"The Crash" by Angela A

    It was a September afternoon in 2004, my brother Adrian and I had just gotten home from school when our front door neighbor came to our house to tell us to watch the news and see what had happened. There was a car crash on the fifteen freeway right before the Summit exit. As we are watching this I can see that my brother was beginning to worry and I at the time was too young to understand what was happening. A Little red Toyota truck had crashed into a parked car on the side of the road, causing the truck to roll and land on its side. At this point another neighbor came to our house and told us that he would take us to where the accident happened, which was near the Kohl’s parking lot. As we get there we see a crowd of people looking, cops standing, ambulance approaching, and the noise of the sirens surrounding us. We’re walking closer and now we can see the bottom of the truck facing us, I look at my brother and he seems so afraid. He worried and feared that the people in that truck would be our Dad and our two older brothers. I remember the police officer approaching my brother and I as he began to try and tell my brother to not worry, maybe it wasn’t out Dad’s truck and that he would take us to go get ice cream, just something to distract us, but my brother did not want to leave he wanted to see if it was our Dad and our brothers and he wanted our Mom to come. After this our neighbor took us back home where our Mom was outside listening to what our neighbors would tell her, but all I could see were the tears pouring down her face, the fear of not knowing what was happening, and her not knowing what to do, who to call, or where to go. My Dad and my brother Oscar were sent to Arrowhead but my brother Eric was in such a bad conditions that he was taken by a helicopter straight to Loma Linda where they specialize in head trauma. Due to this my Mom made us stay with a family friend for a while until things were in better conditions. My Dad had dislocated his hip and shoulder, ripped his forehead and nose open, and had glass in his face and under his chin. Oscar had broken his arm and ripped his nose and lip open, but Eric had it worst. Eric was in the middle seat during the car ride, when they opened the truck with the jaws of life they couldn't see him because he was folded under the dashboard extremely hurt and unconscious. He then was placed on the gurney and put in the helicopter for a faster way of transportation. They told us that on their way to the hospital Eric kept flat lining and they had to resuscitate him until he had a steady heart beat again, but once arriving at the hospital Eric fell into a coma for about Fifteen days. During the accident he hit his forehead causing his head to swell, which they then went into his first surgery where they detached a part of his skull to remove some of the pressure in his head. The next thing they had to do dwelled of having another surgery which had many parts to it. First they would remove a part of his hip bone to fix the vertebrates in his neck. Second they would have to complete a tracheostomy which is where they insert a tube in his throat to allow air to flow to his lungs, and lastly they inserted a gastrostomy tube which is a tube put into his abdomen to deliver food to his stomach. The Doctors had told my Mom that they had done everything they could but now he is in the hand of God and the only thing we could do was wait and pray that he would wake up and see in what conditions he would be in. Two or three days after the surgery Eric began to slowly wake up from his coma. Although he woke up his recovery was a very slow process where he would learn how to eat, talk, and walk again this consisted on a lot of hours in therapy. However in December that same year Eric went through his last surgery where they would place the piece of his skull that they had removed back in his head. Even though the Doctors had no faith that Eric would ever recover 100% he did, and he was classified as that one percent of those who recover completely from he went through. Looking at everything Oscar, my Dad, and Eric went through I realized that I want to become a doctor. Not for the money but because at the end of the day you make an impact on your patient’s life and you can be a part of that living miracle.