Last Wednesday, October 5, 2016..... I woke up to see that my oldest son had sent me several texts saying he was about to run out of gas. I checked his position on Life360 and realized that he had been in the same place for a few hours. I texted him several times and no answer. I left to bring his brother to school and made my way to where his last position was. I had L with me, so I kept calm. I dropped Z off and started making my way to him. About halfway there, I noticed he was moving in my direction. He texted me saying he was about to run out of gas and needed to get home. So, I met him at a gas station, filled his truck up and sent him on his way.
About 45 minutes later L and I were at Goodwill when I got a call from someone that I didn't know. I NEVER answer these calls. But this one, I did..... "Hello, you don't know me..but I am on the scene of an accident and your son Aaron game me your number. I've called LifeFlight and the are on their way to get him... Don't worry, he is talking to me but he is bleeding bad and they will have him at Vandy in about 40 minutes. He is ok, I am retired Army medic and he will be ok" Dear God...... not my boy... no... L and I left our basket and called The Dr at work... he was in a meeting but they put him right on and I told him what the guy said. I put Vandy on my gps drove... One the way, I called my mom and told her...then the school so they could tell Z... then I prayed..and prayed...and prayed... not my boy. The stranger called me again and said that they had just taken off with Aaron and would be there in 20 minutes. He told me that he was talking the whole time and that he was going to be fine.
James arrived and we waited for our son to arrive. He finally landed and they took him in the back for a CT scan...we waited some more. During this time. Zane arrived and I messaged Aaron's birth mom. She needed to know. I was getting texts from everyone. Friends, friends of Aaron's.. people I barely knew. All were praying... for my boy..
I checked his last position on Life360 and he was 10 minutes from home when the accident happened.. his phone was still registering as being there.
They finally let us back to see him and my heart... oh my heart... I remember passing a room and seeing a man's hands and thinking..oh dear I hope the poor guy is ok...then they took me in to see the man...my boy... James and I both grabbed a hand and told him we were there... that he was going to be ok. He responded and the nurse asked him who we were... He answered, my parents... Soon they started stitching him up and cleaning all the blood off of his face. Several hours passed when they finally finished stitching him all up. They told us that the CT revealed no broken bones, no internal injuries and no brain trauma. His face and head had all the injuries. He ended up with ALOT of stitches in his face and 10 staples in his head. James left to bring Zane and Lydia home and change clothes. He would stay overnight with Aaron and I would go in the morning.
While waiting for a bed on the Trauma floor in Critical Care, I messaged the guy who called me asking if he had a picture of Aaron's truck. Aaron needed to see what it looked like. Many times, while they were stitching him, he was worried about his truck. Asking me if I was able to get it. I told him that someone had picked it up for us and not to worry..
We finally got a room in Critical Care and Aaron asked for his phone....seriously......I knew he was going to be ok. But he just looked so terrible. James relieved me and I went home. I spent some time with Zane and Lydia and then went to bed. I didn't sleep much. I headed to the hospital and James left to bring Zane to school before lunch and to check out the truck. I asked Aaron if he had seen what he looked like and he said no. I let him look at the pictures that I took and he was very quiet. Then he got to the picture of his truck. I told him that James was going to look for his phone...so he took mine...It was good for him to be able to respond to the hundreds of messages that were coming through to him on social media. He had a few visitors and took a walk around the floor, complaining that the lady was moving too slow.....
James sent in a few pictures of his truck and again, he was quiet. I think it was then that it hit him that is was a complete miracle that he was alive and walking. In fact the guy at the tow yard asked James when the funeral was..and James told him that he was walking and talking. The best news was when the nurse came in around 3 and said he could go home!!!
James left to pick Zane up from football practice and as I was driving Aaron home, I told him that there were two times in his life that I was grateful to be brining him home. 18 years ago when we picked him up and I finally became a mom and that day...driving him home alive.... my boy....
He wanted to see the crash site, so we stopped. James was right behind us and pulled in the driveway. Life360 and find my iPhone both registered his phone as being right there... Zane walked around with my phone and found it! Facedown. 6 inches from the road... unbroken unscratched, not a crack on it.
We were driving home and Aaron was telling me about all the texts that had come through... all the people that were checking on him because they had heard a rumor.. was it true, was he alive.. I told him that he is loved, and that there were people that were praying for him.
Tomorrow, I will share James' story. The story of how someone was led by God and saw my son waving on the side of the road...my boy
