It's been a hell of a year, one of the hardest for sure, and I'd like to thank everyone who was patient and stuck with me during this scary time for our family. I have always wanted to put that scary ass day into my own words but didn't have the drive to do so until now. If you are not into reading and just want to see some scary accident pictures scroll to the bottom but warning that some of the images are very graphic!
It was a Friday evening and the sun was low but there was still a bit of blue light left in the sky. It was actually exactly a week after the time changed for spring forward so it was staying light later then it had been the week before.
Our good friends own an automotive repair shop, and typically on a nice Friday evening he will stop by there after work and hang in the garage with the guys and have some boy time for a little bit. Garrett left the shop around 7pm and was driving home on this very isolated one lane newish road that cut through the desert up to our end of the woods.
My ocd self had every detail of this evening planned so the little kids were fed and in bed by the time he was supposed to be home so we could leave by 8pm sharp. After brushing the kids teeth around 7:15, I checked to see where Garrett was by tracking his phone and he was about 10 minutes away. Perfect, he would be home soon and everything was going to plan.
I tucked the little boys in bed, said my good nights and when I came out of their room, I noticed Garrett still was not home. It had been about 20 minutes since he should have been home and I tried tracking him again. This time, his location would not update. Called him multiple times.....straight to voicemail, no answer. My body started to feel that nervous pit your stomach feeling. I knew something was wrong. Just knew it. I waited a few more minutes. Still nothing. My body knew something was not right.
I called our friend who last saw him to let him know that Garrett didn't make it home and to see if he had talked to him or if he knew what car he was driving home. He reassured me that everything was going to be ok. Garrett left the shop in the BMW M3, he hadn't had a single beer or anything to drink because we were all going out that night and he mentioned he was already tired from the long week.
The little boys had fallen fast asleep by now and my older boys were home so I left to go search for him. My first instinct was to head to his last known location that I had seen. I took that same desert road and passed only one vehicle which was a Henderson suv police that was pulled over on the side of the road. I clearly remember thinking maybe I should stop and ask the police officer if he had any records of Garrett being pulled over or arrested. I didn't know what to think but I decided I would just go a bit further and see if I could find his car anywhere. After driving to the spot I had last tracked him and having no luck, I made a loop and came back home.
My stomach was so sick, body was shaking inside. I didn't know what to do. I called the police station to see if he had been booked. They told me they had no records of him being brought in. I went to the garage to talk to my oldest son Zayne who was in there working on his dirt bike when my phone dinged that I had a new voicemail. My phone had the setting on that sends unknown numbers straight to voicemail so it never rang. I quickly called back the number and it was the hospital nearest by us (20 minutes away from our house). I told the older boys it was the hospital, it must be your dad, I'm going there now.
I was still on hold with hospital and jumped in the car. My body was still shaking and scared. The operator at the hospital told me Garrett was there and in the ER and that I could come see him. That's it, that's all they could tell me. The only thing keeping me from losing my shit was the fact that they told me I could go see him. In my mind, he was alive and at least well enough for me to come see him. On the drive there I called his mom first, then his dad who where out of town but neither of them answered. Next, I called his brother, and thankfully he picked up first ring. I broke the news to him that Garrett was in the ER and I had no more info but was almost there.
As I pulled into parking lot, my mother in law called back. I told her I would update her as soon as I could.
I ran into the ER and signed in and the led me back to this little room where they were holding him.
I don't think I will ever get the image of him laying in that ER bed all jacked up out of my head but he was alive. The doctor on call in ER told me that Garrett was in a rollover car accident and dealing with multiple head injuries with concussion, head laceration, pulmonary contusion, sacral fracture, pelvic fracture, lung bruises, pubic fracture, left numerous fracture, mid shaft radius, alma fracture and that's all they knew for now.
Not long after that, a Henderson police officer came in the room and told me that Garrett's car had left the roadway rolling multiple times into the rocky desert most likely at a high speed and he was extremely lucky to be alive. In fact, a Henderson fireman who helped rescue him from the car popped his head in the ER room to check on him and told us that it was a miracle he is alive and that about 2% of crashes that bad have a survivor. Shoutout to Henderson Firestation #91 for being ammmaziing!!
Two women who were traveling in the opposite direction said they had seen his car drive off into the desert all of a sudden and had called 911 to report the accident. Thank goodness someone saw him, because his car was found about 500 feed from the roadway and it was dusk when he crashed and got dark quickly after. There would have been no way to see his car in the dark desert on that lonely road.
A bit later, officer came back in the ER room and told me that his blood work came back negative for substances and since nobody actually saw him speeding, they were just serving him with a failure to maintain lane ticket which he handed to me. Kinda the last thing I wanted to worry about at the moment, but I guess that's protocol for them.
G's two brothers and step mom met me at the hospital and we took turns with him because they would only let one of us back there at a time with him. They told us they were going to staple his head shut, and set his arm for the night for surgery tomorrow. After a dose of Ketamine, he was flying in space and has no recollection of this ever happening. After about two hours in the ER, they did all they could do and got him moved to the orthopedic floor after a good old covid test. I was not allowed to follow him up that night but was told I could come at 9:00 the next morning to see him.
The next few weeks were a total blurrrr. Garrett ended up being hospitalized for two weeks and dealt with three surgeries on his arm during that time. The surgeon had to open up his forearm after placing all the titanium in there because there was so much swelling and they couldn't close his arm after surgery due to fear of compartment syndrome. They placed a wound vac machine on his left forearm and were hopeful they would be able to close it after a few days, but after each attempt at surgery they told us he was going to have to go home with a wound vac machine and a home nurse would come twice a week to rebandage it.
During those two weeks they would not allow anyone 18 or under into the hospital so our boys were never allowed to see their dad. That was so hard. They just wanted to give him a hug and see him alive but thankfully we could facetime him which was better then nothing but not the same. I juggled all four kids schedules while driving back and forth to the hospital as much as I could in between. G's mom flew down the day after the crash and stayed with him at the hospital as much as she could and that was such a blessing for this busy mama. With each passing day he was moving more, walking the halls attached to a wound vac machine, and improving a little more and wanting to get the hell out of that hospital.
Finally March 31st, on our son Beckett's 7th birthday, he was finally released with a home wound vac machine and we could start the road to recovery. The boys were so happy to see their dad that evening. We were all together in the same room again at last.
Six months and so many painful bandage changes later, G's left arm finally closed up all on it's own (thanks to the wound vac) and another surgery was not needed.
Garrett has always had a passion for fast cars, and driving them. He is an amazing driver and we often joke that he was a race car driver in another life. This accident has put a new perspective on life. He was given a second chance and even great drivers can have accidents. And his BMW.......that thing was toast but 1000% saved his life!
If you have made it this far, thank you for taking the time to relive this scary day with me.
To all the people who reached out while he was in the hospital, visited him, watched the kids, sent flowers, cards, food, gift cards, and dinners, you all are our people and the love was very much appreciated and will never be forgot.
Now for the images! Warning!!! If you are NOT into blood or cuts or gross things haha then do not scroll through these pictures! They are pretty graphic!!