4thmaninthecar.com
4thmaninthecar.com
Written by Brandon "Bug" HulettBug attends Ashland Community and Technical College
"My Story"
A miracle is something that we commonly read about. Sometimes we see them in the news. We all know the stories about “Daniel in the Lion’s Den” and “David and Goliath”, but I had never seen anything that I would ever consider a miracle. Until that night.
May 7th, is a day that I will always remember. Not because of anything I did but, it simply starts with a phone call. My cousin JoAnn was the one that called that night. She simply said, “Clark has been in an accident on Rt. 168 and is unconscious.” My house being just off of Rt. 168, I told her that I would check it out and get back to her. I thought that it was a minor accident and that the air bag had simply knocked him out. I also thought of something else that I told him about a month before, “Clark, if you wreck this car, I’ll kill you myself.” I remember that he laughed at me when I said that. My idea of it being a minor accident was dashed when I walked out on the front porch. I could see a line of strobe lights flashing down the hill of Rt. 168. At the top of that hill was a curve known for killing people.
Once I caught my first glimpse of the car, it made me sick to my stomach. I remember seeing an orange shirt and an arm covered in blood lying across his chest. Chris Spears, a close family friend and Catlettsburg Fire Fighter, was walking away from the car. He looked like he had been crying. My mom called out to him and asked how Clark was doing. All he said was, “Intubated but unresponsive.” For those not up on the hospital lingo, its where they stick a tube in your nose that runs down to your lungs. It keeps things from blocking your breathing. I later found out that tube was put in by a retired Paramedic who lives close to the area where Clark crashed.
After Chris said that I became really sick to my stomach. I walked back to our car and got in. I wrapped my arms around the steering wheel, laid my head down, and prayed. It was simple but to the point. “God, please help him make it through this.” I repeated this out loud for several minutes.
I climbed out about the time my cousin Paul and Charles, a friend from high school, showed up. I filled them in on what I knew and their reaction was about the same as mine. That’s about the time the firefighters hooked the front of the car to one of the fire trucks and straightened it just enough for them to pull him out. Just as soon as we heard they had him out we took off running for our cars to meet him at the hospital.
The drive there was quiet but tense. I remember riding on the interstate and looking out over Kenova. Off in the distance I could see a little strobe light moving across the sky and mom saying, “There’s the HealthNet, there he is.”
He had already arrived by the time we got there. The hospital had given the Menshouse family and friends the whole trauma center waiting room. I simply walked in and sat down across from Paul and Kristin and waited for some news. When the news did finally come, it was grim. He had severe brain damage, internal bleeding, and a 50/50 chance of not living through the night. It was a huge blow to everyone in the room and several people began to cry. I needed some fresh air to think and walked outside. Paul and Kristin followed a few minutes later and we made sure that each other was holding up well. I don’t know how long we were out there but I remember seeing Clark’s parents, Keith and Debbie, hugging each other on the other side of the ER entrance. Then I realized something bad. It was Mother’s Day.
More time went by. There was little news on how he was doing. During that time a whole lot of people showed up from Paul Blazer as well as from church. Andrey was one of them. He showed up with a family from church. For those of you who don’t know, Andrey was a Foreign Exchange student who was staying with the Menshouse’s for that school year. He still had a week and a half left before his stay was up. Wanting to stay with Clark, Keith asked if Paul and I could stay with Andrey for the rest of his time in America. We were happy to agree. Charles was nice enough to give us a ride to the Menshouse’s home to begin our stay.
Church was quiet the next morning. DJ preached that day and was good at filling everyone in who wanted to know how he was doing. Part of the service was spent in little prayer groups praying for a miracle. I could hear people crying all around. I didn’t cry until I got up to leave, that’s when I saw Clark’s drumming gloves laying on his drum stool.
We managed well at the Menshouses. Clark’s Pappaw would check in on us almost every day to make sure we were doing alright and had plenty of milk. He’s a great guy, lives with a smile on his face. Andrey took care of the animals, Paul took care of the clothes, and I took care of the transportation to anywhere we needed to go.
A couple of days into our stay we got a call from Keith. He wanted us to come up and see Clark in the PICU at Cabell-Huntington. We accepted and went up there that night. He met us in the waiting room with pictures on his cell phone. He wanted to prepare us because of how he looked before we went in. I smiled at the pictures. To be honest, I was expecting a lot worse. Because of hospital rules we had to go in one at a time. I was last. I walked in and gave Debbie a hug. We talked a little about how she felt and how much she now hates the color Yellow. She then explained what every tube, IV, and monitor was and what they were doing. She even showed me the “bolt” monitor that they drilled into his head. It monitored pressure and drained fluid from the brain. It was suppose to work for only a couple of days before it clogged. It was still working perfectly when it was taken out 7 days later. Keeping her mind busy like this helped keep her sane. It also helped calm me down knowing that everything medically possible was being done. I gave her and Keith another hug and we left.
I believe it was that night, May 12th, that I started my Xanga account, www.Xanga.com/Hobohuey. I can’t really say why I started it and really didn’t have any idea what I was going to write about. I guess I started it for church friends wanting to know how Clark was doing. It ended up sort of becoming a story of Clark’s recovery. His parents didn’t even know I was recording my visits until months later. I remember Debbie saying, “I tried all the time to write down what he was doing, but its hard to write on soggy paper.”
I ended the “Clark Updates” on September 12th since he was well on his way to recovery. After some medical complications a few weeks later I started updating again, but the updates were finally stopped on October 20th. My reason, he’s doing great. If you want to know more, ask him yourself.
The rest of this story is written in the pages of Xanga. Click here to read from the beginning.
Enjoy.