Okay. Some of you know that I'm a special education teacher, and I work with two paraeducators/teacher associates in my classroom. One of my paraeducators called in to work on Monday, as her son (18 years old) reportedly had been in a horrible car accident. Well, as the day unfolded, more news kept filtering into my room from personal friends of my associate, that her son had stolen a car locally, was driving in it (whether or not he was drunk is impossible to determine right now), had crossed the center line, hit another car head-on, killed the female passenger instantly, and left her husband with minor injuries...he fled the scene on foot. He then proceeded to steal another car from a farmhouse, drove off, and hit a utility pole, ejecting him from the vehicle...he was badly hurt, but then again attempted to flee from the scene, where he collapsed...It was bitterly cold this weekend with wind chills at nearly 20 below, and no one found him for nearly 2 hours. He was airlifted to a hospital in Des Moines, and was nearly frozen to death. He also had sustained serious head trauma, with a blood clot in the brain, and severe brain swelling...
I spoke with my associate Monday night to confirm everything, and to offer my prayers and some words of comfort, and she informed me that it is not looking good for her son.
I received word yesterday that the brain swelling had gone down a bit on it's own, however, last night it went back up, and surpassed the original swelling...a cat-scan was performed this morning, and showed that the back half of his brain is complete "mush" (as her friend described it), and if he does survive, will most likely be in a vegetative state for the long-term. They were planning to take him off life support temporarily this morning, to see if his brain has the ability to allow his organs to function somewhat without it...and from there, I have not heard anything else. I do know that if he's unable to be without the life support, she is planning to have the plug pulled, and allow her son to let go...she is planning on having his organs donated if he indeed does not survive.
To make matters even more awful and complicated, my other associate has learned that the woman he killed in the head-on collision was an old family friend of she and her husband for the past 30 years...it is the most bizarre (and horrific) coincidence. My principal pulled me into his office this morning, and asked me if I felt this would become a conflict once my associate came back to work, and at this point, I don't know. I highly doubt she knows that this was my other associate's friend, and I believe that this is a situation that my associate cannot personally hold against her.
I'm also praying for my associate, as she may possibly have to live with so many unanswered questions...why was he stealing cars? Where was he going??? He did have many prior driving offenses, starting from age 14...last year, he plead guilty to driving under the influence, and crashing. His license was suspended. He then took his mother's car out a couple of months ago, and totalled it, of course not having a license. He also put his arm through a wall a month ago, and broke his hand, in a fit of anger. It's been one heartache after another. She'll probably never know what was fully going on with him, and will wonder what she could have done to help...and if by some miracle he does survive, and has some quality of life, it will be spent in prison, for probably no less than 25 years. It's just dreadful.
So I'm basically just venting the situation on here...it's been so hard wondering what will happen next, and I'm sincerely concerned about both of my associates. I'm afraid it will turn into more than just a personal crisis...it will turn into a horrible tangled-web at work between my associates. Ugh. It's really unbearable...please pray for my associate, for the woman who lost her life, and for the teenage son who is hanging on to his life.
I spoke with my associate Monday night to confirm everything, and to offer my prayers and some words of comfort, and she informed me that it is not looking good for her son.
I received word yesterday that the brain swelling had gone down a bit on it's own, however, last night it went back up, and surpassed the original swelling...a cat-scan was performed this morning, and showed that the back half of his brain is complete "mush" (as her friend described it), and if he does survive, will most likely be in a vegetative state for the long-term. They were planning to take him off life support temporarily this morning, to see if his brain has the ability to allow his organs to function somewhat without it...and from there, I have not heard anything else. I do know that if he's unable to be without the life support, she is planning to have the plug pulled, and allow her son to let go...she is planning on having his organs donated if he indeed does not survive.
To make matters even more awful and complicated, my other associate has learned that the woman he killed in the head-on collision was an old family friend of she and her husband for the past 30 years...it is the most bizarre (and horrific) coincidence. My principal pulled me into his office this morning, and asked me if I felt this would become a conflict once my associate came back to work, and at this point, I don't know. I highly doubt she knows that this was my other associate's friend, and I believe that this is a situation that my associate cannot personally hold against her.
I'm also praying for my associate, as she may possibly have to live with so many unanswered questions...why was he stealing cars? Where was he going??? He did have many prior driving offenses, starting from age 14...last year, he plead guilty to driving under the influence, and crashing. His license was suspended. He then took his mother's car out a couple of months ago, and totalled it, of course not having a license. He also put his arm through a wall a month ago, and broke his hand, in a fit of anger. It's been one heartache after another. She'll probably never know what was fully going on with him, and will wonder what she could have done to help...and if by some miracle he does survive, and has some quality of life, it will be spent in prison, for probably no less than 25 years. It's just dreadful.
So I'm basically just venting the situation on here...it's been so hard wondering what will happen next, and I'm sincerely concerned about both of my associates. I'm afraid it will turn into more than just a personal crisis...it will turn into a horrible tangled-web at work between my associates. Ugh. It's really unbearable...please pray for my associate, for the woman who lost her life, and for the teenage son who is hanging on to his life.
