"The DRIVE of a Lifetime"
One November morning, back in 1999, this particular day seemed the same as so many other days before it. The morning rush to get everything and everyone together and organized before leaving home, making a dash for the car, warming up the engine, buckling seat-belts, etc. It was important to be on-time, for today was the day to transport food items to the office for the pre-Thanksgiving luncheon at work. Just before pulling out of the parking lot of the apartment complex, she found that she'd forgotten something inside their home, so with the car running, the kids strapped in and car doors locked, she darted back inside quickly to grab her bible off the dining room table. She quickly locked the door to the apartment, again darting back to the car, tossing the bible on the front passenger's seat, for she would read it during breaks and sometimes at lunch in the courtyard. It was a safety mechanism of sorts. The kids were buckled safely in their back seat, all equipped with their tote-bags for school and daycare. Hopefully, she thought to herself, traffic won't be so bad today, being that alot of people have already departed the city on early winter vacation to begin an early Thanksgiving Holiday break with family and friends that lived elsewhere. This particular morning, however would change everything for the family, as they simply went about their daily routine of daycare and school drop-off, then to the transit station parking lot, in hopes of catching the train to make it downtown to Peachtree Center on time before the tyrant, erratic, Prozac-popping boss arrived in her usual bad mood, causing nearly everyone to tip toe on eggshells around her.
As the family driving the Volkswagen Golf drove through the exit side of the access gate leaving their apartment community, stopping first before pulling out onto the divided highway to make an immediate right turn, she found she had the right-of-way, for no vehicles were coming on either side of the road. The only thing visible was a stalled transit bus at the bus stop, awaiting a repair truck to get it up and running again, or towed back to the bus depot. Just as the family pulled out of the complex entrance, which faced the divided highway- before having ever fully made the quick right turn, out of NOWHERE, comes a truck that had driven up behind the transit bus deadlined in that lane, the truck blindly jumped lanes, going at least 70 miles per hour on a street where the speed limit was only 45. The truck had taken over the lane the Volkswagen had just pulled into. The driver of the truck plowed into the family at a speed of 70 mph, while the Volkswagen gold was at a standstill, nailing the drivers side of the car so ferociously until it caused the car to go airborne, then began to roll repeatedly at least six or seven times until it came to a stop on the opposite side of the divided highway- UPSIDE DOWN in the path of oncoming southbound traffic. Meanwhile, each time the car rolled, the driver of the VW, her head hit the steering wheel, the seat belt wrapped around her neck and all the windows and windshields shattered inwards, imploding glass into the cab of the car.
The driver of the VW was knocked unconscious and only came to for a brief moment, screaming out to her two children in the back seat praying for a response so that she could know that they were indeed alive. She could still see the gate of her apartment community- on the opposite side of the divided highway, only to realize that she was viewing it from upside down. Then, everything went dark! The time was approximately 07:24 AM. Someone called the paramedics and the police, yet the firefighters showed up first, according to the children's' accounts of the incident. As the fire and rescue team arrived, they summonsed the jaws of life; the VW was gnarled, mangled, contorted, almost unrecognizable. The jaws of life had to be used to cut the doors and roof off the car to pry the family out of the vehicle. Just as the family was pulled from the vehicle and placed on stretchers in the middle of the busy thoroughfare, the car exploded and firefighters went to work extinguishing the fire. The children were transported in a separate ambulance from their mother because the mother was in bad condition!
A teacher from the children's' daycare had witnessed the aftermath of the accident, called the daycare center and notified the owners to try to contact the children's' father / ex-husband. The family was transported to Grady Hospital in downtown Atlanta because of their extensive triage care. Miraculously, the children only had a few minor scrapes and a bruise or two on the forearm and chin, and although shaken up, they had no broken bones or serious injuries. They were more concerned about their mother than anything else.
The mother, however, was in very bad shape. Upon arrive to the hospital, the medical team was on high alert, discussing feverishly how there was no possible way this little woman would survive that sort of impact, and if by minute chance she did survive, she'd be paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair, or would possibly be in a vegetative state due to the severe Brain / head injuries sustained, as a direct result of her head striking the steering wheel each time the car rolled over. The prognosis was glum and dark, while the chances for survival were slim to none. Fortunately, for the children's' sake, their father showed up to bring comfort to them, while yelling at the medical team as to dare not let the mother of his children die, and if something did go terribly wrong, he was going to choke someone!
The mother's vital signs were very weak. The assessed the injuries and found were moderate pelvic fractures, spinal damage, severe head injury, some broken ribs, right arm dislocated from the shoulder socket, a slight break in the left lower arm bone, severely sprained neck from the seat-belt, fractured collarbone, and a slight break in the bone which extended below the side of the left knee down, and ripped cartilage and torn ligament in the left foot. Her clothes had to be cut off her body and glass removed from her skin. The boots she was wearing had to be cut off her feet because the feet were swollen and injured severely injured, while the medical team wanted to prevent further injuries by not attempting to pull them off .
Suddenly, all vital signs were lost and the mother coded blue! This threw the medical team into a frenzy. They worked hard at trying to revive a pulse, as tubes of fluids and oxygen were administered. The heart had stopped beating and the doctors used the defibrillator, shocking the young mom's heart at least six or seven times, only to regain a small pulse. However, the next few moments were crucial. After the pulse was restored for about fifteen minutes or so, the the young mother flat-lined again, as the medical team tried so hard to restore her. At last, their efforts had failed. The young mom was gone... she was dead at age 29, three months shy of turning 30, leaving behind a seven and four year old. What a tragedy! the time of death was noted as 12:55 PM on the chart. everyone left the room except for one young medical intern, while the others dreaded having to break the news to this family.
In the last efforts to save the young mom, her spirit departed her body, left the table, and began to float around the room, stopping in the top right hand corner of the room to take a look back at the body on the table and all the chaos of the medical team.. Afterward, she felt free, departed the room, and began to travel down a long hallway that was peaceful, quiet, calm. when getting to the end of the hallway, she opened the door in front of her and entered into the other realm. She was now in a room of peace, filled beautiful singing. About eight feet in front of her was another door. It was only a short distance to go, for there was a brilliant light that shone in splendor from beyond the cracks of the doorway. What beauty it was, the illumination drawing her near,. She said to herself, "I must go and open that door in front of me so that I may bask in that light coming from beyond the door. Just as she approached the second door, the door then opened, and in front of her appeared a familiar face, but he closed the door behind him, preventing her from entering, and now face to face with the young mom. It was a close friend of hers, he was so much like the brother she'd never had whom had passed away the year before in a head on collision. She greeted him and said that she was happy to see him again and relieved she was to be released from that other noisy, painful place. She asked him if he could step aside so that she could walk through the door behind him. He said, "No, I cannot do that. I am here with a message for you. You will see the glory of that light behind me, but NOT RIGHT NOW! I came to tell you that you must go back to the other side, for your mission is not complete and your work is not finished. You have a tremendous job and responsibility ahead of you and those children need you. So, go back down the hallway from where you cam and I will stand here to watch over you until you cross back over to the other side. You must return now and one day tell this story so that others may be encouraged and strengthened to fight an live, despite their own personal odds and obstacles. I'll be with you, even though I'm here. I am also there in spirit as one of the guardians."
She turned and began to proceed slowly in the direction form where she came and he was standing at the opposite end, saying, "Go Back, Go Back, Go Back!" As the young mom opened the first door that she'd come through, she stepped over the threshold and a remarkable force pulled her, drawing her quickly back into the other realm with the ferocious sound of a might wind howling. As she entered back into the hospital, she stopped again in the top right corner of the triage room where one medical intern had remained. Twenty-seven minutes had passed and he heard a void saying, "she is not supposed to be dead, shes' supposed to live! Attempt resuscitation efforts again and shock her heart. He then charged up the paddles, pulled back the sheet, and the the spirit of the mom still heard her guardian brother behind her saying "GO BACK, GO BACK NOW!" As the medical intern lay the fibrillation paddles on the seemingly lifeless body for the third time, the pulse returned, the vitals stabilized, and the young mom's eyes flew side open and stared at him as her spirit leaped back into her body. the medical intern began yelling: "Oh My GOD- she is back- she is ALIVE! Dear God Almighty- after twenty-seven minutes of being dead and everyone else had given up, she's back! It is a Miracle! " Five medical staff members came running back into the room, only to find that the vitals that had flat-lined and ceased to exist, NOW were moderately strong and her eyes opened. There was a slight break in her left jawbone , but no teeth had been broken. For months to come, the entire left side of her face was dark purple and green from the deep bruising, while the bone plates in her forehead were swollen and discolored. The terrible migraine headaches--resulting from that, even years later would be excruciating and nearly unbearable.
This was the day that CHERYL died, abandoned self, and was resurrected in the power and life of God. The medical staff explained to her that she'd probably have to be in a wheelchair for a while, if not permanently, due to the spinal cord injury and her spine being now curved / shifted to the extreme right from the impact of being hit on the left side at such a high speed. However, when they tested her reflexes, she was able to feel and respond to the touch of the medical instruments. Somehow, they only kept her in the hospital for 18 hours and upon release, they told her she'd have to ride in a wheelchair to be escorted to the parking lot. She heard a voice inside that said, "If you let them put you in that wheelchair now, you'll NEVER walk again. Ask your ex- to support your weight as you hold onto him and shuffle your feet to walk out of this place." That is exactly what she did, and despite all odds and no physical therapy, she not only lives, but is able to walk again, even DANCE! Hallelujah!!
The road to recovery was a tedious one though, for she was a single parent. living alone with two small kids, and now- no car / transportation, and not functioning at full capacity due to the nature and severity of the injuries sustained. The odds were still stacked against her though- even after defying death and coming back to raise the children and tell this story. She attempted to go back to work after three weeks to four weeks of being out on sick leave and vacation days. She had worked as a Financial Analyst at a large Commercial Investment / Real Estate Bank, making a handsome salary, especially for one without a degree in finance. However, upon returning to work, her health began to decline and take a beating. After all, she had sustained a brain injury, shifted spinal cord, fractured collar bone, etc., but was determined to get back into the swing of life, even though now she had to rely on the public transit system instead of her greatly missed and then previously reliable car. Things were not at all what they used to be before the accident and certainly not as easy.
One day, she heard the LORD speak in a plain voice and said, "You know that you are going to have to leave this job, right?" I said, "Lord, I NEED this job because I have to take care of my kids. I NEED TO WORK or else there is no money!" Then God said, "If you do not leave Corporate America right now, you will surely DIE trying to make a living because you are NOT recovered, nor in proper health to keep up the pace you once did. AND, if you die prematurely, someone else will have to raise and take care of your kids anyway! You see, dear child, I CAN PROVIDE you with more money, but I cannot give those kids another YOU, another Mother! So, is it going to be the money / job, or are you willing to lose your life again, and take those kids' lives away from them because you left them behind and not able to return??" GOD said, "Besides, you are in crucial stages of recovery, and you and I now have the chance to become intimate and better acquainted. I already KNOW you- now you will become more familiar and personal with Me."
Needless to say, there was no choice. I had to leave my great paying job to enter into a long road to recovery. It was a scary thing, for I had always been a hustler, a mover, a shaker, fiercely independent every since I was I kid. Now, I had no car, two kids to care for, now no job, and significant health issues- truly an uphill battle, to say the least. I had to pick up and walk away the weekend just before President's Day of the year 2000. The lawyer that had taken on my accident case, sent me a certified letter in the mail a few months later-- that I had to go sign for and pick up at the post office stating that she'd decided to DROP MY CASE because "it was no longer feasible for her to represent me". No other explanation at all and it took almost another two months after that for her administrative assistant to release the case file documents to me. The lawyer would not even return my calls.
Several months later, I met someone who'd actually known the driver that ran over my kids and I, and the person informed me that the driver's family was politically connected and his grandfather mentioned to her about having had to pay off some lawyer to get his grandson out of trouble AGAIN... how it cost the family quite a handsome sum of money because his grandson had run over "some woman and her kids" while driving high off drugs and nearly killed the family! Talk about hard knocks and rough breaks, and that would be putting it mildly. What next?
In the aftermath of leaving Corporate America, I found that with the head and spinal injury, I could no longer walk a straight line, for my entire equilibrium was off. I lost a good part of my motor skills, speech difficulties, cognitive abilities, and reflexes were shot. I called a cab and took my kids to school everyday for a few months and they still remained brilliant and astute. One day, after having dropped and broken my one billionth dish because of the sharp, shooting pains from my spine down my arms which caused my hands to flail open at any given time, limiting my grasp on things, I began to cry. I said, "Lord, you say that you have great work for me to do and many people I am supposed to reach. I cannot function in this state and be effective in raising my kids and whatever else you have in store for me. So, if you brought me back from death, you are going to have to repair and restore me from these damages, at least to the point where I am better for these kids. Besides, I have no one else to rely on or to help me!" After crying out to God that day, over the course of the next 7 months to one year, little by little, I started noticing gradual improvements in my speech, my reflexes, my mobility, even being able to walk again in a straight line without my kids having to hold my hands, one on either side of me just to keep me steady! That was a relief in itself, especially when I could finish my own sentences and my kids didn't have to help me convey what I was trying to get across to others. I can now communicate effectively, thankful for each word that I am able to speak, instead of knowing what I wanted to say, but my brain would not transfer the words to my mouth to speak. That was really hard from me. I did however, after about a year and a half of recovery, get the opportunity to attend school for a couple years. Most of the students were significantly younger than me, (they ranged between ages 18 and 22, where I was already in my early thirties) but I found that it wasn't necessarily about me either, that was more or less one of those "God Assignments", where I was sent / led there to reach people that otherwise would not have been reached, empowered, or inspired to come up higher had we not crossed paths. I've held a few jobs here and there since then, not really paying nearly as much as I had made before leaving Corporate America; yet I was set in places to help others far more than myself. Isn't that just like GOD, to have us helping others, even when we cannot seem to find our own way, while serving as a light in the darkness to to reach people from different walks of life, simply by being in the specified places that he sends us, showing up at the right time, and wrapped in enough grace and mercy to clothes others, lifting them up from their low places?
It has been a rough road to travel, and I've had my share of disappointments, losses, hurts, and struggles. But through it all, I died and now I live the victorious life, not because I am yet where I want or hope to be, nor do I have it all together, but simply because I defied all odds and I am STILL here! A continual work in progress, knowing that it is NOT over until I finish the work that I was sent back to do- and touch all those whom I was meant to inspire. Meanwhile, I'm always in expectancy of reaping the greater rewards. After all, this journey has to count for something, RIGHT? I've overcome that battle, yet sometimes the war continues, especially when one has seen, served in, and lived a literal war or sorts, and struggle with the issues of its aftermath to varied degrees because of it, even 18 years later. And with being a Persian Gulf War Veteran, the constant battle and long drawn-out fight with the Veterans' Administration just to receive what they rightfully owe me as a combat veteran with injuries and issues is an entirely different story in itself--- certainly suited for another time and place!
So, in the meantime, I press on to write the vision / revelations and make it plain, in hopes of reaching others. Though I have not made my fortunes yet, I shall continue plant seeds into others, knowing that indeed I must reap that which I have sown, and harvests of the most magnificent kind shall flourish in my life, hopefully sooner than later. For at this time, one grows weary in well-doing.... Yet, still I ARISE to proclaim the goodness and glory of the Lord in the land of the living! After all, according to the doctors, I was supposed to be dead within 72 hours after that fatal car accident. HOWEVER, God declared something different. So, through that test and having endured many hard trials before and after, I am still here delivering this testimony that others may overcome whatever they are facing. Meanwhile, I have been blessed with the awesome responsibility of touching lives, helping to mend the broken, and changing the world-- if only by simply reaching ONE LIFE AT A TIME!.
Written by: C. FORD
Thursday, 23 April 2009 @ 1550 Hours.
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