ONE STORMY AFTERNOON!

I want to tell you about one STORMY afternoon in more ways than one! My husband was working a lot of overtime due to his line of work. This particular evening he was home for supper and was going back to work. The telephone rang and it was my husband's mother on the phone. She said that my husband's sister had an accident and that we should go directly to the hospital.

When we got to the hospital Evelyn was in the Emergency room. She had just left work in her car and was proceeding to cross a railroad crossing in the stormy afternoon rain. She had to get on the tracks before she could see if a train was coming, due to some railroad box cars too close to the intersection. Indeed there was a train coming and hit her car broadside.

When we got there we found out that she was in CRITICAL condition. She had head injury, broken ribs, broken collarbone, crushed pelvis, unconscious, many lacerations on her legs, etc. Not too promising report from the hospital personnel.

At the scene of the accident the undertaker was called. At that time the undertaker was also an ambulance service. When he arrived the police told him that the train hit the car, she flew out of the car onto the tracks. This was before seat belts.The car flew in the air and landed on top of her. The undertaker was told the girl was dead and the police had laid a tarp over her body because of the fierce storm. They proceeded to tell about how the accident happened to the undertaker. He was about to leave, but he thought he would check under the tarp if he happened to know the victim. After checking, he proceeded to put Evelyn in the ambulance. The police said, "You can't remove the body from the scene of the accident". The undertaker said, "This girl is not dead and I will be responsible for her". This part of the story was told to us at my husband's mother's funeral by the one who took her to the hospital that night. The years was 1952.

The nurse that was taking Evelyn's vitals knew her but was so focused on trying to get a pulse from her that she wasn't aware of who she was. This played out all night long. The next day I had an eighteen month old, so I went home to care for her, while my husband and mother stayed vigil at the hospital. Four days had gone by with Evelyn's life, hanging on by a thread. My husband needed rest and an aunt and I went to relieve them at the hospital. My husband and mother thought she was getting better, but when I and the aunt arrived, I could see that she was not getting better, but worse. They went on home and about 8 o'clock in the evening, I asked the nurse if she thought we ought to call them back to the hospital since it appeared to me that she was rapidly getting worse. She said, "yes, and also call your pastor." I went to the phone to call and the nurse said that she wanted to talk to the pastor herself. I heard her say to him, "Please come out right away, as Evelyn was not going to live through the night". Pneumonia had set in and it was a matter of hours. When we got back to the room the head nurse said to the private nurse, "Clean her up". They didn't want her being sent to the undertaker with straw and blood in her hair. The nurse asked again, to make sure, since head injury patients you don't move around much. "Yes" was the answer.

She pulled through the night and seemed to be stabilized, so the family went home to get a bite to eat. We had no more gotten home, the telephone was ringing, and they told us to hurry back as she was taking a turn for the worse and was taking her final breath. This was noon the next day.

We hurried back and the doctor asked my husband to sign permission to cut her throat to place a tube in so they could drain the fluid from the lungs. The doctor informed him that this was not going to get her well, but help her die more easily. This procedure took place. Every day was the same, she had private nurses around the clock and each shift they would take their starched cap home, because they knew she would die before their next shift. Normally, they would leave their cap for another days work.

Weeks went by and she still was no better, but at least she hadn't died. She was still unconscious and the nurses was draining fluid out of her lungs regularly. The doctor was telling us that if she lived, she would be a vegetable and would never be able to walk again. This was not news you want to hear and a HEAP OF A LOT OF PRAYERS WENT UP FROM EVERYONE regarding this trauma that she was in. You get to the point where you do not know how to pray, all you can do is pray--"YOUR WILL BE DONE".

Weeks went by and she still was unconscious. Evelyn's mother went down to get a bite to eat at the hospital. After she came back from eating, Evelyn had aroused and said, "Where am I?"
This was a MILESTONE. She was cognizant of her whereabouts and was able to talk. Her accident was at the end of September just before her 30Th birthday. Her birthday was on September 25 a few days after the accident. She was brought home with nurses around the clock and a hospital bed brought to the home by Thanksgiving, yet that year. By Christmas, she was walking a little with a walker and it was evident that GOD TRULY HAD PERFORMED A MIRACLE!! This was 56 years ago.

Tomorrow we will be attending her funeral, 56 years later. She returned to work and was able to live a fairly normal life. Her mind was clear up to the day of her death. She had many problems due to the accident injuries, but was able to walk (with a walker) up til the time of her death. GOD IS IN THE MIRACLE PERFORMING BUSINESS!!!! GOD EXISTS AND IS STILL IN CONTROL OF OUR LIVES! PTL