Sunday June 24

My parents were driving west at approx 30-35 mph, speed limit was 35.
East bound car driven by 21 year old male was traveling at a high rate of speed and crossed the center line, creating a head on collision. This driver and his female passenger receive little injuries. It appears that he was drag racing and there was another car involved that never stopped. This car crossed the center line about 30 feet before the impact. There were NO skid marks and Dad had absolutely no chance to avoid the impact. There was a slight curve in the road, which appears that the driver could not negotiate at that speed. The previous stop light for this car was about 1/2 mile down the road.
The impact cause the Lincoln my Dad was driving to be pushed back 100' from the point of impact, by a car weighing about 700# less.
My Dad died almost instantly on my Mother's lab.
They were pinned in this position until the jaws of life could remove them.
I haven't seem my Dad, but I understand he doesn't look good with the mangling.
Most of my Mother's injuries were caused by my Dad's impact on hitting her.
Mom sustained some internal head bleeding, as well as external bruises and swelling. After being taken to the Moline hospital, where there was not neuro-surgeon on call, she was transferred 1-1/2 hours by ambulance to the Trauma I center in Peoria.
My parents were celebrating their 55th wedding anniversary on Friday.
My Dad was born in Moline and the accident is only about 15 blocks from the home he was taken to after birth and where he was raised.
They had just finished visiting with his aunt, who lives a block away from where he grew up, and his cousin's wife. Last time he was there, he replaced a door lock and glued some of her chairs back together. The evening of the accident he had measured her medicine cabinet and was going to replace it the next morning.
His cousin, who was in Los Angeles for a seminar, is the only neuron-surgeon in Moline and would have been the one to work on my Mom.
Mom's condition is as follows with each report more encouraging:
The bleeding in her head appears to have stopped and the swelling is going down.
She has a lacerated kidney. This bleeding also appears to have stopped and the current expectation is that it should heal up fine. We have yet to get a thorough assessment of the fluid by-product.
She has a fractured #2 (?) vertebrae in her neck. This should heal with no permanent damage over time. She will need to maintain a neck brace for approximately 2 months.
She has several broken ribs on her left side, which they can't do much about, but they should eventually heal on their own.
Her left ankle was broken and had to have surgery on early in the morning. This ankle had a wide gash and cut almost to the bone. She has the external "erecter-set" as I call it on the outside. She will keep this on for about 12 weeks and it is the area where she is presently experiencing the most pain.
Her left arm and hand were on the arm rest and took a great deal of the impact. She has always bruised easily, yielding large cuts and bleeding. This complete arm is a real mess up to and including the shoulder. At first, they were planning on doing surgery on her left hand, primarily due to some finger issues. The specialist hand doctor came in this evening and said all was fine. She can
move all fingers easily at this point.
She experiences considerable pain every 2 hours, when they roll her from side to side as the morphine runs out.
She is not able to support herself at all on the left side, making it difficult to determine when and how she can return to Las Cruces.
Her return is essential before we will have the funeral for my Dad. Expectation is around 2 weeks at best.
We are hoping she will be out of the hospital and into rehab (not for drugs) within several days.
Her spirit is encouraging, although she admits she probably won't start to deal with Dad's death until she returns HOME!
She will most likely move to the Mountain View Rehab Center in Las Cruces on her return.
My brother, George, and I will most likely stay here for 2 weeks (?) until she can travel home. George's wife, Yvonne, is with us and my sister Kay and her husband Joe are on there way to Peoria.
The prayers and support from each of you and many others have been a real blessing.
WQAD TV did a live shooting on this scene this evening.

http://www.wqad.com/Global/story.asp?S=6707297&nav=1sW7

http://www.wqad.com/Global/story.asp?S=6705597&nav=1sW7

You can see their is not much left of the front of the Lincoln on the driver's side.
God is good all the time!
Dad didn't suffer!
He died where he was born.
He died in his beloved's arms
Jesus is his Savior!

Lee Rawson