4thmaninthecar.com

 

Written by Kristin Rose

Junior at Paul G. Blazer High School, Ashland, KY   

 

As I was lying in bed one night, I heard the front door open. I immediately ran downstairs to greet my mom when I realized she was in a deep state of shock and was crying. I asked my mom what was wrong. It was then she told me, “Clark has been in an accident.” The first thing that crossed my mind was, “Aww, I bet he’s upset he wrecked his new car.” Then, I asked my mom how serious the accident was and she told me that it was a pretty bad wreck and that she was leaving to go to the hospital. Without even thinking for a second, I told her I was going with her because I wanted to be supportive of Clark and the family. On the way to Cabell-Huntington Hospital, I still didn’t quite realize how serious the accident was and the strong possibility that Clark would not make it. When my mom and I arrived at the hospital, not many people were there yet. Clark’s dad, and my youth minister were the first two people I saw. At this point, Clark still had not gotten to the hospital. Out of the 12 years I have known Clark and his family, I have never seen his dad cry. Of course, he wasn’t doing well and was sobbing when the helicopter landed on the roof. I plainly remember him looking at my mom and saying, ”He use to fly in those all the time before he ever came into this world. Who would’ve ever known?” His mom was a flight nurse 16 years ago in Cleveland. As I watched Clark being rushed into the hospital, more and more people arrived. The nurses gave Clarks friends and family their own waiting room. Within 20 minutes the waiting room became full and there was hardly even any room for people to stand. It was pretty amazing to see all of the people that came from school to share their love and support for the family. One of mine and Clark’s good friends, Paul, came straight to me and gave me the most comforting hug and told me that everything was going to be okay. I was crying uncontrollably. After being at the hospital for at least 2 hours, nothing had really changed from when we first got there. One of the nurses said she had never seen such a horrible brain injury and that there was not much hope for him. On the way home, I wiped the tears from my eyes, turned to my mom and said, “ He is going to be okay. God is going to take care of him” As glad as she was to hear it, she wasn’t sure he would make it. After months of praying for him, he makes progress. I now spend almost every Sunday and Wednesday night with a miracle. I have never met someone with such a positive attitude and someone so into sharing God’s word and sharing his testimony with each and every person he can.

 

Friends are friends forever,

If the Lord’s the Lord of them.

And a friend will not say never,

Cause the welcome will not end,

Though its hard to let you go,

In the Father’s hands we know,

That a lifetime’s not to long,

To live as FRIENDS!

(Clark and I sang this song together in North Carolina, when he was 8 and I was 7)