The Accident - Andrea Cooper

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It was just a fender benderthen a loaded truck lost control
BY
AND REA.
COO PER
USANHAYES
DIDN'TWANTher
husband, Tim, to go to work
this bitter January morning.
Six inches of snow had fallen
on Charlotte, N.C., during
the night and more was coming. "Call in sick," she cajoled. "Who's going to make
it to work today anyway?"
"Honey, I've got to go," he
said. Tim, 32, was a crew chief for
Medic-the Mecklenburg County EMS
agency. His colleagues nicknamed Him
"Black Cloud" because he always
seemed to get the toughest cases.
While the baby slept, Susan fixed
Tim's lunch and went out to scrape
the windows of the SUV. They kissed
goodbye in the doorway, his six-foot
frame towering
over her. Tim
smoothed back her blond hair and
98
smiled. Then she walked him to the
car, and watched him drive away.
STEERINGTHROUGHstill-unplowed
roads on his way to work, Tim heard
that 1-85, the main highway, was at a
standstill. The temperature hovered
at 21 degrees, turning traffic-compacted snow to ice. He detoured down
one service road, only to find a tractor-trailer jackknifed, blocking his way.
No one was hurt, so he turned back
and charted another route,
As he drove, he talked to Susan on
the cell phone. It was one way they'd
stayed connected since Kaitlyn was
born. In order not to put the sixmonth-old in day care, Susan scheduled her hours as a nurse at Carolinas
Medical Center when Tim was off
work. They loved being parents, but
PHOTOGRAP,HED
BY KELLY
LADUKE
RD I SEPTEMBER
2003
THE ACCIDENT
their time together had vanished.
At the office, Tim fixed himself another cup of coffee as paramedic
Bobby Suarez strolled over. They chatted for a few minutes before agreeing
to take a truck out together. Given the
weather, the morning was relatively
quiet-no heart attacks from snow
shoveling, no serious accidents. Just
one patient transported to a hospital.
Maybe they'd get through the day
more easily than they thought.
16. Four years later, it was Tim who
put his father on oxygen and started
basic care in a dash to. the hospitalbut his dad died.
Nothing could have saved him, Tim
came to realize, but the death sealed
Tim's career choice. He earned a paramedic certification in college and rose
to become a crew chief in Charlotte.
At the accident scene, Tim and
Bobby spotted a Mercedes and a Jeep
facing each other in the emergency
lane. It didn't look se-
Windows eXp'loded.
A force rammed
rious. Bobby parked
SUSANSATONTHECOUCHin her
pajamas, nursing the baby. A pot
of soup simmered on the stove. To
lessen the loneliness, she often called
her cousin Stephanie, whose husband,
David, was a medic and had once been
Tim's partner. Stephanie knew what
it Was like to wait for your husband
to come off a 12-hour shift. Before
picking up the phone, Susan tried the
hot soup, but she had a chill she just
couldn't shake.
on the edge of the lane about 20 feet
from the accident, and he and Tim
walked toward two women who were
standing outside their cars. The medics
asked the women to step behind the
guardrail for their protection while
they waited for the highway patrol.
Tim was just about to return to
the ambulance to get a medical form
when everyone heard the screech.
Two cars had skidded on the ice
TABOUT
2 P.M., Tim's radio and slammed on their brakes. But a
blared: collision at 1-77 tractor-trailer behind them, traveling
southbound, near exit 30. about 60 m.p.h., couldn't stop. Loaded
Bobby switched on the
with steel cable, the truck crashed into
ambulance's lights and
the first car, which hit the second. Both
siren. Underneath
the
cars spun left while the tractor-trailer
snow, an inch of ice glazed veered right. Bobby saw it looming
the interstate.
over the ambulance in time to yell,
After all these years, Tim still felt "Move! That truck's out of control!"
his adrenaline surge at a call. He had
Tim pushed one WOmandown the
begun as an aide to his mother, an EMT
snowy embankment to get her out of
in West Virginia, when he was only the way. He looked over his shoulder.
100
The ambulance windows exploded.
Another thunderous crash. The parked
Jeep rammed toward him. An ungodly force pressed him against the
guardrail. Oh, Lord, he thought, seeing nothing but sky. I've been hit.
SUSANWASGLADTOREACH
Stephanie
at home. Their families were close.
The women chatted about the storm
until a beep on David's emergency
walkie-talkie interrupted them. "Hang
on, I've got to get that," Stephanie said.
The caller asked her to wake David.
Dreading what he might find, Bobby
ran toward Tim. In the 14 years he'd
been with Medic, Bobby had lost two
partners. Now he braced himself to
see something terrible.
Tim was conscious, eyes wide,
body sprawled across the snow, his
arms flung over his head, as if trying
to balance. His right leg was missing
from the knee joint down. The bone
stuck straight up, stripped of flesh.
His left leg was worse. The femur was
broken, leaving only sharp, jagged
edges. Skin and muscle tendons were
him against the guardrail.
Her voice was loud and insistent. Loud
enough for Susan to hear.
"There's been a paramedic hit," the
caller said. "I think it's Tim Hayes."
Stephanie dropped the telephone
in shock.
"Stephanie? Stephanie?" Susan
yelled. And she began to shake.
BOBBY
WATCHED
THEWRECKhappen.
After battering the ambulance, the
tractor-trailer hit the Mercedes. The
Mercedes flew left into another lane.
The tractor-trailer plowed on. Its massive cab hammered the Jeep, pushing
it forward like a piston.
Tim was trapped between the Jeep
and the guardrail. As the SUVgrated
its way forward, it dragged him 60 feet
along the metal barrier. When it finally let him go, Tim flew end over
end. He landed about 15feet away, behind the guardrail in the snow.
peeled back to the hip, revealing his
pelvic bone.
.
Bobby cradled his partner. "Stay
still," he said. "Don't look down."
Tim knew his legs were gone. He
took one quick glance, and then closed
his eyes. He couldn't breathe. Something was wrong with his lungs.
He's going to die right here, Bobby
thought. Their ambulance was demolished; driving to the hospital was
impossible. Putting his arms around
his friend, he thought, I can't leave him
to die alone.
IN THENORTHBOUND
LANEa private
ambulance was returning .from a trip
into Charlotte. It stopped and Bobby
ran for it, screaming for help. Rescuers
got Tim on a backboard and carried
him to the ambulance. Still conscious,
Tim struggled to talk. "I think I've got
a flail chest. I can't breathe," he said.
101
II
RD I SEPTEMBER
THE ACCIDENT
2003
A "flail chest" meant his ribs were broken, his lungs bruised. He wasn't getting enough oxygen. And he asked
Bobby to bring his severed legs to
the hospital, hoping they could be
reattached.
SUSANWASDRIVENto Carolinas Medical Center-holding
Kaitlyn's hands
and crying. Her mind kept winding
back to early days with Tim. They had
met in the most unromantic way possible. As a nursing student, Susan had
gone on a "ride-along" to learn how
Medic treated patients. That night was
busy, ending in a double homicide.
She watched Tim with fascination, He
was ready every moment, starting IVs,
intubating people, saving lives. She
thought he was the coolest person
she'd ever met.
Tim was not really looking for a
date; he had just gone through a
painful divorce. But Susan softly crept
up on him. He found himself in love
SOMEONEDID. A few of Tim's colleagues were there-one
told her he
was upstairs in the CT unit. Susan
headed for the elevator.
Nurses walked with-her. Susan
knew they were there to keep her out
of the treatment area. She herself had
kept family members outside this very
room, afraid they'd see a torn body
and scream or faint. But she was finding hidden strength.
"I know how to go in There," Susan
threatened. "I can just do it."
Then she heard someone say,
"They're done. They're just getting
him on the stretcher."
Tim was unconscious, surrounded
When Tim saw Susan, he .
pulied off his
with herlively voice, her pretty face,
her kind heart.
When Susan arrived at the medical
center, a security guard was waiting.
He escorted her to the nice roomthe one near the ER. She knew what
this room meant. This was where they
told family members their loved ones
were dead.
A social worker from the hospital
approached Susan and gently asked,
"Can I take your baby?"
102
stroked his face. "Good luck in surgery," Susan said, showing a nurse's
control and confidence. "We're right
here and we're not going to leave. I'll
be waiting for you when you come
out. God will be with you." Then she
let the doctors take her husband.
Susan jerked back, clutching Kaitlyn tighter. "No, you cannot!"
"Mrs. Hayes, have a seat," the social worker said.
"I'm not stupid. I know where I am.
Someone tell me what's happened to
my husband!"
.
.
by nurses and physicians. When they
saw Susan, everyone grew quiet. The
only sound was the bag pushing oxygen into Tim's lungs. Susan could see
where the sheets covering him
abruptly went flat. His legs were gone.
Seeing that made it real. He looked so
bad-white as snow.
She leaned over him and placed
Kaitlyn's hand on his cheek. The baby
I
RAUMA and orthopedic
physicians quickly determined Tim was not a candidate for reimplantation.
The medics had transported his legs from the accident scene, but the limbs
were too badly mangled.
Doctors operated to remove dead tissue. The next day, when his fever unexpectedly spiked, they operated again.
Susan, her mother and friends
waited and prayed. Tim had been
given so much blood-yet
his pressure was wildly out of whack. He had
five surgeries in all, and doctors induced heavy sedation. He was in a
coma-like state for almost eight days.
Gradually, his vital signs improved,
where he was and that his legs were
actually gone.
"They aren't there, are they?" he finally asked Susan.
"No, they're not," she gently replied.
Tim was quiet for a moment; then
he said, "But I walked with Jesus."
While unconscious, 'he'd had a vivid
dream. Tim had seen his father seated
on a bench, looking at him and waving. "There was a waterfall. Jesus was
showing me around," Tim told her.
"But then he turned and said it wasn't
my time. It was time to go back."
IN THE MONTHSsince the accident,
the community of Charlotte, N.C.,
has poured out its thanks and support
to Tim and Susan Hayes. Nearly
$400,000 has been raised for their future medical bills. The couple say the
accident has brought them closer, and
also admit the adjustment is hard.
"Before, we didn't have any time together. Now, we have all the time in
the world, but we've lost our freedom,"
Susan says. If they want to go out, it
oxygen mask and reached out.
and the doctors woke him. Tim was
groggy and confused. Waiting for this
moment, Susan had lined the walls of
his room with family photographs to
soften the setting of IV poles, ventilator, heart monitor.
When Tim saw Susan, he pulled off
his oxygen mask and reached for her.
Susan eased him back. It took him
about half an hour to understand
takes two hours to prepare and gather
what they need.
Susan misses little things-taking
walks, having Tim open the car door
for her, a hug standing up. Their days
are filled with doctors' appointments,
caring for the baby, and exercises to
strengthen Tim's upper body and what
remains of his legs.
"There are times when you think,
103
RD I SEPTEMBER
2003
I don't want to do this anymore. It's too
hard," Susan says.
Tim works at keeping a positive outlook. Sometimes late at night he wonders how he will be able to resume a
normal life. He is considering motivational speaking, starting a business
and helping other amputees. Like many
other people who have survived catastrophic trauma, Tim feels that "there's
a reason I'm here." He's content to
GUY
wait and see how the plan unfolds.
In May, Tim began practicing with
prosthetic legs. To help him relearn
balance, doctors started him on short
artificial limbs that made him about
five feet tall. Kaitlyn, unaccustomed
to seeing her dad out of a chair, scrutinized him.
Kaitlyn is now learning to walk and
Tim, so grateful to be alive, will be
learning right along with her.
STUFF
''A study in The Washington Post says that women
have better verbal skills than men. I just want to say
to the authors of that study: 'Duh.' "
CONAN
O'BRIEN,
"Late Night" (NBC)
"Men do not like to admit to even momentary imperfection. My husband forgot the code to turn off the alarm. When
the police came, he wouldn't admit he'd forgotten the code. fie turned
himself in."
RITA RUDNER
"If it ain't broke, you can probably still fix it. That's my motto."
TIM
ALLEN
LAUGHTER, THE BEST MEDICINE
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JOE
AND DAVE
v~ Frantic, Joe dials 911
~.,. on his cell phone and
.13 blurts, "My friend just
dropped dead! What should I do?"
A soothing voice at the other end
says, "Don't worry, I can help. First,
let's make sure he's really dead."
After a brief silence the operator
hears a shot ring out. Then Joe
comes back to the phone. "Okay," he
says nervously to the operator.
"What do I do next?"
a rabbi, a lawyer
A and a doctor walk
into a bar.
PRIEST, A NUN,
The bartender takes one look at
them and says, "What is this, a
joke?"
T guins breaks downwithon 127penthe highHE TRUCK FILLED
RD
CHALLENGE
ANSWERS
If you haven't gotten to page 208 yet, don't peek! Here are the answers
to those vexing visuals:
Squashed Square: The sides are all perfectly straight. The circles
trick your eye into thinking the sides of the square bend.
Checkerboard Rugs: Both rugs are exactly the same size. But your
brain locks onto the long curved side of the first rug and compares it
to the short curved side of the other.
Hidden Rope Trick: If you guessed the top one, you're wrong. Put a
ruler to it and see for yourself. This illusion wouldn't work if the
ropes were horizontal or vertical. It's the slant that fools the eye.
Top Hat: The height and width are actually the same size. When
perpendicular lines of the same length meet-and one is horizontal,
the other vertical-the "height" will always look longer.
way. The trucker flags down a car
and asks the driver to take the penguins to the zoo. The driver agrees,
and the penguins pile into the car.
A few hours later, his vehicle
is repaired, so the trucker goes
to the zoo to make sure the
127penguins arrived safely.
But at the zoo, there's no
sign of the 127 penguins or
the driver.
Worried, he jumps into
his truck and drives around
town, finally spotting the
1011
ILLUSTRATED
BY P.S. MUELLER
driver and the 127 penguins walking
down the street.
"I thought I told you to take those
127 penguins to the zoo!" he yells.
"I did," replies the driver. "I had a
little money left over, so I thought
I'd take them to a movie."
45-day diet. It's going
Igreat. onI'veaalready
lost 30 days.
WENT
D
BACK from the auto
shop, John said to his buddy
Ken, "I'm turning now. See if the
blinker's working."
"Sure," said Ken, as he rolled
down the window and poked his
head out. "Yep, it's working," he
reported. "Wait, no, it isn't. Yes, it is.
No, it isn't. Yes, it is.... "
RIVING
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