Back in July 1993 I was the proud owner of a brand new Dodge Caravan by IMS,
one of the first adapters of minivans. It had all the bells and whistles and
was the first new van I had acquired since 1979. On July 14 I had owned it for
two months. I went to church that night and stopped at my parents on the way
home. When I left there, I backed carefully out onto the main road. I put it in
drive and pulled the joystick toward me. The van lurched forward, and I
immediately felt the tie-down come unlatched. In a heartbeat I went flying to
the back of the van. I sat braced against the backseat as I watched the van
pick up speed. It veered into the neighbor's yard, bounced over a tree stump
and headed straight toward a large maple tree. I remember thinking -- well,
this is it. I woke up over 24 hours later in a hospital 100 miles away. It took
the emt's nearly five hours to cut me out from under the dashboard. Both legs
and knees were crushed, I was unconscious, and had internal bleeding. I was in
icu for two weeks. The docs wanted to amputate my legs, but I would not allow
it. Instead they straightened them out as best they could and fit me with
fiberglass braces. Over the next six months I developed my first pressure sores
from those braces. I lost my right heel and had sores to the bone on both
ankles, the sides of my knees, and right butt cheek. After several months the
doc removed the braces. Because my knees were crushed, my legs healed at a 45
degree angle. They are still bent today, hurt like hell, and make getting
dressed an ordeal. The van was totaled and I was almost totaled. Next time I
will talk about a really bad accident, the one that broke my neck. Stay tuned!
