laceration on her liver, hole in her left lung, blood clot in her right lung and a severe concussion. She also had her left leg placed into traction into they are able to work on her leg. We were told the next 24 hours are the most crucial, but we are lucky she and baby are alive. This began her triage of treatment.

She has been NPO since the accident as they need her belly to repair before doing any other work. Today they have begun the ever so tiniest of ice chips to begin to get something in her belly, no more than a spoonful every 30 minutes. Neurology has said the concussion is now considered minor and we saw ortho. Ortho has put together a team of doctors who will repair her hip, pelvis and knee on her right side tomorrow. Her hip was completely pushed up into her abdomen and both hip and part of pelvis are completely shattered and will require multiple plate, pins and hardware to hold it in place. Her knee is a mystery, and they will decide in surgery what is the best way to fix it because it affects both sides of the knee due to the severity of the breaks. Once they can fix her left side, they will begin to look at the right foot over the coming days. Sadly, the right foot is so horribly broken, and it is nonemergent, so it will be fixed with multiple surgeries down the road.

Addalyn at just 2 years old is home resting with dad today and won't see mom until Kaitlyn is able to move out of the ICU. She is scared and sore so we know it's best for her to rest today.

Our families are so grateful for the outcry of love and support as we navigate through helping Kaitlyn Renee heal. She has a very long road of recovery ahead of her, but she is awake and starting to talk to us. Kaitlyn and Lee are trying to adjust to life with being in three places, with neither of them working at this time. We know that Kaitlyn will be off of work for quite some time and right now the children need Lee. Jaxson is healing in the NICU and Addalyn needs to heal at home. This is far from what we had expected for Christmas. Hold your families a little closer because in a blink of an eye our lives have changed forever.

12/25/23

Today got started pretty early in hopes of being the first surgery, but they were not able to take her back until 11:00. Kaitlyn did require oxygen overnight, and her blood pressure is now elevated. The doctor explained this morning that her belly has begun to be a little more tender than they like and needs additional medication to help strengthen it. There is some puffiness around the 30 staples that were needed to close her abdomen after the accident. They have ordered a CT for the liver to check for bleeds and make sure no further damage because of the laceration she had acquired. The blood clot in her right lung will likely require medication later down the road. We can't address it now because it will thin her blood, and she still has too many injuries to take the chance of bleeding anymore. She has already had multiple blood transfusions, so we do not want to put her at any unnecessary risks. They are starting her on a regular anxiety med to help because she is reliving the accident and talks about how he looked like he was purposely coming straight for her. Her belly is putting out too much bile at the moment, so we stopped the ice chips last night and hope to resume overnight or in the morning. Todays plan was for the OR to be able to address the leg, hip, pelvis, and knee. The back of the pelvis is what is shattered the most, which is why there is so much pain with movement. She can feel the bones grinding around against each other because nothing is connected in the hip and pelvis on the right side. Surgery was long as they tried to figure out the best way to repair it, but they have a full team in place ready to do whatever she needed. The ball of the hip went out through socket and blew out the back wall of her pelvis. She is having numbness and tingling in left foot from that pelvis wall yanking all the nerves out of place. The left foot will probably have damage for about 3 months. He said to plan 6 months to a year before she will be walking and feeling somewhat normal from an orthopedic standpoint. They repaired left hip and pelvis with 3 plates and 9 screws. The left knee and right foot will get a CT hopefully later when they do the CT of the abdomen to access the liver. They would like to look at repairing them on Thursday in surgery. He did let us know we may have more broken bones that appear over the next coming days as we have now stabilized the worst of it.

Little Miss Addalyn is so very sore, and dad is staying home with her because she cries out when he even tries to put clothes on her. She is bruised and missing her mama! Baby Jaxson is a fighter!! I got to see him today and his tiny little foot is barely the size of my pinky. He is on just a little help with oxygen to help his lungs catch up. They are monitoring his kidneys and lungs while he stays in the nicu for a bit. The exciting part is that he was able to start a little bit of formula last night and today!

These are amazing steps in the right direction!!! Thank you so much to everyone who has donated, shared, dropped off donations and send their love, support and prayers. It is helping more than we can ever describe. Hold your families a little closer on this Christmas because in a moment life can change.

12/26/23

So far all morning has been all great news!

Kaitlyn has been able to step down and is no longer considered ICU status!! She will remain in the ICU room until one opens up. They have begun removes tubes and wires in the plan to start to move her out of her bed. They would like to see her sitting in a chair. She will move to the trauma room on the 4th floor of Hamot next when they have a spare room. Her CT came back, and the liver looks good, no signs of additional trauma or bleeds. She does now have multiple blood clots in the lungs but they do not want to do too much because of the other injuries and additional surgeries needed. They have decided though that a low dose blood thinner should be ok to stop additional clots from forming, so the will start that today. She has started to sip at some water and hopes to start clear liquids throughout the day. She keeps asking about food and that will likely come after surgery on Thursday.

Addalyn is with daddy at home and is starting to move around more and watch cartoons. We try to video chat with mom and her smile is enough to light up any room.

Jaxson got amazing news today as he is breathing room air and is not requiring any help for his lungs. He is doing wonderful and they are hoping to take her to even try to hold him later today as long as they both stay stable.

Truly thank you all so much for sharing their gofund me, sending all of your love, support and prayers!!

12/28/23

Yesterday we were checking things off trying to progress forward. The team got together yesterday morning and felt that her being closer to her son will help immensely with her mental health and his healing, so they made it happen. We are now at Hamot Women's Hospital room 508. She can have visitors, but she is weak and in a lot of pain. Jaxson is starting to drink just a little bit from a bottle. Lee did take Addalyn to the ER as well because she still isn't sitting up or walking. She was evaluated and discharged, doctor said that she is just pain from the accident. A CT will not show muscular problems and they believe that is what is going on. Today she went into surgery at a little after 7 this morning, and it took a little longer than expected, but Kaitlyn did fantastic! They were able to repair all of the broken bones in her left knee and lower part of that leg with 1 plate and 9 screws. The right foot is also now stable as they placed 3 pins that will come out in about 3 weeks. This will hopefully have been the last necessary surgery. Her biggest hurdles next are going to be staying here at the hospital for 6-10 weeks and then physical therapy for 6-12 months before she will even be herself again. She is young, tiny, and healthy, so if we can motivate her, she could make that sooner!

We are just so thankful for each and every one of you who have reached out in so many ways to help this young family begin to see a road to recovery.

12/30/2023

No major changes is good news! Kaitlyn is finally starting to eat solid foods for the first time in a week. She is so excited to be able to have her pop and chocolate! She is getting to spend about a half hour a day with her son. Orthopedics warned us that as they stabilized her broken bones, we would begin to see other spots that have been hurting. That is so true! She is having quite a bit of pain in her left shoulder, and they believe it is from the seatbelt pulling. Unfortunately, we did find out the driver who had hit her never made a report to the insurance company. Needless to say, as the Holidays come to a close, we are hoping to have more answers. We are so grateful for everyone who continues to go see her, take her gifts and help in so many countless ways!

1/3/24

Today marks day 13 that Jaxson was emergency brought into this world, day 13 that Addalyn has not been able to sleep with her mama and day 13 that Kaitlyn is fighting hard to regain a little bit of normalcy. Now while some may say #13 is an unlucky number, I am counting my blessings on this #13.

Kaitlyn's brother was born on the 13th and even had his 13th birthday on Friday the 13th, but today it means even a little more! Today is the day we are able to put everything in motion to hopefully bring both Kaitlyn and Jaxson home soon. These teams of people here have been working diligently to find a way for both of them to go home together. This means that they both will require some medical equipment at home, but we can figure this out! We are getting Kaitlyn's hospital bed, wheelchair and more dropped off today to work to send her home as early as tomorrow WITH her son!!

This has been incredibly empowering news, and our hearts are full of love as we begin to see this family continuing their journey to heal.