|
To all Wosat members
A former wosat member sons was struck by a car and is in the hospital
her name is Lola Vanslette
the following is what she sent to me
Hello Larry,
I just wanted to let everyone know I won't be here too much for awhile.
One of my twin boys, Stephen, 12 years old, was hit by a car Friday night at 11:23pm. He and his brother decided to sneak out after we were all in bed and a sleep.
We live on 2 state hwys and there are no sidewalks in the town. (We live in rural territory, no civilization beyond my front door!). The boys climbed out their sisters' window, since the girls were staying the night elsewhere, and within 5 minutes of me telling them to shut out the light, my son slammed into the house waking me and my husband saying "Stephen got hit by a car!"
He has made it so far, but is still in critical condition. He has been kept sedated and medicated, received more blood that one can imagine and is in Pediatric Intensive Care Unit in traction.
His legs were broken clean through, and he may or may not be paralyzed in his legs, but he moves his feet and has good circulation, so that looks promising. He has minor bleeding in the brain, and right now, swelling of the brain is being monitored. Hopefully there will be none, but I won't know for two or three more days.
Because he has been kept in a medicated state, we are not sure how badly his brain was damaged, but his "growth plate", of his jawline (next to the ears) is fractured pretty badly, as is his whole lower jaw. Two teeth were knocked out on the bottom and the front of his torso is raw. He has broken ribs and his lung collapsed, but was reinflated without complications. His pelvis is fractured, and so far the only interior bleeding is from that fracture, his brain and, until they begin to heal, the leg bones.
Tomorrow, at 1:00 pm, the bone reconstructive surgeon will have to reset the leg bones (both upper thighs and both calves) He will have bolts, plates and pins put in. If he does well, and their is no swelling in the brain, they will schedule a facial surgery to reconstruct his jaws. Because of where it is in the jawline, his face may or may not have any further growing, which is not good for a boy of 12.
According to the doctor we were lucky in that he is tall. If he was a smaller build, (like his twin) he would not be here now because instead of throwing him over the car on impact, he would have been pulled under and crushed.
I am only thankful he is still with us. He will have pain, he may not walk again, and he might not even recognize me when he wakes up, but right now, he is alive.
I am on the computer at the "Ronald McDonald" House across from the hospital right now, so I am able to keep you up to date on what is happening here. My other son is going to have to have some coucelling because he was there and tried to stop Stephen from running across the street. My sister was going by and saw the whole thing happen as well, which was good for Stephen because she kept him still and called 911, but it was bad because she is still suffering depression because of her two month old baby boy, Ethan, dying in her arms 9 months ago.
That's all I have to report for now. After surgery tomorrow, or the next day, I will update you on his progress. If you want to get in touch with me, I'll try to read all my messages and emails while I'm here. So just email me atlolavanslette@yahoo.com and I will be glad to get back to you
Your friend,
Lola Vanslette
PS: Just in case you want to know, he was flown by chopper to the Cabell Hospital in West Virginia (USA).
|