The Accident

It was only a broken arm and a couple scratches.

It could have been much worse.

We’re lucky.

We took a trip to the beach with my brother Chris’s family. It’s always fun to get our kids together. Monday morning it was a little cool, too cool to play in the water, but perfect for a bike ride. We had brought all the older kids bikes and one adult bike. Jared volunteered to take the kids for a bike ride; I stayed at the beach house with Austin, Emma and her cousin Gavin. Chris and Tally took a walk along the beach hoping to catch a few pictures as the kids came back. They waited, and waited…

Jared and the 5 oldest kids headed off on their adventure. I’ve never taken a bike ride along the beach, it must have been pretty cool. They rode as far down the beach as they could until they reached a big rock jetty that stopped their progress. They hopped off their bikes and began to play in the water. They all stood on a big log that looked embedded in the sand. Some small waves came in and splashed them a little. It was a fun game and the log never moved. Then, a really big wave came. This time the log moved. The kids began to panic and run, but Linsey slipped. The huge log caught her and rolled right over her little body.

The kids said they’ve never seen Jared run so fast. He raced over to Linsey and scooped her up. Screaming and crying she tried to wipe her hair off her face and that's when she realized her arm wouldn't move. She looked down and could see that her shoulder was moving, but the rest of her arm hung limp. It was obvious to Jared that her arm was broken. She was sobbing and scared and in shock. Her face went white. Jared sent Hunter and Zach off on their bikes to tell us she was hurt. Jared realized that he couldn’t just put Linsey in a car and drive her to the hospital, besides, the beach was far from the road. So he sent Braydon to find an adult and ask for help. But it was all taking too long. He made a bed for Linsey in the sand using piles of sand to secure her arm, elevate her feet (thanks to Eagle Scout training) and rest her head. He headed up the big rock wall where there was some construction going on.

He was able to find help. A construction worker radioed for an ambulance and another grabbed blankets and headed back to the beach with Jared. Not long after, an ambulance, 3 fire trucks, two rescue vehicles and a bucket load of volunteer vehicles all showed up.

One of the construction workers let Jared use his phone and he was able to contact Chris and Tally as they were strolling along the beach waiting for a picture they would never get. Jared described where on the beach he was leaving all the kids and bikes. Chris and Tally got there just as Linsey was all loaded up and they were ready to pull away. It was pretty traumatic. All the kids had swollen red eyes and were pretty shaken up.

Nearly 15 people surrounded Linsey as they secured her neck in a brace and put her on a stretcher. They flattened the tires of an emergency vehicle so they could drive right down onto the beach and then they loaded her into an ambulance and raced her off to the hospital labeled as a trauma patient.

Once Chris and Tally got back with the other kids and all the bikes, I hopped in the car with Chris and we got to the hospital just after Linsey had gotten back from X-ray. My heart ached. I kept hoping it wasn’t really true, and that she was fine. I had been getting bits and pieces of the story from 7 year olds. To see her lying on a stretcher with her clothes cut made me feel sick to my stomach.

Pretty quickly after a doctor looked her over, he downgraded her trauma status to just a broken arm. She must have put her arm up just as the log came over because she had a clean humerus break right between her shoulder and elbow. Thankfully it’s below the growth plate and can easily be fixed with 6 weeks of being in a cast (too bad that’s the ENTIRE summer). It’s amazing how fast kids heal. We are so grateful she is okay.

I failed to mention that in Jared’s super-hero rescue, he took on that same log and battered up both of his shins. One was much worse that the other. As we sat in the ER, Linsey on a stretcher and Jared with an ice pack on his bruised and bloodied shin, I felt so bad for both of them and I wondered if our vacation was over.

The accident did put a damper on our plans, but Linsey did NOT want to come home. We decided that as uncomfortable as she was, it was probably better for her to lie on the couch at the beach house rather than in a car for hours. We are lucky that the beach was right out our back door. Linsey even ended up back on that beach by the end of the week. I'll post more about all of the fun things we did on our week long trip to the beach soon!