The Accident Miracle!

Kody and Maddy came for the weekend to hear Colton Report his mission.  Kody spoke with him, and thy both did an awesome job.  After dinner Kody and Maddy left to drive back to Provo.  Around 6:00 pm I kept getting a phone call from a strange number and finally decided to answer.  It was Kody in complete shock. He wasn't making much sense, but said they had been in an accident, she's not going to make it, you need to come.  We finally figured out they were life flighting Maddy to the St. George hospital, but taking Kody by ambulance to the Cedar City hospital. Garrett and I jumped in the car to head to Cedar, and Jaden and Erica headed to the hospital to be with Maddy until her parents arrived from Highland. Jaden was able to give Maddy a beautiful blessing before they took her in for emergency brain surgery. Garrett and I kept expecting to run into a line of cars in front of us from the accident, but noticed cars backed up for miles across the median in the southbound lane and my heart sank. Just past the New Harmony exit we came close to the accident and I kept thinking there is no way that is the same accident, their care couldn’t have gotten way over there into oncoming traffic. And then we passed and saw Kodys car…or lack of. I almost burst into tears. Just as we were getting off the Cedar City Exit Kody called and said they had decided to take him to the St. George Hospital and so back onto the freeway we went headed back to St. George and this time were stuck for 1.5 hours as they cleaned up the accident. When we finally arrived at the hospital they were treating Kody for lacerations in his feet from glass and a bruised lung. His back and neck were also in a lot of pain. He explained that he was on cruise control coming over a hill, and on the other side it was pouring rain. He pushed the brake to get off the cruise control and slow down and his little car hydroplaned across the median into oncoming traffic. Miraculously the car had turned so it was facing south so they were hit from behind by two cars. If they would have been hit from the front they would be dead. He jumped out of the car not even noticing his slides had come off and ran through glass to help Maddy. She was convulsing and her eyes were rolled back, and he thought she was dying. Thankfully there was a nurse 2 cars back that came and helped him know what do do and keep him calm until the ambulance came. He didn’t even want to be treated, he kept asking about Maddy and if her parents were coming. I could tell her was in agony knowing he was the cause. He kept asking if there was something he could have done. We assured his there wasn’t, but he had just watched the women he loved almost die and didn’t know if she would come out of surgery. Kody was released and we waited in the waiting area for news from the doctor. Just before Maddy’s parents arrived the doctor came out and told us the surgery was a success and that now we just had to wait and see how her brain healed. Kody was in tears and just trying to hold himself together. He went into a mourning room just before Maddy’s parents arrived to be alone. When Maddy’s parents arrived Alan, Maddy’s dad, went in and spent an hour talking to Kody and reassuring him that it was not his fault, and that they did not blame him before they even went in to see Maddy. It was an answer to my prayers. Maddy had broken a few small bones in her back along with her brain surgery. Both her ward and ours prayed nonstop for both of them, and Maddy went from “She’s not going to make it”, to ICU, to Neurology, and then to Neuro Rehab in two weeks time before being able to go home for outpatient rehab. It was a miracle! She still has a long recovery but she is walking, talking, eating and cognitively there. Her vision, brain and body still need to heal, but we all expect a full recovery with time. 

Another Miracle. We went to the impound yard to get whatever we could salvage out of Kody’s car. I was dreading it and knew I needed help. Kraig’s name came to my mind and I called him up to ask if he would come help. He said “Of course!” When he can to pick us up his daughter Sarah was with him. I asked why she wanted to come and she said “I had a dream last night and I was talking to Kody for a long time and just felt like I should come.”  She has a fear of driving just as Kody has developed now. The conversation we had the entire way up about choosing faith over fear was so spiritual and so impactful that I think Kody and Sarah were both helped. 

Seeing the car in person again was pretty traumatic. We thought there was no way anything was still intact. After hooking a chain to the back of Kodys car and pulling off the back of the car with Kraig’s truck, both Kody and Maddy’s phones, laptops, temple bags, and all their clothing and shoes were recovered. Not one thing was lost or broken! Kody’s basketball was even still inflated. Miracle right there. We had given up hope finding the phones, but Sarah was led to them somehow (another testament to why she was there), and found both by reaching her hand up inside the mangled car.